[Desi]

Hello,
To all you friends! I know that i sound like a whiney 'ol baby here, crying, whining about my pain after that last stellate ganglion block that I had on Thursday!
Friends, it got so bad to the point, that the two pain doc's I see wanted me to go up to the ER. I said for what?? what are they going to do?? I can take a warm bath(Not hot, as the pain patch I have, I can't have no excessive sweating. I can't use my heating pad anymore. My two Dr.'s most likely wouldn't show up. So this morning my pain Doc. from my area in Ohio wanted to see me this morning. He called and said to come in. He checked me out, told me no more PT, as of when he says so,. He said he does not think that I should get any more of those stellate Ganglion nerve blocks(SGB) as they are making me no better. He wants me to go on up to Cleveland to have the spinal cord stimulator! I am grasping for straws here, as I don't know ?? I hear a lot of this procedure is bad, some say,"I love it" only to have it shut off and taken out within a month or more?? PLEASE ?? any one with info on the spinal stimlator, please post, P.M. me?? thank you!!
Now, get this, I went out with Bill and my little girl to the bank, as soon as we got back, there was a message from my other pain management doc. wanting to redo the SGB!! I called, told the nurse, I don't want to have those anymore, as I am still in loads of pain from the last one!!
Well, I told her what my pain man. Doc. wants to do ... send me to Clev. for the spinal cord stim. Ok, she tells me that this Dr. in New Castle(My other PMD) is going to be doing these soon! I'm like, what???!! he never did any? she said no. I said and he will be doing them right in his office?? She said yes, I am besides myself. Bill, my son and my best friend(one of them) said, Desi, get that block done at Cleveland hospital(Not the clinic, the hospital in Cleveland) They all said they(The doc's there are all experienced, know what they are doing, did tons, yada... yada.. LOL
So, I know for sure if I will get this done, I will have it done in Cleveland. We are only 65 miles away from there. ok.. hurting here.. please anyone give me your truthful stories, about the spinal cord stim.? PLEASE!! Thanks friends, you all are always here for me, when I fall flat on my face! ~Love, Desi

[tayla4me]

Dear Desi,

I am so sorry you are having a rough time at the moment.
As for the SGB--I believe the result is very dependent on how proficient the person is that is doing it.
It is hard to understand how a SGB can cause more painSomething is definitey going wrong Desi. Could it be the doctor? Is he an anaesthetist? Is it possible to just have one more try at another pain clinic in a hospital?
As you have had good results from SGB before Desi it is a shame that it will no longer be an option for you.
I have had a multitude of SGB'S, occasionally they don't work too well but never ever has it hurt or caused more pain.
I noticed Nikki says her hands were cold after a SGB--this shows that the anaesthetic did not touch the Stellate Ganglion as it will cause vasodilation if done properly and the arm and hands will pink up and warm up.
This does make me feel so blessed to have a Pain Management team available to me that never seems to stuff up----I am truly lucky and would love to share them with you Desi.
love and luck
Tayla

[Desi]

Originally Posted by tayla4me

Dear Desi,

I am so sorry you are having a rough time at the moment.
As for the SGB--I believe the result is very dependent on how proficient the person is that is doing it.
It is hard to understand how a SGB can cause more painSomething is definitey going wrong Desi. Could it be the doctor? Is he an anaesthetist? Is it possible to just have one more try at another pain clinic in a hospital?
As you have had good results from SGB before Desi it is a shame that it will no longer be an option for you.
I have had a multitude of SGB'S, occasionally they don't work too well but never ever has it hurt or caused more pain.
I noticed Nikki says her hands were cold after a SGB--this shows that the anaesthetic did not touch the Stellate Ganglion as it will cause vasodilation if done properly and the arm and hands will pink up and warm up.
This does make me feel so blessed to have a Pain Management team available to me that never seems to stuff up----I am truly lucky and would love to share them with you Desi.
love and luck
Tayla

Hey there, my sweet friend, Tayla!! Tayla, I have had three SGB done by the first Dr. he did them ok.. bad, bad bedside manners, made me feel bad, remember him(Doogie Houser, Md.) LOL Anyway, Yes, I have had all good results except 2 with bad pain. this one lasting the longest(pain wise) I have had the warmth from this last one, but the pain!.... Tayla, it is so bad!!that you just wanna cut your darn arm off!! LOL I will however go and talk to the folks up at Cleveland and see if 1-2 more will help, if so.. lucky me. Thank you my fiiend for writing me back so very promptly, and as always for your good sound advice!! I Love ya Lady Tayla! Love ~Desi

[tayla4me]

Originally Posted by Desi

Hey there, my sweet friend, Tayla!! Tayla, I have had three SGB done by the first Dr. he did them ok.. bad, bad bedside manners, made me feel bad, remember him(Doogie Houser, Md.) LOL Anyway, Yes, I have had all good results except 2 with bad pain. this one lasting the longest(pain wise) I have had the warmth from this last one, but the pain!.... Tayla, it is so bad!!that you just wanna cut your darn arm off!! LOL I will however go and talk to the folks up at Cleveland and see if 1-2 more will help, if so.. lucky me. Thank you my fiiend for writing me back so very promptly, and as always for your good sound advice!! I Love ya Lady Tayla! Love ~Desi

You are very welcome sweet Desi.I feel so much for you and as I said, I feel so blessed to have found a treatment that does help my upper body pain.
Hang in there.
Love Tayla

[lostmary]

Awwww Desi,

I'm so sorry you are hurting so much. You are not acting like a baby. We are here for you, you know that!. No one should hurt as much as you are. I hope you get better. I'll PM you shortly.

Hugs
Mary

[dreambeliever128]

We can all relate to you on here with the pain. When you talk about your pain it brings back memories of me crying and being suicidal and calling my Dr.at 11:30 or 12 at night. No lie. Screaming in pain. He would always say get in the tub, soak in hot water and epson salt, lay on a heating pad and come in tomorrow morning to see me. Poor guy went through 5 years of this. Thank God like Tayla said about her team. I have a Dr. that never gives up and others that try their best for me. I wish we all had that.

I called him Monday evening crying with the pelvic pain. He told me to call the girls and get me in today. He is semi-retired now so only in on M-W-F but he always makes time for me. Like you I am going nuts from my pelvic pain. I see a surgeon next Friday for exploratory surgery.

Back to you though. I agree with Tayla. Try someone else for the blocks. An Anesteologist does good with them I believe that's because they are use to doing the anestesias in the operating room and know exactly how much to use. Again, it might not work for you but at least you can try.

RSD Angel comes to mind with the SCS's in her. I think she has 2 that are off at this time. I know of 4 people around here that had them in and all are out or off now.

My thought would be the pain pump. I don't know enough about it either as far as how much help it would be but that would be my choice over the SCS's anytime.

That is interesting, a Dr. doing them right in his office. I don't think I'd want him to put one in me in his office. That's a major surgery.

I know that the SCS has to be your decision and again I would do a lot of praying about it and researching it. Desperation will make us do a lot of things but I know you are very smart and you will make the best decision for you.

I wish I could help you more with the pain but I know no matter what I did at home I couldn't get my pain to calm down on my own even with meds. My Methadone isn't calming down my pelvic pain anymore.

I do hope this calms down for you soon. I wanted to say also that I hope your better half is doing better. I know how rough all of this is on you.

Ada

[RSD_Angel]

I did PM Desi about my stims and appreciate that you mentioning me and always thinkin of me!! I love this group and dont know what i would do with out you all!! Hugs!!

[nopainever]

Hi Sweetie...

It's Heather here...Not sure if you remember my experience with the SCS Trial or not, but I feel that I need to tell you since you asked for anyone's input, but I don't want to scare you.

I had RSD bilateral in my Rt and Lft feet and legs and after arguing with my doctor for a year I finally agreed to the SCS Trial...I always had a bad feeling about the darn thing...I got sick of him suggesting it, so I went ahead and went for it in Dec 06. For 10 days that thing was in me and it drove me nuts the 1st days. I couldn't stand the feeling...It made ME feel worse. The tingling added to my burning sensation and my legs swelled...Plus by the 4th day the leads (wires) had moved somehow in my spine and were hitting different parts of my body and the SCS was going CRAZY inside me...I had it off for the last 5 days of the Trial...

So, day 10 the Tech removed the leads and I went home...Within 2-4 weeks the RSD was traveling up my body: Up my legs, my stomach and back, and then to my arms and hands, until it finished at my face and neck...I thought I was going crazy and so did everyone else...Now I have full-body, systemic RSD...

I love ya and care about you so that's why I am sharing this with you...A lot of people love the SCS and have great results...I wasn't so lucky!

I wish you the best Desi!


Heather

[Desi]

Hi Ada,
And, thanks. Ada, every single PMD I have had is also a anaesthetist. I guess when I get these done, it's getting worse now or something, oh.. I don't know, Ada?? LOL I read up a lot on this and this is why they give you the trial first. I want to have it and I DON"T!!! bleeding, leads coming out, incisions, ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh??? I will pray on it. Thanks again, Ada.~Love, Desi (p.S. sorry to hear about your pain!) post and let us know what the Doc. says about your pelvis! As for the pain pump, I would like to get away from all pain things. Maybe.. and MAYBE the SCS will help me get off of them all. Mary, are you on any pain meds?(I thought this was what this SCS is all about too, getting off of the pain meds??) Amber, are you on any pain meds? Or just the pump... oh, guys.. I'm sooooooooooooo confused over here!! LOL Help!! LOL

[Desi]

Thank you so very much my pal, Mary with the SCS in too! Thank you so much for the great reply of PM ing me.. Your a doll! Love ya!~Desi