Morphine pump vs electronic stimulator...on oral valium and morphine currently? Which the best choice?

Question

Have fusions at C4 C5 and C5 C6. Had surgery 10 years ago ,anterior discectomy at C6C7but NO fusion. I now have virtually no disc space left at C6-C7, it is degenerated beneath all the hardware above it with much bone spurring, I takr oral valium, and morphine, as well as prozac and cymbalta. Still in considerable pain,occassional severe headaches, and very limited use of left arm,...it has no strength or muscle tone. I am having an electronic stimulator placed on a trial basis next week,. but I personally would prefer to just go straight to a morphine pump.Will try elec stim, but haven't heard of much success with it at cervical level. Any suggestions would be appreciated, I have been unable to work, off the past year, waiting for disability. But I have no quality of life like this, and as soon as my morphine wears off the pain is back with a vengeance, it takes control release morphine over an hour to kick in. Can do very limited sitting or walking at a time. HELP!!!!

Answer 1

I can totally see why you are in so much. You've probably have already tried everything like I have but they just want you to try the tens (I'm guessiing) before doing something invasive. I feel it should be your choice, you know your pain and you know your body and you know what will most likely work for you. I've heard a lot of good things about the pump. I tried to get one but they said I'm not a canidate because my pain is my entire body inside and out. I don't have any quality ogf life at all either so I know what you mean. Try the tens, if it works great if not tell them RIGHT AWAY so that you can get the pump. Tens machines work but not for my pain which is severe. I've never been able to work in my life. Arthritis since birth 46 surgeries since I was 17 38 now every joint bone ligament tendon bursitis FMS you name it. I'm on morphine too. Do you have the fast release morphine? Not that any of these work the best they do take the edge off. Ask an independent living center or disabled services to help you with your claim. It may go faster. Or a lawyer if you can get one from legal services(free) Can they do another surgery to help with left arm and the degeneration and bone spurring(that hurts) I know. As soon as you take the stimulator off won't the pain come back? I would talk to your doc and say hey look we've tried everything and I'd really like to go to the pump. I'm sure people will disagree with me but you have been doing this for over 10 years and you know what works and what doesn't but I would give it a try..you''''''''ve been in pain this long a couple weeks to go good luck :)

Answer 2

The morphine pump would give you continuous relief by putting the morphine directly in your spine. It will give you greater relief with a lower amount of medication since it's going directly into your spine, and you could still take oral meds for breakthrough pain. You also wouldn't have to worry about dosing schedules, since the pump is set to deliver the meds at a certain interval of time; it works immediately so the hour-long wait wouldn't be an issue either. The pain doc is doing the trial to see if it works, so if it doesn't, say so. They will also do a trial with the morphine pump as well.... they will put you in the hospital and put a catheter in your back to see if the pump will help and to titrate the dose of medication and the interval between doses. They also don't have to put morphine in the pump. They can also put Fentanyl or Dilaudid in them. Like I said, they do the trials for a reason. If the stimulator doesn't work, speak up.

Answer 3

I think that Spinal Cord Simulators help a lot (electric simulators, not an TENS unit) they include no medications, and can provide lots of pain relief with people. I know that morphine pumps have severe side effects and they don't give much pain relief. Oral medications aren't great either, but anything with medication has side effects so the SCS provides lots of pain relief and I have been able to get off of most of my pain medications with my SCS so in my opinion an SCS would be probably the best thing to do. You can look into more info about SCS's at www.ans-medical.com Hope you feel better!

Answer 4

I haven't heard of having much success with a electronic stimulator but if your in that much pain and you are on all those types of medicines maybe you might want to see a pain management specialist. Morphine is one of the strongest pain medicines out there mixing that and the Valium with the right dosage you shouldn't be having that much pain. Ask your doctor about Kaiden which is a Strong pain medicine, but being a nurse I don't suggest taking anymore morphine than the doctor has prescribed.

Answer 5

Chiropractor who uses an activator not manual minipulation.
Massage therapist to loosen muscles faster.
(Both using the principles in the book below)

Much pain is from muscles below is an example of what may help (based on headaches).
Begin with a couple swigs of molasses or a couple of bananas (natural muscle relaxers) daily - magnesium (which regulates many things in the body) and potassium (a needed building block for muscles).
Drink at least 1/2 gallons of water per day. Running a body low on water is like running a car low on oil is the analogy the head of neurology at UCDavis told my husband about 10 years ago.

Now to the cause - muscles - your back, neck shoulders and head have tender spots. They are knots in the fibers of the muscles called trigger points. It makes the muscles tight which makes them press on nerves and other things causing the pain.

The cure - start with a professional massage, (if this does not do it you probably need a chiropractor as well) you will also want to go back over any place you can get to 6-12 times per session up to 6 times per day rubbing (or lightly scratching on your head) every where that is tender until the knots go away. The place where the skull connects to the spine press up under the edge of the skull (to get to those muscles).

For more information read The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Davies. It teaches what to do and where the pain comes from.