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Hi everyone~

I'm just posting this journal entry to let you all know how I've been doing since my implant surgery. While I'm here I guess I should link to the pictures we took. Mind you I am very unphotogenic/fugly:
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii167/chuckn0rris/?action=view&current=likemyhat.jpg - We took this one right before I went in to surgery
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii167/chuckn0rris/?action=view&current=post-op.jpg - This was taken after surgery was completed, before I woke up from the anesthesia.
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii167/chuckn0rris/?action=view&current=victorypizza.jpg - Here I am eating my victory pizza. (Victory as in "Yay the surgery didn't go badly" wink

I've recovered fine from the surgery and my stimulator is working perfectly. But, I'm afraid it is not providing as much relief as I originally thought it did. Over the last month I have been reducing my daily pain medication intake and it has been very difficult. Originally I was taking three 20mg of Oxycontin a day (60mg/day) and two 10mg/325 of Percocet a day (20mg/day) as break-through medication. Oxycontin is an extended-release version of oxycodone. Percocet is the brand name for normal,quick-release oxycodone which is combined with 325mg or 500mg of tylenol (acetometaphine) to discourage overdosing. (Taking excess amounts of tylenol can shut down your liver and result in a painful death.)

With the help from the stimulator, going from three Oxycontin a day to two was not a big problem. I was actually surprised how easy it was. Though, you need to remember that even when I was taking three a day I was not very active because of how quickly my pain can increase. But for the last two weeks or so I have been taking one oxycontin a day. That is a very large decrease from three. But it has been extremely difficult. My pain management doctor told me that after two-three weeks, the neuro-receptors that are affected by opiates should "reset", readjusting themselves to the lower level of pain medication. But that has not happened. crying

As it is right now, I am worried that I will not be able to stop taking the pain medication altogether. I worry that my pain has been compounding year after year for almost a decade and that the pain I feel is how my pain truly is and that it would feel the same even if I stopped taking the pain medication altogether.** My pain got worse every year, regardless of what I did: exercise, stretching, over-the-counter medications, physical therapy, heat therapy, traction therapy.. My biggest hope is that if I can ween myself off the medications my pain levels will be low enough that the spinal cord stimulator will be able to provide enough relief so that I can get back to living. But with the way the last 10 years have been, I'm not very optimistic..

If my pain levels remain too high to go completely off the pain medications, then I am not sure what I will be able to do with my life. I was considering becoming a pharmacist, but even with the stimulator I don't think I would be able to do all of the standing, reaching, and bending...

** For those who aren't aware, I have been taking opiate pain medications since my spine fusion surgery in Aug 2007. They have helped, but they are a double-edged sword. While the opiate pain medications have been the _only_ thing that have helped my pain at all, (I have tried surgeries, injections, cremes, non-opiate pain medications of all kinds) they are expensive, they are extremely addictive, and there is evidence that they can actually increase sensitivity to pain. So while saving money and being free of dependence of the medications are priorities, the main reason I want to stop taking them is to reduce my pain levels.