Rickyb

I started having siring back pain in the lumbar area while working as a maintenance worker for apartment complexes back in 9-11-2001. Pain so bad I had to lie down many times during the day to cope. But was not on pain meds at the time. Later started taking Tramadol which seemed to help quite a bit. But over the years I've ended up having to take much more pain meds. I was diagnosed in '04 with a bad disk which was causing pain they said, so it was removed in 2005. L5-S1. Funny thing is I just had another one of these disc tests done recently as I felt the l4 and l3 were what is causing my pain now. The test showed no pain in l4 or l3. I asked about the text in '04 and why it would have shown pain in my disks and now I have none? Doc said it is not a very accurate test. Really? In 05 they said I had pain coming from all 3 lower disks yet it was not as bad as what I had coming from the l5-S1 disk. And I felt they knew what they were talking about so I had it removed. Took a year off of work and went bankrupt and filed a chapter 13. Lost everything. Since then I've tried acupuncture, therapy, many more chiropractors and their suggestions, dieting, exercise, and more pain meds. I have a slight curve in my back and even one chiro said I would need to wear a lift in my shoe. ha. That didn't help. I've also had epidurals and facet joint shots, steroids of all types without any relief. I've been burdened with back pain for 20 years now and have had shots of all types. Taking Oxicodone 20 mg 5 times a day which was not even hardly cutting the pain it seemed,, so it is why I opted for a second nuro-stem procedure. Last year got a simulator implant which worked at trial but then did not work at all when it was implanted for real. So I got it removed. Last month I just got a 2nd neurostimulator implant (burst) procedure. A special kind since it sends out a signal only in one direction. And believe it or not my pain is now much less in my lumbar. This recent device is a different type which they had to remove bone from the thoracic area in order to get it in. And it has actually helped my lower back pain in the lumbar. I'm not sure how much pain relief yet as I still take my meds. But before the implant I was really cursing and not able to do much. It seems in the weeks leading up to the surgery my back pain increased and all I could do was lay around the house. Now I do have significant reduced lumbar pain but what I now face over the last two weeks since surgery is even more pain coming from my thoracic t-7 thru t-9 the surgery area. Of course when I lay down it goes away. So I don't think it is mental or created by thought like most people seem to think pain is generated from. As it wasn't there before the operation. I'm sure some would say since the pain no longer hurts in the l5 thru l3 than it has moved now. But could it be from surgery? I think so. But reason I'm here on this site is I'm very interested in the mind body syndrome or tms and want to talk with someone or be pointed in the right direction to at least see if I'm a candidate. I also know that this simulator procedure has side effects like scaring and possible complications the longer this device is in my back. I would really love to believe in tms and a cure through mind over matter and even end up being able to turn this device off and then have it removed. Before it scars up and is non removable. Sitting here typing this now my back is on fire in the thoracic area!