by Jerry80871852 » Sun May 12, 2013 12:32 am
Back several years back i was offered nerve block, steroid shots in my neck, but I refused, I don't want nothing such as that till last resort, its not that I'm scared o it, I just do not want to use it until its absolutely necessary.
I tried trammadol many years ago, it did nothing for me. i did take hydrocodone back in my posing days on here in the mid 2000's. But when I went on disability I left behind my insurance, so being as I was a veteran I started using the VA. When your on disability, that was in 2002, its next to impossible to pay for a health insurance policy, an the VA has worked out much better than medicare. No its not perfect, but its has not been bad either.
They offered me the nerve blocks or shots in the neck. For several years I've been on Methadone, & it has worked pretty good, along with Amitriptyline. I have had a few steroid shots, but not in the spine. They do help very much with my neck, which stays sore most of the time. But all of a sudden my sugar level was up. Since them I've had only one, & I had it only when it was quite bad. Generally with a steroid shot relief comes in less than 24 hours, & last several days. yet with them elevating my blood sugar, I want to stay away from them as much as possible.
Oh, I'm 66 heading to 67 come December. I've had two neck surgeries, one was a fusion for a rupture disc, the other was surgery for a protuding disc, in 2001 I found out I had Chiari, & here is the findings on the MRI I had in late 2001.
1. Post anterior cervcal fusion changes C4,C5,C6
2. Chiar 1 malformation with herniation of the cerebellar tonsils though the foramen magnum. In addition, there is a high-riding odontoid and combination of these finding causes focal mass effect on the base of the brain stem and medulla
3. Dis desiccation and posterior broad-base bulge of C3-4, effacing the anterior sac, causing mild to moderate central canal stenosis.
After this I had a Myelogram which showed bone spurs on C-6, which is behind the titanium plate & screws from when I had the fusion in Feb. 1999.
So far I’ve had no more surgeries since Feb. 2000, & I’m not much worse now than I was them.
And if I had surgery in 2001, it probably would have led to 3 surgeries, & one thing I've notices is when you have many surgeries on your neck, them there’s trouble form all the scar tissue. My NS said, “I can’t promise you it will help you, it may, it may not, & the problem is if we do one surgery, it will probably lead to 2 more, being as you have so many problems in your neck. Yet if we wind up having to do three, that in itself is enough to cause you even more troubles than you presently have, But I will do as you wish.” I thought about it, & chose no surgery at that time, to wait & see, & if it got much worse, go back to the NS & perhaps them things will show up better, tell what’s giving me the most trouble, them go from there. And I have no regrets.
I happen to come by tonight & look though a few topics & came across this one, & paused long enough to make this post, for whatever it might be worth.
May the Lord Bless,
Jerry
Joshua 24:15 "...choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."