Diego,

Have you got some surgery lined up?

No and my doctors have not recommended it

Well, I'm not a doctor. But, I'm worried about you.

**I mean, you seem to be in a great deal of pain**

Can you live with that? can you hobble along taking meds? do you WANT to?

I know three men who had surgery, all said it was the best thing they did. They don't know why they waited so long.

My husband does NOT want to go under the knife. He screwed up his back in the same location in March. He is doing better, I think. (He might be really good at hiding it.) He is doing yoga back/core strengthening excercises every morning. A professional met with him and taught him how to do the excercises properly and carefully. Yesterday he carried some furniture with me. (not smart!) Is there a physical fitness/yoga/excercise trainer in your location that could help you with some leg stretching/core strengthening excercises?

Dunno but I can walk in the meanwhile and I'm thinking on getting a static bycicle for exercising my legs during the treatment. I have to take to it to my home and I don't have a big enough car so I should ask somebody to let his van to me. I'm doing light neck exercises almost everyday and I'll visit my doctor on friday. He's been on holidays last week.

Thanks for your help tiger

Diego Sahagún wrote:My doctor has added a corticosteroid (Deflazacort) to my intake and wants me to take 600 mg / 24 h of Pregabalin. I could enter in a hospital pain unit soon. I think that joking about lettuce here is not a good idea

He put me 525 mg / 24 h of Pregabalin and lowed the corticosteroid to half pil a day during a week. I'm not taking Ibuprofen or any other anti-inflammatory because of the corticosteroid. And I'm trying to take less Metamizol (max. two per day) and if it not hurts a lot I take 650 mg Paracetamol + Zaldiar (325 mg Paracetamol and 37.5 mg Tramadol). He said that a TENS would be good for my neck and back muscles because I'm wearing a half-stiff collar almost all day. Another big change is that he put me 25 mg / 24 h of Amitriptiline that I should raise to 50 in 3 to 5 days and 75 in 6 to 10 days. By that he's trying to low the pain, it awakes me at less once a night.

I'll have two visits to hospital in October, pain unit and a Electromyography (EMG). Any thoughts? Do you think that visiting a pain unit will be successful?

I'm using one of them below and it's working:


http://www.naturesgate-uk.com/tens-mach ... -tens-unit

what's that? how does it work?

I've just came from obtaining my medical certificate and driving licence.

The first question was: Have you anything wrong in your neck

And I said: "No"

tiger, that one is more advanced but it's much more expensive:

http://www.compex.info/en_UK/Vitality.h ... myId=77200

Diego Sahagún wrote:

Diego Sahagún wrote:My doctor has added a corticosteroid (Deflazacort) to my intake and wants me to take 600 mg / 24 h of Pregabalin. I could enter in a hospital pain unit soon. I think that joking about lettuce here is not a good idea

He put me 525 mg / 24 h of Pregabalin and lowed the corticosteroid to half pil a day during a week. I'm not taking Ibuprofen or any other anti-inflammatory because of the corticosteroid. And I'm trying to take less Metamizol (max. two per day) and if it not hurts a lot I take 650 mg Paracetamol + Zaldiar (325 mg Paracetamol and 37.5 mg Tramadol). He said that a TENS would be good for my neck and back muscles because I'm wearing a half-stiff collar almost all day. Another big change is that he put me 25 mg / 24 h of Amitriptiline that I should raise to 50 in 3 to 5 days and 75 in 6 to 10 days. By that he's trying to low the pain, it awakes me at less once a night.

I'll have two visits to hospital in October, pain unit and a Electromyography (EMG). Any thoughts? Do you think that visiting a pain unit will be successful?

Today I've visited my hospital pain unit and my doctor has taken Tramadol out of my intake. He's put 10 mg/24h of Oxycodone instead. And we've decided not to increase the Amitriptiline to 75 mg/24h because of its side effects, 50mg/24h would be sufficient. I've signed for taking an epidural injection so they want to me to pass a blood test first. The last and the EMG will be the next week. I'll also visit a neurosurgeon in late November. Now I'm writing you because I can't sleep. It's 5:25 AM and I'm quite worried because of my slipped disk. I should be grateful if you could give moral support or alike

Diego, many people have had slipped discs and came out well after long years of pain (my wife, e.g.). You can always get something to help you sleep. The oxycodone will give you odd sleep (I was on it for 4 months). The biggest problem I found with oxycodone (two tabs/day for kidney stones) was that it slowed my bowels down.

I'm a little surprised they cut down the amitriptyline; other than some minor side effects, that dose is about the usual pain / anti-depression dose.

Take heart!

MoapaPk wrote:I'm a little surprised they cut down the amitriptyline; other than some minor side effects, that dose is about the usual pain / anti-depression dose.

I've slept so bad today. Would you maintain those 75mg/24h of amitriptyline

Diego Sahagún wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:I'm a little surprised they cut down the amitriptyline; other than some minor side effects, that dose is about the usual pain / anti-depression dose.

I've slept so bad today. Would you maintain those 75mg/24h of amitriptyline

I'm not a medical doctor! Your doctor knows a lot more about the drug interactions and your reactions.

I was not feeling fine having 75 mg of amitriptyline a day. I prefered to take 50 mg but I'm considering to increase it because of the pain. I'll go ahead. Gracias Moapa