Kat;

What kind of pain are you being treated for?

The type of pain I have been diagnosed with is: Severe chronic Intractable Pain. (i.e., Lupus, R. Arthritis, Scoliosis, I. Cystitis, post stroke, etc.)

HAve you seen a pain management doctor?

Narcotics rarely work well for central pain such as post stroke pain. When patients with central pain are withdrawn from high dose narcotics completely, they rate their pain intensity the same with or without narcotics. Most physicians will not provide patients with injectable drugs as this is bordering on substandard medical care. Intrathecal pump infusions of narcotics for selected pain states are much preferable to injectable narcotics.

I've been on Hydrocodone for 15 years for several pain disorders. Am interested in Intrathecal pump. Can anybody tell me where to go to get help with this?

Kat, it sure is. Part of it is the campaign against prescription pain killers - 'cause kids are using them to get high instead of buying illicit drugs (well, not all kids, but a lot are). This makes it more difficult, and doc's necks are on the line, for if they make one mistake and give someone who's drug seeking the wrong stuff, the doc can be prosecuted, even though it wasn't their fault. In some states, giving out too much pain med can put them under surveillance and endanger their practice. Many people with chronic pain take mega doses of pain meds that would kill the normal person, but they have worked their way up to a higher dosage.

Kittylover?

I have an interthecal pump and LOVE it to death! It stared in 1970, when I fell while hiking in Colorado. Over the years, falls, t-bone accidents, rear-end collisions, etc. nevermind age, has conspired to create major back and sciatica pain. Finally, it got the the point where I couldn't walk down a hallway without stopping every few feet or so in excruciating pain. After I moved to Detroit, I found out about 'canadian aspirin' (they put codiene in), then stumbled over vicoden after a lumpectomy for breast cancer in 2001 (I'm 7 years cancer-free!); then duragesic, when I had a hernia that was painful but couldn't be fixed immediately. That kept me going until the pain started radiating down my leg(s).

At that point, I went in search of more pain relief, preferably with less medicine and more other. I had facet injections and so on that didn't work. Finally, after a little research on the net, I got referred to a pain specialist that inserts the medtronic pain pumps. I had mine inserted February of this year, and although not totally pain free, I can walk up and down hallways and so on without too much pain. I use a cane/walker, as well, to lean on. I also have a lung disease that makes me short of breath when walking too far, and that combined with the pain is challenging! (There's an 80% possibilitiy I have pulmonary fibrosis...I have a CT scan tomorrow that should tell the tale. Pulmonary Fibrosis is where your lungs get scarred and become stiff. It has a life span of about 3-5 years, and the only 'cure' right now is a lung transplant, which was mentioned to me during my last hospital stay for an exacerbation/pneumonia - the 6th since Feb.).

If you want more info, kitty, let me know!

Gina