A Question or two from a Newbie who is an Old Hand at Chronic Pain

[Guest guest]

HELP. Some advice from those who have experience with this:

The History: Low Back PAIN, radiant thru the right leg to the foot,

usually very intense.

X-Rays from five years (or so) back showed disk degeneration at L5-

L6 and L6-S1, leading to prescriptions for Lortab 7.5's 4X a day (as

NEEDED, what a joke) and Soma 3X a day PRN since then. Plus an

NSAID (currently generic Voltaren 50) for arthritis. The Lortab no

longer helps.

A new CT shows " Severe " disk degeration at L5-L6 and L6-S1, and

moderate degeration at L4-L5, with nerve impingement at all three

disks. New script for Roxicodone 15mg every 8 hours, which helps a

lot. It takes the pain from about a 7 or 8 down to maybe a 3. I

can get some decent sleep.

I have a referral to a Pain Specialist coming up - don't know when -

for his opinion and maybe some nerve blocks. What can I expect??

Do nerve blocks help? My family doctor says the pain docto will 'take

over' writing my prescriptions. Will I lose access to the oxycodone

that helps? My Doc says there is far too much damage for surgery

(fusion, etc.) to be an option. At what point does disk

degeneration become a 'disabling' condition? At present, I can walk

short distances, but getting up from a chair or getting in/out of a

car is very very painful.

By the way, I am a 58 year old male. Call me PooBear.