8 weeks later, still on ibuprofen, cervical spinal stenosis

September 26, 2008

I have cervical spinal stenosis, was apparently born this way, but it

never flared up until early July, I'm only 47. Yes, life turned

upside down. Per my doc, I'm taking OTC cheap ibuprofen, I'd bought a

bottle of 500 of the 200mg ones. Doc said to take 800mg 3 times a

day, so I've been doing that the last 8 weeks or so. I also take

regular strength Tylenol for pain, often also 3 times a day. I'm in

physical therapy 3 times a week, I go back to the neurosurgeon for

follow up on Oct. 6 where we'll discuss next steps. I've done the

Medrol steroid burst pack twice, which really helped. The PT seems to

be really helping, it began with all passive massage and gentle

traction, now adding some core strengthening. My pain is fairly

controlled, some days only a 1-2, as long as I don't try to sit in a

chair for too long. The back-of-head pain and headaches that I get

seem to come from my position and tension, not from any meds.) I've

also begun seeing the Pain Management Center here in town (thanks for

advice on that, they've all done the pain management fellowships, in

addition to being MDs and anesthesiologists) I'm seeing the pain mgt

folks because 3 weeks ago, I was desperate, in a LOT of pain and I

needed help.

I'm very concerned about pain meds because of my family's history with

alcohol abuse (luckily not me, though), and I really don't want to

deal with withdrawal from anything. I didn't even want to get hooked

on the Ativan and Zoloft I was given, though I've finally relented, I

take .5mg Ativan in a.m., and 50mg Zoloft in p.m., and that seems to

have made a huge difference. I'm not as anxious, or terrified any

more. Doc wants me to increase Zoloft to 100mg in another 10 days or

so. (Before that, the PA wanted me to try Cymbalta, but when I looked

it up, what I learned about the withdrawal scared me to death!) But --

I do wonder what my pain management options are likely to be, since I

can't stay on that much ibuprofen indefinitely. I try not to take the

Tylenol nearly so often. Neurosurgeon said at first appointment that

my stenosis is such that I'll likely want surgery at some point, but

perhaps not right away if the PT and other stuff works for me, at

least for now.

Any advice from you good folks?

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