greetings; i'm new here. impending surgery slated for may 20. i need support.

[foofer]

Hi Sacket,

My immediate disclaimer: I haven't had the surgery and I don't know.

But, I've been on this forum fairly constant since November...watched lots of surgeries come and go, and one thing that is consistent is that everyone has post-op worries about a developing pain of some kind, and everyone worries that it is permanent, more severe than they were expecting- everyone gets a little panic-stricken at some point.

So you put the phone call in to the doctor, and I'm sure you will eventually hear from them and be reassured. In the meantime, this surgery seems to demand "down time" and you may be paying a bit for using new muscles and muscles being rearranged- especially since you felt so well enough to cook and garden and move around a lot. Your doctor made you a new back and it's going to voice its discomfort!

Patience, my friend.....It will get better. I'm sure you will hear from lots of people today- and if you don't, then start a new thread. I think sometimes people miss some of the emergency posts when they fall under an "older" category, especially when people have time constraints. I miss a lot of posts - as life is a runaway freight train these days. A very good thing for me though- just normal life with too much to do.

Hang in there...and tell the doomsday part of your mind (we all have it) to take a break and leave you alone so you can heal!!

[sacket]

i remember reading about such pain on forum...searched "scapula pain post op" and found some referring to just that...i think jenparker was one of the patients complaining of it...also you could try reversing search words to "post op scapular pain"...seems the two first words of the search phrase are considered most important...

Patience, my friend.....It will get better.

thanks for the support guys. i'm thinking that this old shoulder blade pain is rearing its ugly head again because i've stopped taking ibuprofen, which seems to have been effective at keeping it at bay for the first couple weeks after surgery. now that i'm just on acetaminophen, it's getting worse every day. today i was just up for about twenty minutes before i had to return to the couch because i couldn't take the pain. i've noticed it even prevents me from standing up straight--the longer i'm up standing, the worse the pain gets and the more i hunch over. putting my shoulders and neck back in order to obtain proper posture only results in searing pain around the shoulder blade.

after some sleuthing, i think i MIGHT know what the problem is...'scapular tipping.' it's an abnormal rotation of the scapula that occurs on a different axis than does a 'winged scapula.' the former is on the vertical axis, the latter on the horizontal. does this sound familiar to anybody?

do you think this is anything that an mri could pinpoint?

anyway, 'scapular tipping' is just my uneducated guess; it could be another problem entirely.

thanks again guys.

[Back-out]

First off I haven't a clue. You seem incredibly knowledgeable abt anatomy (too knowledgeable? )
However, it does seem you may have dxed yourself.

That is, having stopped all pain meds (at your stage this is INCREDIBILE! ...."TOO incredible"?, I ask again), it sounds as if you are responding to pain in three familiar ways.
"Familiar" in terms of this forum and training.

1) It HURTS
2) You panic
3) Because of 1 + 2 you modify things you were doing (here, posture and holding your shoulders in line)
4) This leads to more of 1 + 2 amplified. A feedback loop. Thus, even though it looks like technically four responses, it's really just three.

Don't see how your surgery could fall apart overnight! This stuff is screwed in, man!
However, pain can do all kinds of bad things. Again the postural modification in rx to the pain (and panic) could cause what you've described.

To repeat, YOU said all this, basically. All I'm adding concerns the (black) magic power of pain to be not only self-perpetuating but to have a snowballing effect, mind and body. ESPECIALLY where muscles are concerned FWIW.

I forgot one other outcome after 1 -3. Conclusion drawing. One tends to imagine all kinds of horrific explanations and this can be a nightmare. It's SUCH a shame you can't have your surgeon check out your fears. Meanwhile, hope I don't sound like a pusher, but I think you might benefit from a muscle relaxer and/or tranquillizer (like Valium - which IS a muscle relaxer to boot.).

You sound like an incredibly level-headed young man (in fact, you don't sound your age at all!) . I'm sure if you can stem the (understandable) fear and panic reactions, you can find yourself the right/best answers for how to cope.

I loudly second foofer's advice to start a brand new thread. I'm one of those who passed over this post last night because it seemed non-emergent. I'd just start it where you did including the few responses you've gotten thus far, if possible. If not, you could link them and revise the intro to update yourself.

And at this point, you might as well delay it until tomorrow to get the most attention possible. My 2 Cents. Your cry for help highlights how AMAZINGLY you have handled the whole thing, medically and psychologically. It's SO amazing some of us fogies have trouble identifying at all - exept haha - as moms.

Keep on whatever you've been doing, It's clearly working. This reminds me of how important pain meds can be, especially to start, There are risks, sure, but pain has its own side-effects and they are far from benign in the healing process,

(Nb none of this is intended to replace medical feedback on the spot from someone who can examine you. But meanwhile, a good night's sleep can't hurt....as I always tell my own sons. Things really do look different afterward - unless, of course - one hasn't slept. Say, how heavy were those ferns anyhow?!? )

[sacket]

i'm back with an update to let everyone know how i'm progressing.

That is, having stopped all pain meds (at your stage this is INCREDIBILE! ...."TOO incredible"?, I ask again), it sounds as if you are responding to pain in three familiar ways.

funny you should say that, backout. i phoned the nurse early last week because that damn shoulder pain was just getting worse and worse (it still is). i met with the surgeon last thursday, the 17. he put me on pain meds. he put me on a six-day course of methylprednisolone (medrol), as well as a muscle relaxant, robaxin. i am in so much pain and discomfort that i didn't feel like arguing and so i am taking the pills.

as i expected, he can't tell me the source of my pain (NO doctor i've seen has been able to tell me that), but he is starting me on physical therapy (still waiting for the call). sucks, because i did physical therapy last year and it didn't do shit for the shoulder pain. here's hoping this year's course will have a better outcome (somehow).

You sound like an incredibly level-headed young man (in fact, you don't sound your age at all!) . I'm sure if you can stem the (understandable) fear and panic reactions, you can find yourself the right/best answers for how to cope.

thank you for that. although, after over a year of chronic back pain, i am starting to question whether that level-headedness might be slipping away. chronic pain can drive you MAD, no kidding.

so anyway, my surgeon reiterated what i've heard countless times since this whole pain ordeal began, that is, that people with scoliosis have lots of different kinds of pain in different areas. that, of course, does nothing to actually help me. i asked about some imaging on the shoulder, and he said there is no imaging he can do that will clue him in to the source of the pain.

in pursuance of a solid reason behind my pain and insight as to its source, i will probably be making an appointment with a neurologist in the coming days. i've never seen a neurologist before, but it just dawned on me that what i always thought was chronic shoulder muscle pain may actually be nerve pain. after all, muscle pain usually doesn't last years. nerve pain can though. it occured to me that the characteristics of the pain itself (i.e., burning, stinging, and tingling) are way more in line with nerve pain than muscle pain. what do you guys think? maybe he can do some nerve studies or something. anything. i'm just reaching out for help here. it's a little bit too early to give up now.

anyway, so that's what i've been up to. thinking about all this. my next course of action, as i said, is to pursue physical therapy and see a neurologist. i'm just going to open up to the physical therapist about all that's going on. i want him to physically look at the shoulder and see how it is slumped and how the blade juts out and how it generally just looks a mess. i want to outline to him my goals and be assertive about it, too. maybe i'm just not assertive enough with these doctors, but sometimes it just feels like they don't listen. i guess it's not their job to be sympathetic. but i was almost in tears at the surgeon's office last thursday when i was telling him how i can't be up on my feet for more than five minutes without pain. all i could think about at that moment was how i've spent the past year in chronic pain, and how i haven't really LIVED this past year because of it. i couldn't work (i tried). i missed going out with friends and loved ones because i had to stay in bed, lying flat on my back, due to the searing pain. it is so sad that the activities i loved to do most (e.g., work outside, cook, go out with friends, etc.) are the ones that trigger the pain.

and i really thought it was getting better. i really did. things were looking up right after surgery. i was out walking and gardening and all that. i was just elated that the shoulder pain was gone. then the freaking ibuprofen wore off, and i was back to square one, because it came back with a vengeance. the ibuprofen was just masking it. and here i am now...now i lay in bed or on the couch, too petrified to get up because i know the searing pain will start up.

here's hoping that'll change.

i can't put my life on hold any longer!

P.S. i appreciate the suggestion to start a new post, but i guess nothing in my story is "emergent" at this point. it's all old news to me. same old pain, just worse.

[jrnyc]

hi sacket
read your post with interest....i am sorry you are going through pain...and hope you can find a doctor to help get you some relief!
i see a pain doctor who is a neurologist as well as pain specialist...your pain with tingling sure sounds like nerve stuff...the good part of that is that there are injections and other treatments that can help nerve related pain(as opposed to structural pain)...i have had several epidurals that didnt help..but then i had one this month to treat the worsening sciatica on left leg...and to my surprise, the pain and other symptoms are gone! i really had low expectations for this, because of previous epidurals that didnt help...so i am delighted this one gave me total relief...so far......we'll see how long the relief lasts....

i know well how chronic pain can drive you crazy...it can wear you down til you have no more fight left in you, til you are just exhausted! pain meds are important....
did one of the meds sound like a steroid? the medrol?

the botox shots i get for upper thoracic muscle spasms and knots in my back work great... no shots for lumbar pain do that yet...
best i've gotten for lumbar tx is 4-6 weeks...but we'll see this time for the sciatica...

i hope you find the right pain specialist who will help get you the relief you need!

and the thread...well...the change might be called something about "after surgery pain" or
"post op treatments " or "post op healing"...just suggestions...

feel better...

jess

[rohrer01]

Hi Sacket,

I just found your post and was going through it to see what I have missed. I'm sooo very sorry you are having shoulder pain. One neurologic study they can to is an EMG to see if your nerve impulses are in proper working order. I've had several of them over the years. They sound horrific, but aren't really that bad. They use very, very thin needles and electrical impulses. I've never had accupuncture, but the EMG is what I imagine accupuncture to feel like.

I have had severe pain episodes for over 25 years so I know what you mean when you say pain can drive a person mad. It is so physically exhausting to be in pain. My doctor also prescribes methylprednisolone (steroid) for my severe pain flare-ups. It helps reduce the inflamation.

Don't feel bad about taking pain meds. I find they are helpful in letting me go about the activities of daily living. I am better off with them because I'm able to get around like most people. Without them, I can not move at times. Laying around without the pain meds I think is worse because your muscles atrophy. It's better to take them (while you need them) and keep strong. Of course, you have just gone through major surgery, so laying around more than usual is in order for you. Your body needs to rest in order to heal.

I hope you get some answers as to why your shoulder is droopy and painful. It does sound like a nerve problem to me, too. The droopiness may be from the muscles not getting the proper nerve signals to be able to function, thus they go flacid and droop. The pain can definitely be from an inflamed nerve. I, too, have scapular pain. This is new to me this year. I get it on both scapulae. I attributed mine to muscle spasms, but now I don't know. My shoulders don't droop, though. Anyway, enough about me. I hope you get some answers and better yet some solutions!

Feel Better Soon!
Rohrer01

[Confusedmom]

Hi Sacket,

I'm not as experienced as a lot of people on this board (no surgery yet), but it seems like I've seen a lot of people post that things continue to shift after surgery.

I'm wondering if your should might continue to straighten out for a while, and maybe the pain you're feeling right now could be related to some of that shifting. I know some of the scoli books say pain goes up and down for a while after surgery.

Physical therapy is a good idea, but be careful of course of your post-surgery restraints. Also, have they ever done an MRI? I know people with shoulder problems, and I thought that was routine.

Wishing you less pain and more nights where you can cook dinner!

Evelyn

[Davis]

Was following your thread and noticed that you hadn't posted for a few days. Hope you're doing okay.