I am SO GLAD to have found this site!
When I was 18 I was in a car wreck which broke my back.
The surgery was much like that for scoliosis and required
Harrington Rods to fuse my spine.
When I turned 37 I started to experience muscle spasms
pain running down my left side into the top of my leg
from my low back.
After several weeks of rest and mild pain meds
my general practitioner diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia.
No xray was taken to view the rods
2 years later when I was shuffled off to a pain management clinic...
and the xray was done...there were those harrington rods,
all the way down by my hip/pelvis area AND the BOLTS
up almost to my shoulder area.
So the rods went south
the bolts headed north.
Apparantly the rods had been dislocated for some time...
because every orthopedic doc that looked at me said
there was a "halo" around them and that this meant
loads of scar tissue and "stuff" had grown around them...
making it almost impossible to take them out.
Now...at the age of 44
my pain level radiates at a number 7
and I have constant pain.
Pain when I sleep
pain when I sit
pain when I stand.
I am on pain meds
anti inflammatory
and a muscle relaxer.
But it seems that recently
my shoulder area has increased
(horrible burning and aching) pain
and that either my pain is getting worse
or the pain meds are losing strength.
I wonder if anyone else here has experienced this?
the loosening of the rods...
and what has helped them?
Vicki
When I was 18 I was in a car wreck which broke my back.
The surgery was much like that for scoliosis and required
Harrington Rods to fuse my spine.
When I turned 37 I started to experience muscle spasms
pain running down my left side into the top of my leg
from my low back.
After several weeks of rest and mild pain meds
my general practitioner diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia.
No xray was taken to view the rods
2 years later when I was shuffled off to a pain management clinic...
and the xray was done...there were those harrington rods,
all the way down by my hip/pelvis area AND the BOLTS
up almost to my shoulder area.
So the rods went south
the bolts headed north.
Apparantly the rods had been dislocated for some time...
because every orthopedic doc that looked at me said
there was a "halo" around them and that this meant
loads of scar tissue and "stuff" had grown around them...
making it almost impossible to take them out.
Now...at the age of 44
my pain level radiates at a number 7
and I have constant pain.
Pain when I sleep
pain when I sit
pain when I stand.
I am on pain meds
anti inflammatory
and a muscle relaxer.
But it seems that recently
my shoulder area has increased
(horrible burning and aching) pain
and that either my pain is getting worse
or the pain meds are losing strength.
I wonder if anyone else here has experienced this?
the loosening of the rods...
and what has helped them?
Vicki
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