hello. Despite the wonderful post that has led to lots of thread and posts and visits to my blog abou dillytantes amazing memory helping my back issue, I am sad to say that it has 'gone' again.
I need some advice. I am in a lot of pain. It has been threatening to go badly since the weekend, sort of did on sunday then was ok, but at the same time on sunday I started to throw up and have hardly stopped since.
I have not taken my tramadol since tuesday (so add a bit of withdrawal into the mix). I managed to hold down some water last night, so tried some rice cracker this morning, followed by a slow release tramadol and two paracetamol. They came straight back up.
Now, I always said that when it goes again like this I would be up at A&E not the docs as they just send me away again. But, now it has come to it, I am not sure. Added to the fact I am not able to take any pain relief has me thinking I should go. I have a GP appt at 10:40am but can't see what they will do. I am not sure I can even make it as I can't walk. I can have telephone appt but that is 11:30am onwards, could be as late as 2pm. That means if I am not happy, or if they suggest hospital, it coincides with DH getting the children. GP is unlikely to do anything I am sure.
I am ok if I am still. (But, clucking means I am fidgeting 
). I am holding down a little water now.
WWYD? I am thinking if I get into hospital the very least they will do is get some fluid and some medicine in me before kicking me out? But, I have been here before and did not go to hospital, I feel a bit like a fraud.
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back has gone again, not holding down meds. Hospital?
Pavlovthecat · 07/11/2012 09:27
I was going to ask for diazepam on wednesday, but I asked for codeine to try in place of my tramadol and felt she would be 
if I asked for diazepam too! But, I should have asked for that instead, as actually that is what I needed, for my muscles to relax more quickly and for me to sleep, that would have helped my pain much more than either codeine or tramadol both of which wire me. I have had it in the past and find I only need like 5mg max x 3 daily for 2 days and that is enough to get me past the awful stage.
I did have an 'action plan' but my sickness meant it went all out of the window. I am going to have a medication review this week as I am not happy with how I am.
Glad it got a bit more bearable Pavlov. Mornings are complete arse aren't they?
When I went for my MRI the radiographer was asking me if I needed any work 
I decided that either my back didn't look too scary or they were just desperate for staff! I can't work properly anymore but I can manage very part time, I have decided not to care too much even though I am bank staff so don't get any sick pay.
Muscle spasms are also arse. Sometimes they are worse than the actual back pain but then I dared to dance for two minutes whilst wearing comfy heels last night so I am my own worst enemy.
lost did you have fun last night? Was it worth the pain today? I have not worn heels for a long time. well, not strictly true, i wore some to a christening a few weeks ago, hopped up on painkillers, nerve blockers, and took my biker boots to change into
i see I have shortened your name in two different ways in two different posts 
sorry!
Hello, I don't want to gate crash as reading this I have a sense of an ongoing dialogue but I had to comment about tramadol and odd symptoms. I had a scoliosis correction 7 years ago after serious pain through my teens/early 20's. So much of your fight with various medica could have come straight from my notes!! I also had suspected epilepsy for a while until we traced that to tramadol, it also makes my mum very 'odd'. I could take combinations of paracetamol, codeine, diclofenac (that took several goes against the spell checker! ) and (to be honest, my favourite) dihydrocodeine but not tramadol. I do wonder whether one of the issues with it is build up and whether that contributed to your sickness? I also hated the come up/come down feeling (co proxamol through teen binge drinking/uni anyone?! ). What I wished someone had shared with me pre op was stuff around pacing. The basic idea is that you never push yourself to the end of your tolerance, only ever to about 80% do you've always got 'spare' in the tank. So, for example, about 2 weeks post op (which was done anteriorally) at home I could sit in my big, supportive desk chair for 20 minutes but I'd sit for 15 so I had 5 minutes in hand. That sort of thing. What it stopped me doing was riding the rollercoaster that I'd had before of 'oh it's not too bad/am at the right point in the drug cycle' and doin too much resulting in more pain later in the day. It made me feel more in control (which I sorely needed pre op) and also made managing my pain meds more straightforward as I was taking them at the right point in the cycle so I dropped them faster than I think I otherwise would have done. My op was at Stanmore and I think I remember seeing a specialist clinic there for pain management of chronic back pain. I feel for all of you coping with this and with small dcs as well. I hope you hit upon someone/something that makes the difference to you soon.
MsPickle I understand what you are saying, I very rarely let myself get to the point of no return now. Sometimes I think I am a lazy cow but then I realise I know what makes me hurt and not getting to that end point makes me more productive in the long term.
Pavlov I am a radiographer, I can be quite evil in my head when an 80 year old is complaining that her new onset knee pain is 'inconvenient' or a larger patient extends an arm for me to lift them and when I say I can't they always manage to get up perfectly well on their own.
I think I prefer lost of losty btw. Wales makes me think I should be married to Prince Harry (although that could also be fun )
And yes, I had a great time last night although my friends were wondering where their party animal friend got to because we came home quite early but I couldn't cope with standing up or sitting on the uncomfy chairs any longer. Bastard backs stopping me staying out all night getting drunk and stupid actually, there might be a silver lining there
mrspickle not gatecrashing! I just yabber tramadol talk! I completely understand about not pushing it, and I am notorious for doing that. And that is a huge reason why I want to stop the meds, or reduce them drastically. It is not that I want to be in pain, but the nerve blocker in particular, it was a great nerve pain reliever (horrible horrible side effects) but it meant I pushed myself too far, as I could not tell so easily when I needed to stop.
I do often forget so thank you for reminding me, and great advice about keeping a little back in reserve. That is what I have to do re work, esp tomorrow, I could probably get in, but it would use all my reserves so if I relapse, I have nothing to fall back on.
I keep going back to the tramadol as the possible cause of the vomitting, I just never did that on the other painkillers (not had dihydrocodene, only codiene phosphate) but I am regularly sick for a day since taking tramadol, at least once a month, sometimes more than that, just for a day, but enough to notice. GP just changed me onto slow release.
How long has it been since your op? how are you recovering?
losty it is then
giraffe I am better than I was, but be sure, if I go to hospital at some point in the future, I will be taking the ipad with me even though it is actually DHs. The laptop battery doesn't charge without the power lead, so what choice do I have? do they have wifi there? I have bt which includes free hotspot, so if they have hotspots I will be ok without a dongly thing.
I do think, at the rate it is going downhill/keeps happening, I am going to end up there, as I am reaching tolerance breaking point. Just thankfully not this weekend, DD has been so upset, not sure she would handle it well.
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puddle oh i love that theory! It is so true! and it is what we have to do, and what we do, certainly what I do. I always make those choices. If I do x I can't do y or z and have to think about those decisions carefully.
In fact, I wonder if my boss has read this. She once said to me, when I was doing physio 'think about your time if you are in pain. if you feel you have a window of just 2 hours feeling ok in a day, think carefully about whether you can be in work, or if you need to cook dinner for the family or if you need to take a nap in that time, don't just decide to come to work, if that means something else important won't get done' (she has a disability herself so would not surprise me).
I am going to keep that in my head, maybe even buy a print for the wall
and crap you have a cough 
horrible pressure on your back, hope it eases.
Hi hope you're all better this morning! I'm 7 years post op and have to say that it's the best thing I did. I have some residual muscle aches where I was unbalanced for so long but am by and large symptom free. I was deteriorating so fast (almost a degree a month) by the time surgery happened that I didn't have a choice. I didn't lose as many discs as originally thought so I lost very little movement really. And I was so proud the first time I showed my mum I could touch my toes!!!! 
. I have wear and tear right at the base and know that in later years I might need further help but tbh I'm still grateful for every morning I don't have to cry as I get out of bed.
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