I had my Chiari Decompression surgery 14 months ago. For the past several months i have been experiencing lower back and side pain for which i started Pbysical Therapy. I have sciatica and a tethered cord. Since beginning PT my head and neck pain have became drastically worse. I am going to ask my primary for a referral for pain management today. I know that everyone is different but does anyone have a recommendation for PAIN MEDICATION that has worked for them to help alleviate head, neck, shoulder and back pain and if so what dosage.
God fearing, bless you I am so sorry you are struggling after surgery! This not an easy thing to face, or accept that you are still symptomatic. Do you plan to get the tethered cord fixed? You said something in your post that rings a big ol’ bell with me. I did PT and it cranked up symptoms and awakened a whole new set of them. I didn’t know it at the time but I have ELhers Danlos syndrome and it allows for WAY to much flexibility in the neck and the rest if the spine (actually in all joints). My pt person would walk by me while i was doing my neck stretches and stop cold and stare at me like I had just ripped my own head off. “Stop moving your head so far,” but I couldn’t tell- the ligaments are so dang stretched out! I had a perfectly good decompression done but I am still symptomatic because of the cranio cervical / cervical instability. I am going to Henderson to get that worked out.
For the pain… I hate to recommend narcotics cause that’s just a can of worms, but sadly only med that significantly helped me- only used fioricet for extreme pain. I take magnesium supps daily and believe it or not it actually makes a big difference. OTC muscle and rheumatoid arthritis creams can be effective but you have to keep them up for a week or two before they take hold- Arnica gel has helped me and I use almost everyday. Also, I started wearing a soft collar neck brace and within a day it brought my headache down about 7 notches. The idea behind that is to keep head from bending forward or back.
I hope you find relief soon,
Jenn