Quite a bit has happened since my last post. The pain in my ankle continued to escalate and I ended up in the emergency room in June. The pain meds were not getting it done and I woke up at around 4 in the morning and couldn't take it any more. The hospital did the usual tests and had to shoot me up with three rounds of dilauded and put me on oxy. Fortunately, I had an appointment with my surgeon scheduled for the next day. When I went in to see him, he said that he can't see any reason for the continued pain and recommended that I see a pain specialist. He wanted tor rule out RSD. I went to the pain clinic the next week and discussed my symptoms with the doctor. At this point, I could barely walk around the house without significant discomfort. Extended walks were completely out of the question. The ache in my heel and ankle were non-stop and worse after activity. The doc suggested an injection in my back to calm the sympathetic nerve. He also put me on the gabapentin, an anti-depressant (effexor), and 4 norco per day. The procedure for the injection was interesting. I went in and they put an iv in my arm. Then they gave me something for pain and to calm me down. The next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room. I guess they don't really knock you out put just make you really loopy and amnesiac. The pain in my ankle/foot got worse over the next 6 days and was to the point where I could barely get out of bed. I was taking 2 norco at at time every four hours and was miserable. Then, out of nowhere, I woke up on the 7th day and the pain was reduced about 80%. It was incredible!
I continued on the meds throughout June and July. For the most part, my foot would ache a little when not doing anything and get quite sore when I walked a lot. What is strange is that the ends of my toes became very sensitive to walking and would really hurt if I was on a tile floor. The same thing was happening with the bottom of my foot on the lateral side. I went back to the pain clinic around August 6th and the doc said he does believe that I have mild RSD (I can't imagine what major would be like!) and wants to continue with injections and treatment. I did explain that the 4 norco a day are not enough if I am active. He then switched me over to extended release ms contin. Apparently, this is morphine. Unfortunately, whenever I got morphine in the hospital in the past, it hasn't worked. It just makes me warm. So, I am now on the ms contin, gabapentin, and effexor. I really do not like the ms contin as it is not very effective for me and it makes me really out of it. I honestly don't know if I could maintain a difficult job while on this. I am constantly searching for the right words and my memory is affected. I am going to request that they take me off of it immediately. I really don't like it.
I'm scheduled to see the pain specialist again in September as well as my surgeon for an update.
I know i've written on this before. I have a similar blog I haven't updated a lot lately
ReplyDeletehttp://kristysfootsurgery.blogspot.com/
I'm so sorry this is happening to you.. I really hope they get the meds worked on.. I know how hard it is to have it affecting your memory.. I haven't been on lortab for 2ish months and have notice such a difference.. I still struggle with remembering things in a day or in a week.. it was hard not remembering important things my husband would tell me..
I wish the best to you.. let me know if you need any mental support foot surgery is the worst.
Hi James, I just commented on your first post, and I've skipped ahead to the last one, because I got nervous about some of the things that you mentioned. My main anxiety about surgery is swapping one kind of pain - tendon, ligament pain, arthritis from wear and tear - for another pain - neuropathic. When I asked the surgeon about side-effects from surgery, he said about 3% of people experience CRPS, I think (too lazy to google) - complex regional pain syndrome.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I'm at that level of pain you're having now, but it's not nerve pain. I couldn't imagine the pain getting much worse, but I figure it can :|
I'm prescribed oxycodone now, prior to surgery, but I find that 5mg doesn't help localised pain and just puts a veil over everything, I feel depressed, too tired to function and sleepy. So, I don't really take it - but am in too much pain to function well.
I would really like to avoid Gabapentin. At the moment I have to take Ambien to get any sleep, and I hate the side effects, which extend into the day. I feel blank a lot of the time and my attention span is terrible. I've noticed that when I converse I have huge mental blanks, and forget being able to concentrate on a book or anything that requires extended engagement. Even a full movie is challenging, with pain in the background making me restless. UGH. Ambien has worse effects than that too, if you can't sleep immediately, you can do some weird-ass stuff without knowing it, including in communications with other people. Hate it. When I don't take it, I'm woken up by constant leg spasms, which make it impossible to sleep in the first place. I hope it gets better for you and me, and Kristy too.
Foot surgery does seem like the worst and yet what are the options? I have been feeling *excited* about these surgeries because it was looking like triple arthrodesis was going to be my only option. :( All I want is to be active and in less pain...