Chronic Pain

Need information on a Morphine Pump,, Thankyou
I am a Female and have chronic back pain from an auto accident in 1975. my doctor has me scheduled for a morphine pump, Can someone out there tell me of their exsperience with this device and how long from the beginning trial to the final insertion of this device dose it take ,, Thank you, Babs

Babs,

I have a morphine pump in, and have had it for a year, now. It's doing wonders! The pain level, prior to the pump, was a 6-8 (out of 10), and going down my legs and it became virtually impossible for me to walk very far without having to sit down and I mean sit down, no matter where I was, sometimes on curbs, sometimes in hallways, or in stores...

Now, I can get around pretty well, and rarely have leg pain. Right now, I'm coming down from vertebroplasty on a couple thoracic vertebraes with compression fractures, but the lower back pain (which the pump was for) is still minimal. I do take a breakthrough pain med, but lately, have taken it ONLY for the thoracic pain (higher up in back), and didn't take any at all yesterday, come to think about it! (pain med).

As for the time from test to pump insertion, that depends a lot on the clinic you go to, the doctor, and the hospital. I did my tests in December of '07 and had the pump inserted feb '08.

I hope you're as successful as I am with it!

Hi Babs,
I had the Medtronic Intrathecal Narcotic Pump implanted January 20th of this year. I must tell you that this device has been such a blessing for me. I suffered horribly with chronic pain due to Degenerative Joint (Disc) Disease, Scoliosis, SEVERE Arthritis, not to mention having a bad car accident myself in which I fractured vertabraes in my Lumbar Spine and also fracturing my tail bone. I also have had 3 major back surgeries, and I also have the cage.
Prior to having the pain pump implanted, I had been disabled (still am on SSD), now I feel so well that I am actually going to go to college to earn my MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) to go into Nursing Administration. Although I do feel better, I can't overdo it by going back into a physically demanding job like I once had which I was a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). Prior to the pump, I was pretty much a constant 9 or sometimes 10, and with meds, and when I write meds I mean that I was actually taking Morphine which was very expensive because it's fairly new on the market and it was at a constant release. No matter how much medicine I took, I was still in SOOO much pain. Now that I have the pump, I am even able to walk for excercise. Prior to the pump, I was unable to sleep all night long. Now that I have the pump, I actually sleep all night long. I do take Melatonin to help me fall to sleep though. Prior to the pump, I had to use a wheelchair to get into after I woke up in the morning because my pain was so severe in the morning, I buckled at the knees from pain. By the way, I am only 39 years old. Now that I have the pump, I wake up pain free in the morning.
Since I haven't had the pump for very long, my Neurosurgeon did my first "tweak" this morning. A tweak is when they adjust the pump to the proper level. I do know that the trial is for the doctors to know where your rate should be adjusted at. The rate is how much medicine that you receive from your pump. And by the way, my Neurosurgeon does the trial one week prior to surgery, but every doctor is different.
I do still take oral meds for pain that escalates throughout the period of the day. And next week, I have an appointment with a Pain Management Specialist, to receive his advice on what my Treatment Plan should consist of. He will advise my Neurosurgeon of how much more of a dose I should receive (through the pump), if he feels that this is necessary and he will also advise to which oral meds I should be taking and how often (for breakthrough pain). He was my Pain Management Doctor before I had this surgery done and I have a good doctor/patient relationship with him. I am blessed to have a wonderful, caring Neurosurgeon and an equally great Pain Management Doctor.
I believe that the key to the pump surgery being such a huge success is having a doctor that you have a good doctor/patient relationship with, the kind of doctor that you can actually communicate with. I had a difficult time finding a good doctor who actually cares and when I was referred to both of these doctors, I chalk it up as answered prayer.
Remember that the key is communication with your doctors and nurses through the trial as well. During the trial phase, DO NOT HESITATE TO SPEAK UP AND TELL THEM IF YOU ARE IN PAIN OR NOT. I found this very hard for me, since I had suffered for so long and with such severe, brutal pain. I honestly had forgotten what pain relief truly was.
I will remember you in my prayers, and always feel free to ask anything....anything at all. There is never a stupid question. And remember, do not be timid with the trial phase.
Blessings to you,
Sheila
P.S. IF you do experience pain after you have the pump installed surgically, don't allow yourself to slump into a depression. I did this. Simply contact your doctor because the way that I understand is that it can take a little while to get the dosage correct.

Hello everyone Im asking all the ins and outs of the Morphine Pump?I have had 9 shoulder opertions in the past 3 years and also have 4 to 5 vertebrates rupterted in my back and Im currently on Oxycontin 40 and 10s also on Oxycodone 5s and Im having the pump put in me on the 27th of Feb 2009 and I really need to know all I could possiblby know all about this.......Please tell me everything I need to know???

Thanks so much
Debbie White

hey debbie i do not have a morphine pump but i do have a portable catheter that i receive my iv's and have blood drawn from and it is in my chest and i love having this port-a-cath. i think you will tolerate your pump just fine. i am on oral mscontin-er 100mg BID and MSIR's 15mg six tabs a day for a total of 290mg of well needed pain relief. i still have a base line pain of 5 and breakthrough pain level of 7,8,9. but i was a base line of 9. let me know how it goes for i may think about the pump

Teresa,
Thanks so much for the reply and I have had 9 shoulder surgeries and 5 bulging discs in my spine and Im currently on 50 MG Oxycontin and Oxycodone 5s also Im having this pump put in Friday the 27th and a bit nervous on this matter but thanks for the support and I hope all is well with you and I will keep in touch about and with this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Deborah L White
In Sarasota Florida.....

hey deborah i am also deborah i have had pump in almost 7 yrs do not be nervous it has been a lifesaver for me as it will be for you.im always trying to find out new things and this place will be a place to make new friends share our experiances our ups and downs and our good things.i know ive felt alone for almost 7 yrs and now i find this site so im excited...good luck deborah my prayers and thoughts are with you.

debby

Deb (white),

As I told babs above, I'm in love with my pump, and more and more as the time goes on.

I woke up in January (just a week after I got home from the inpatient phys. rehab, (where I was after being hospitalized with my 11th pneumonia, w/anemia and septicemia - I have an interstitial lung disease that makes me prone to flares/pneumonias) with excruciating back pain...a 911 rush to the hospital and MRI later, showed 2 compression fractures of my thoracic spine - prednisone and osteoporosis are NOT good bedfellows :/ Pred is for my lungs. They did a vertebroplasty. The pump didn't 'touch' THAT pain, but I feel it helped the speedy improvement of the pain, once it landed at a tolerable level (I was on patient controlled analgesia for 8 days - normally, they give you around .5 to 1 mg dilaudid/3-4 hours....I was getting 1 mg/hour). All through this, I have had very little lower back pain (which the pump was for), and am now back to taking my breakthrough only 2-3x/week. As I mentioned in my post to Babs, the pain was unbearable pre-pump. I'd fallen hiking in 1970, then a series of minor auto accidents (rear-ends and one t-bone), age, falls (lotsa ice/snow in the Windy City, where I used to live), etc., created a recipe for degenerative disk disease, nevermind osteoporosis, chemo treatments in 2001, prednisone, - all conspired to end me up with horrific pain. I started with the 'canadian aspirin' (4 mg. codiene/tab), then 'graduated' to Lortab when I found out how well it worked without the side-effects of the Condeine (after breast surgery), but when it started going down my legs, I had to seek a pain doc...I couldn't stand for more than a few moments before the pain took over. Now, I can stand, well, as long as my lungs let me, with little pain, and with a walker, I can walk as far as my lungs allow - before the lungs really took a nosedive last year, and after the pump insertion, I could spend as much as an hour browsing through the store using the cart as a 'walker' with little to no pain. I now have a rolling walker and wheelchair, due to the fact that walking too far drops the O2 level in my blood. The docs figure I have NSIP (you can do a google on that).

I wish you the best, Deb! You'll do just fine! Let us know.

Babs, how's it working out? Did you get the pump in? I was kinda out of the loop for a few weeks...I ended up back in the hospital - again - with pneumonia/flare in March...it's gonna be so regular, I was told, that they're going to possibly put a medport in - I have NO venous access anymore!