Chronic Pain

I am new and I do not have chronic pain, but my husband who is 39 has for over 3 years in his back and legs. About 2 years ago he had a pain pump implanted and it worked great until the end of October when the skin over it turned red and hot. They said it was a bad infection and tried IV antibiotics for a while, however as soon as they took him off, it came back and they ended up removing the pump. They left it out for about 5 weeks and then put a new one in just 5 days ago. His skin is red and hot again and they are saying it looks like another infection and they're hoping they won't have to take it out again. Has anyone ever heard of a body "rejecting", for lack of a better word, the pain pump. When they replaed the pump, they put it on the opposite side as before, so it seems strange that he would get the same thing so quickly. Also, the incision on his back looks great. Has anyone heard of anything like this?

It may not be an infection at all. He may be having a type of allergic reaction to the material the pump is made of, to me it is a perfectly logical conclusion that could be it (though not a doctor), or he could be allergic to the medication or solution the medication is delivered in.

For example I wasn't always allergic to morphine until just last year when I had a reaction to it after a surgery. I would keep in mind that just because your husband wasn't allergic to any of the material or medication then doesn't mean he isn't now. I would ask the doctor if it is a possibility and make decisions from there.

If it is infection as it also sounds like, and his body is rejecting it you may ask them if they could use antibodies like they do for patients who get trasnplants to keep them from rejecting a part. If that isn't an option then maybe he needs to come off the machine and his body checked for immune deficeny. While he is on it he may try Fentayl Patches or other things for a while. If its not allergies it really could be an immune system problem. It's the only other logical thing I can think of based on my knowledge. Which admittedly isn't much unless you need Emergency Medical knowledge and first aid. It's something we would ask about though, you can bet on that.

Good luck to your husband and you, I hope it works out! Please keep us updated!

Haley

It has been a little over a month and the Drs. have said it is cellulitus (spelling?). He's still in IV antibiotics and they're trying to save the pump. He'll probably be off the antibiotics in a week or so and then we'll see what his body does when he's off. We have been the route of the Fentanyl patches and oral pain medications. He was even on the suckers for a while and it took care of the pain, but created extreme behavior and an addiction we're still trying to recover from. The prialt was a Gods send because it got him off all the narcotics. Thanks for your reply.

Hello, my name is Sheila and I have also had 2 pumps infected that had to be taken out. The first one, I only had in for 1 month so I can't really say that one helped me. I do know that my Neurosurgeon made me wait 5 months to implant the 2nd one because he told me that my body had to heal and that it would happen again if he didn't wait this amount of time. I can't believe that they only waited 5 weeks to implant again.
I have a question for you that I hope that you can answer, I hope that you still check this because your answer could be very helpful to me.
After having the 2nd pump put in, I did wonderful as far as it controlling my pain. I went from a high level of pain, to about a 2 or 3 on the pain scale. I was able to keep this one for 5 months. Unfortunately, I rubbed my belly so hard against something that my skin literally ripped where the pump was and I received a horrible infection. Since then I have been doing WORSE with my pain!! When I woke up from surgery from this pump being taken out, I was screaming in pain. Did your husband go through the same thing? I actually had to be hospitalized over my high blood pressure due to pain. My blood pressure was SOOO high due to pain. But I do not remember my pain being this severe before I had the pump and I truly believe that while I had the pump, that I lost a whole lot of my pain tolerance that I had accumulated for nearly 12 years prior to having the pump.
Was your husbands pain worse after he had the pump removed? What I mean is did he have less pain before the pump was implanted?
Your reply sure would help me. My doctors told me that my pain is controlling my blood pressure because they have run stress tests on me and lots of other tests and the only thing that touched my blood pressure is pain relief.
Could you please reply back to me concerning this? Thank you.
As for your question, I believe that the doctors didn't wait long enough to make sure that the infection was COMPLETELY out of his system. It's actually dangerous to do and they should have waited.
Sincerely,
Sheila