I saw the Neorosurgeon on Wednesday re my (apparently two) bulging lumbar discs.
After considerable poking and prodding and making me walk across the room on tiptoe (agony) and then on my heels (more agony), he said that as I had strength in my lower limbs, no incontinence (Hooray - let's hang on to the good things) he thought the risks of surgery outweighed any possible benefit.
I must say that is a mighty relief. So it's pain management for me. He was astonished that I was on a very low dose of pregabalin (25mg bd). Said I can go up to 300mg twice a day. Naproxen continues.
Good news is that even increasing pregabalin to 100mg twice a day is making a difference. The PMR flare seems to have abated so I'm tapering down the pred - now on 15mg.
A bit of a journey ahead but I'm very positive.
Last week I couldn't move without awful pain. Today I'm up and about looking forward to getting on with my day.
Love checking in to this forum. First thing I do in the morning. Always something inspiring or instructive and lupins this morning too!
Thanks everyone.
Christine
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I am so glad they increased pregabalin, you were on a tiny dose really. The fact you could walk and do the heel/toe exercise is good. Hopefully your body is starting to absorb the bulges. Enjoy your less pain life but no picking anything heavy up for a while!😃
😂 it must have been like coming home to a new house. You get used to.nit doing things like that.
My garden needs bottoming and I would love raised sleeper beds. In the distant past I would have done it. Very frustrating. Probably why I ended up with a wrecked back. 😂
My late hubby used to say same. But I put all the blame on him - he was in the forces when we married and in the 60s/70s nearly everyone had MOD issued furniture and fittings - so they only way to make “your” home different was to put the furniture in a different layout to your neighbours!!
Once you’ve started that way - it’s difficult to stop!
Too true! I once turned a whole room round, including a piano and pictures on the wall. Took me four hours. Sat down. Didn't 'like it and moved it all back! X🙂
Absolutely , and let's face it they shouldn't have complained that much , the reason we turned everything around when they were out of the house in the old days was because we wanted to get the job done while they were out without the moaning , fuss and bother of them being there and " helping " out.😋😂😂
Oh. It's lovely when you get them settled down. I have a three Yr old (William) and a 20 month old (Isla) and they share a bedroom when they stay with me. They chat away, one with real words and the other with mainly made up ones until they fall asleep.
The medications are really helping now Angela. Such a relief
So glad that despite the agony you came away with some positive help.
Glad the increase of Pregbalin is helping you already .
Just a bit of advice there .
Thankfully , I noted you are tapering up the dose . That is best to stop and to monitor the side effects as they can increase as your dose gets higher.
I myself , had to stop the increase at 175 mg a day as above that the effects of brain fog and drowsiness and some added tremor made the effects outweigh the benefit for me , everybodys different of course , some people take more than 300 and don't react the same.
It's also a good idea to slow taper up and try each new dose for four to five days before increasing again to be able to get the body balance on the new dose and see if that dose does all you need.
There's no point increasing all the way up to 300mg just because that's as high they direct if , at the moment , you could have manageable pain control on 150mg - 200mg.
It's taking a higher dose for no real purpose and most importantly limiting your options later for flares or if the pain from other issues does get worse.
If you need 300mg now , great , if you don't , save the further increase for if or when you do , so you don't have stronger side effects when you don't have to or become desensitised to the positive effects of higher doses when you need it .
Find which level will work for you as an individual right now and stick with that , giving you room to rise later .
Have a great day and I hope the good news continues , none of us want to have to go through surgery if we don't have to.
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off pred…. Update
I need help with medication 
Latest after seeing rheumy
Confused & frustrated!
