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Yes, I know that. I have heard about people having a bunion removed and now there is pain all over the body.
My friend has phantom pain for over 15 years and since 2 years ago is now in a wheelchair.
Something further to think about, I wonder if when putting people to sleep so they don't feel the operation, maybe somewhere in the the brain it remembers the pain of the scalpel?
Admiral Hornblower lost an arm above the elbow to a cannonball. Crude surgery in those days. They just sawed off the end to make it smooth and cauterized & stitched the raw end. The artery, vein & nerve travel together in a bundle, and from then on he had excruciating pain with every heart beat as that bundle was scared together and the artery stimulated the nerve ending....
Today, surgery is more delicate with less scar formation, but there's always some scaring, and unfortunately, that can irritate the nerves too, causing that phantom pain & parasthesia....That scar can take a year or more to stabilize. It can get better or worse, on its own...and PT puts pressure on it too-- kinda like forming callouses as you get used to new work.
Treatment can be problematic. The psch/attitude side can only take you so far. Those crazy Yogis can train themselves to think sleeping on a bed of nails doesn't hurt, but most people can't do that extreme....Meds have their shortcomings-- as noted by others, narcotics will produce tolerance so that eventually they stop working, and the tranquiliizers/antidepressants & neuroleptics often don't work well & even more often have undesirable side effcts-- but you don't know until you try them. It's worth a try.
Accupuncture & TENS treatment (little electrical shock gizmo) can work in some pts-- also worth a try.
Because the basic problem is probably one of scar vs nerve, you can consider surgical revision. The problem is that scar formation is completely out of anyone's control, so new surgery means new scar and the result may be better or worse...There's also nerve resection or injection to just plain kill that nerve, but then you're left with complete numbness and walking may be dangerous or impossible after that.
Admiral Hornblower lost an arm above the elbow to a cannonball. Crude surgery in those days. They just sawed off the end to make it smooth and cauterized & stitched the raw end. The artery, vein & nerve travel together in a bundle, and from then on he had excruciating pain with every heart beat as that bundle was scared together and the artery stimulated the nerve ending....
Today, surgery is more delicate with less scar formation, but there's always some scaring, and unfortunately, that can irritate the nerves too, causing that phantom pain & parasthesia....That scar can take a year or more to stabilize. It can get better or worse, on its own...and PT puts pressure on it too-- kinda like forming callouses as you get used to new work.
Treatment can be problematic. The psch/attitude side can only take you so far. Those crazy Yogis can train themselves to think sleeping on a bed of nails doesn't hurt, but most people can't do that extreme....Meds have their shortcomings-- as noted by others, narcotics will produce tolerance so that eventually they stop working, and the tranquiliizers/antidepressants & neuroleptics often don't work well & even more often have undesirable side effcts-- but you don't know until you try them. It's worth a try.
Accupuncture & TENS treatment (little electrical shock gizmo) can work in some pts-- also worth a try.
Because the basic problem is probably one of scar vs nerve, you can consider surgical revision. The problem is that scar formation is completely out of anyone's control, so new surgery means new scar and the result may be better or worse...There's also nerve resection or injection to just plain kill that nerve, but then you're left with complete numbness and walking may be dangerous or impossible after that.
Well, that's encouraging. LOL. Out of the many things I've tied the meds wok best. A combination of gabapentin and a narcotic. Since the demons mostly come at night ( mostly) that's ok as they knock me out. I get casted for my first prosthetic this week. I'm hoping that being on two solid feet again is going to make a difference even if one is made of carbon fiber.
Building te leg back up and being weight bearing on that side again has got to have a positive impact. I've still got a real knee which is going to be a plus. I've got some atrophy to deal with but I've been there before. Th muscle will come back. Especially when I get into my permanent prosthetic which is going to be a Terminator leg. Pressure sensing fully mobile ankle.
Whatever it takes I'm going to fight like Hell and come back. I'm no stranger to pain but that doesn't mean we're fishin' buddies or anything . I've just put it in the front of my mind that I got this. Hopefully that put's the demons back in their cages.
Good to hear that the meds are effective. The narcotic won't be a problem for you if you have the fortitude to just use it intermittently-- once or twice a day. Tolerance build up quickly when you keep it in your system all the time.
One pitfall with a good attitude-- don't work at the PT so hard that you put a strain on the good leg and cause arthritic problems from over-work as it bears more of the load.
OP - I am a PT. Your attitude is excellent and as GLM said, I think you will do well. As a PT, I always tell my patients to back off if they have more than 3/10 pain anywhere in their body when doing the exercises. Backing off means reducing the intensity, reducing the amplitude of the movements, reducing both or even stopping for a bit (hours, days). Usually you can always find some exercises that cause no pain or only minimal discomfort.
NVP, I have no advice, just wanted to say I’m sorry you’re going thru this. Sending healing thoughts your way, I hope you can get to the bottom of it.
GLM @NC and Pug thank you very much. It's great to have support even if it is on an anonymous board. We Guido my good leg has been bearing a lot of extra load (especially when I was working) for 40 years. My knee plays up now and again and all my ...ill advised...youthful activity is starting to show so I'm afraid that is what it is. LOL, meh I'm used to it. But I do appreciate your advice. As an aside my son who is only 25 now decided he wanted to be like Dad and got himself all busted up riding bulls.
But it was something he had to do. There'd a pic of him on my profile of his first bucking sock ride when he was 12. Steer riding. he got tossed (after a good ride) kicked in the face (thankfully a glancing shot) and stomped. And he came out bleeding and covered in arena mud and all he said was "that was awesome." And he took 2nd and got a $120.00 check. I knew it was over at that point. He was gonna ride hell or high water.
Now after almost 7 years of brutal rodeo he's got more aches and pains than me. With that to 2NC nice to hear from someone in the PT practice. but my son kinda comes by that grab hold and hang on mentality honestly. I grew up cowboying and rode my share of rankness. Doing it as a chore turned me off to rodeo though and it was motorcycles did me in. But I will seriously consider what you advised. My problem there comes because I get mad at the pain or if I can't quite get past an exercise and I do force the issue. I've always been that way and I have paid for it many times. You think I'd learn huh? LOL
And thank you Pug. That's extremely kind and sweet of you and I'm very appreciative.
I knew about how the nerves work in the body. I do not know where the Tens Pads should be positioned.
Artificial electrical nerve interruption I have looked into. One doctor wanted to implant such a device in me surgically. Adoctor I know longer see. But I have tried the externl stimulators prior to my amputation for the pain the real leg was causing me without any success. Along with spinal inections which were also a bust.
One dip$h!t doctor I was referred to for pain management after the one I had been seeing left the state was insistent that all I needed was PT. Ummm...yeah. Been there done that.PT does not regenerate bone destroyed by disease nor does it do a thing to control that disease. Which as it turns out was going to win all along. It just took 40 years.
I went to a PT appointment and the therapist and I talked at length. I'm quite savvy as to what was going on wit my leg (no doctor knew better) and we came to that last conclusion above. Matter of fact PT would have made it worse. Muscle atrophy is one thing and PT is great for that. But it can't regenerate bone nor does it affect bone pain positively.
That aforementioned doctor I fired after a single appointment. 8 years of medical school to lose all his common sense. He just didn't want to write the meds my other doctor who left had me on. He was educated all right. Educated to believe anyone who needs pain medication is a drug seeker by default. Which is how he treated me. I was one deep breath away from choking that pink scrub wearing pansy to death right in front of the two nursing students he had with him.
Even though I had the leg unwrapped so he could see it and the nasty surface ulcerations the bone disease was causing he barely even glanced at it. I was a long time finding the medical care team I have now. I thank The Lord for them every day. I can control the pain and the other things that go with it with the meds I'm prescribed. One of the perks that goes with the phantoms is RLS. Which is at least as bad as the pain itself. When the phantoms trigger it's like my stump get to umping around and I can't be still.
THAT is some nasty stuff. I can't even describe how it feels. It's just...creepy. And combined with the phantoms would be unbearable without the meds. As I said earlier I'm hopping getting back to being weight bearing on that side will help. And I'll be able to do the things I do for regular exercise again f those things require focus so my mind will be diverted.
I eally do appreciate everybody's input. I do have a couple things to look at I hadn't considered before and support no matter the source is always welcome. I'll take all the help I can get.
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