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My suggestion is look for support group in your area that deals with chronic health conditions. I go to one and it has made a world of difference. I can vent about all these frustrations so I don't have to drive my family and friends crazy with them. Like this community on webmd - we all understand what you are going through and to find others who can relate can take a lot of the guilt off. I also suggest a good psychologist/therapist who specializes in people with disabilities or chronic conditions.
I've learned that it is completely ok to say no when I don't feel good to all the things my family and friends think I can still do but really can't. I don't give a big, long, explaination as to why. I just tell them I will definately try to attend something they want me at but can't committ until that day and not to take it personally. I also have learned my limits over time and try to at least do things I know are within my physical limits so I'm not completely home-bound. I decide which things are worth the pain afterward and choose the things I really want to do and not what other people really want me to do. It's ok - we know what we can do. They don't.View Thread


I'd be VERY intersted to know whether this works for you. I don't have spinal stenosis but still curious since I've asked around and can't seem to find anyone else who has actually had it.View Thread

Then there are your friends that used to be there for you all the time before your back problem started and are no where to be found now since you don't go anywhere they do so "out of sight, out of mind". I don't want to ask for someone to visit or call me. I'm still on facebook so it's not like they don't see my posts. If they do call - I don't want to talk about my medical problems and get everyone depressed but then I don't have anything else to talk about so it becomes awkward. Especially when they say "we should get together sometime and go out on the town or dinner!" and I say "I can't drive or sit for that long" then they get embarrassed because they forgot about my situation since they haven't kept in touch. I have found new friends over the years that have similar problems to my own in support groups so those relationships have grown and worked out well with people I never would have met otherwise.View Thread



In an article by Better homes and gardens Charles Rosen, M.D., clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine states:. "An enormous number of back surgeries don't give patients long-term relief," he says. There's even a term for what happens when an operation doesn't improve a patient's condition — "failed back surgery syndrome," said to be the only diagnosis named for a treatment that hasn't worked.
There is even an ICD-9 code for it that doctors use now so it is a real condition. I didn't make up the name - just using what is already been defined by the medical community. It doesn't mean that the surgeon did anything wrong. It just means what was intended to happen didn't happen or made matters worse.
Thanks for your $.02 - that is what this community is for. Your condition sounds much worse than mine and you know what it is to be in chronic pain.View Thread

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Thanks for the info! I will definately look into it.View Thread

BTW - I have a spinal stimulator and it does help with my facet joint and back pain as well as nerve pain in my legs. In my experience (and everyone is different with this so take it with a grain of salt) it relieves my pain about 35% better than without it.View Thread
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