Ok, it's a little over 3 months now since my injury. I am amazed! I am doing incredibly well and have tapered down my pain meds to 1/3 what I was on 1 month ago. I had been on oxycontin for over 6 months due to arthritis pain, then this injury, but right before the injury, I'd ben approved for a higher dose of Humira- taken ever week instead of every other week. It was amazing. I would have had a much more mightmarish experience with the thoracic herniation if I had still been suffering from extreme hip and SI joint pain. It used to hurt so bad to lie down and pain would wake me up every hour or two, that I slept in 2-3 hour shifts, taking a break in the middle of the night to get up and watch TV or something, then nap during the day. Laying flat on my back for near 2 months due to the herniatino would have been much more the nightmare that it was. My only real pain was from the injury itself.

I had the ESI and the doctors and I think I had an allergic reactino to something in the shot that caused a severe inflammatory response. Once that wore off, about a week 1/2 from injection, the steroids finally started to work. I slowly, but surely had improvement. Now, I am back to about 75% of where I was before. We were able to get rid of the housekeeper which was killing us to pay for and I can now finally take care of the kids. It's still hard with the almsot 2 y/o becasue I'm not supposed to pick him up or hold him unless he's in my lap. My neurosurgeon told me that I have to be incredibly careful or I'll end up likeI was 3 months ago. One wrong move, and I'm screwed. So that's where I'm at. I'm doing a lot of the household chores again, but hubby and kids are helping me with anything that requires bending, lifting, or reaching. Hubby still makes dinners most nights too, since by the end of the day, I am more sore.

I am off the Oxycontin completely and on Norco now. During my taper, I've had some not-so-fun brushes with withdrawl symptoms, but so far it's not been terrible. I'm taking 2 Norco every 6 hours now and its ok, but I start to feel withdrawl at around the 5 horu mark. I'm toughing it out though. I'm hoping to get off all pain meds completely over the next few weeks if I can stand the level of pain I'm in.

I also got H1N1 and so did my hubby and 4 kids. that flared up my arthritis disease and led to worse back pain all around, but I'm nearly over it now, no complications either, despite me being the poster person for them, with aasthma, diabetes, being immunosuppressed, and overweight.

I hope everyone here can find some relief and get the help that they need. Debilitating back pain is horrible. Good luck to all of you. I'llprobably not be back unless I have further problems. Thanks to Pete and all the others who offered me support and a shoulder to lean on.

ttfn
-Jenn

*too tired to go back and fix spelling mistakes. LOL!