Granny's gone and done it again

I go to a pain clinic Chick. Is that the same thing ?
Should be. I did some temp work for a pain specialist back in Central IL. I was really impressed with her and the art of pain management in general.

When I went to see the Rheumatologist one day and having so much neck pain that I couldn't stand straight, they suggested I see a pain specialist. I did, or rather I saw their PA who recommended radio frequency ablation to me for my neck pain. I just kind of blinked at her, knowing what that was and asked why they were recommending that without doing an MRI or CT scan of my neck and shoulders. Oh, they kind of blinked at me and said, why yes, that was what they were just going to suggest....yeah right. I had an MRI done though and that was when they found the degenerative disc and degenerative foramen diseases going on in my cervical spine along with some pressure on my spinal cord and stenosis throughout my neck. They told me if it was there it was probably all through my back, especially my lower lumbar spine, which is the other area that I have a lot of pain in. I had them send me a copy of my results and had a chance to do some research so when I went back to them, I told them 'look, I'm not a medically uneducated person. I know that what I have isn't going to get better, only worse. I'm not ready to use the big gun treatments while a smaller gun will do the trick.' I went to my DO who is fantastic and told him what was going on. He told me I was making the right choice for now and got me into PT which helped my neck pain a lot along with steroid IM.

Granny have you done PT lately? Medicare is great about paying for it after meeting deductible. I know someday I will have to have the RFA treatments but not now.
 
I would totally take the massage!
She said it was deep tissue massage and to drink lots of water afterwards to remove the toxins the massage would break down or I would be in a world of pain so I said no thanks.
 
what is radio FA ? My pain clinic offered me massage and put my on pills
They use heat from radio frequencies to kill small nerves that carry pain impulses. They insert a needle cannula that they feed a fine wire through, then using xray visualization, find the nerve they want to burn and let it have it with the radio frequency heat.

Being a HAM I can appreciate that. When we send out radio transmissions, our antennas and even the feed wires, the wired coming from the antenna to the house can become hot enough to burn skin if you come into contact with them. Sometimes even the equipment, if not properly grounded can cause burns.

The ablation, the burning of the small nerves can give relief from two weeks to 6 months I was told. Rarely a years worth of relief but it is an individual response. And no real guarantees that it is going to work.

I'm curious too. Why not the tens unit? My PT gal used a heavy duty tens unit on me. I kept telling her to crank it up. She was amazed that I could tolerate it as high as I did but I tell ya, it helped big time.

Personally I was glad I turned it down and more glad that the PT, the steroids and the RX pain meds work for me. I have one spot in my neck near my shoulders that is very sore to the touch that I'm keeping an eye on. I have steroids on hand that the doctor wants me to take but I hate taking them due to the side effects.

Gotta head out to take care of the chooks.

If you guys need bugs, you should come here in the summer. Grasshoppers, crickets, earth worms, you name it we got it!
 

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