Looking for what others have done

drmccubx

To all, 

Here is my situation. I am middle aged. 3/4 inch leg length discrepancy . Right leg 3/4 inch shorter than left. Mild Scoliosis , degenerative bone disease and some arthritis in my back.  I take a daily pill to deal with the pain. And it helps , though still when i get out of bed every morning there is a lot of pain. And of course when i move through out the day i get pain leaning forward , bending over , etc . I've had this pain for over 10 years. 
  Recently had the test where the doctor put in a block to find where the pain is. Block didn't work. I still felt pain in my back even with the blocks. 
  Issues are this . Pain med not great on the stomach. 
Side note , I have HHT which gave me AVM's in my stomach which can actively bleed . Making me slightly anemic .   Thus taking this pain med or others isn't good long term . 
  Now They said the word "surgery" as being a possible next course of events . I don't know what surgery and how it "could" help but I am willing to listen . I've had 3 surgery's in the past 3 years. both knee's replaced . one done one year , the other 2 years later. And recently had inguinal hernia surgery . So , as you can imagine I am sick of surgeries. 
   Given all that , I'd rather not have another surgery . And i've heard surgery's on the back have limited success ?  Am i wrong ? 
    Any answers or conversation is welcome. 
My daily pain level is a 5 at times with certain movements . But sitting here typing i am ok. My back is long over due to get some help with though. 
    thanks everyone. Glad to find a forum . 

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @drmccubx

Welcome to the community!

I'm so sorry to read that you have been in so much pain. I can understand not wanting to have yet another surgery as I'm in a similar position. Have you ever been referred to a pain clinic for an assessment? I'm wondering if they would be able to provide pain relief that won't affect your stomach. 

I unfortunately don't know about the success of back surgery, maybe someone here can give an insight. I would of course, encourage you to speak to a specialist. When I was going through my surgeries, I looked at medical journals through SAGE to gain more information.