AVN and Morphine Pump

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Hi All,

I stumbled across this web site and hope ya'all don't mind if I ask a question. I have a difficult situation. I am a 34 yr old male, with four level degenerative disc disease. It's all lumbar, with one thorasic disc a little torn. I have been fighting chronic pain in my lower back and legs for almost 12 yrs, with the last two requiring high doses of oral morphine just to get out of bed. After my demand for pain meds exceeded supply, I was left with no choice but a morphine pump implant to control pain. My leg/thigh pain was getting worse and worse. During pump qualification an updated MRI was requested by my Pain Management doctor. That's when they stumbled across AVN, bilaterally in my hips. The AVN was caught real early. So early, my ortho is not sure what to do. I went ahead and had the pump implanted a few weeks ago and I'm enjoying some pretty decent relief. Not pain free, but much happier. To my question, what are the first symptoms that I can expect to feel as the disease progresses? If you don't mind a second question, is there ANYTHING I can do to slow the progress of this disease?

Thanks! Ken in SC

-- Ken Smith (ken_in_southcarolina@yahoo.com), March 28, 2004


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