Brief Answer: Pumps are a good way of Regulating pain Detailed Answer: Hello. My name is Vinay. I've managed alot of people with Back Pain in the past and I normally start discussing a pain pump with them when I know that there is not operative method for relieving their pain and long term physical therapy is either not possible or not working well enough. Oral pain medications can cause ALL kinds of side effects. Not to mention being addictive and losing their effectiveness over time. So I never like to patients on High dose opiods for very long (it's a gut call as far as how long very long is.. I think 10 years pretty long though). An intrathecal pump is a very good option for you as long as you are trained well on how to manage it and care for it. It SHOULD cut down the use of narcotics to a minimum or even get you off of them and the side effect profile is much better than oral medication (think about it, your not circulating the drug through the blood, your delivering it directly to the part of the body that hurts). A trial needs to be done first to determine if intrathecal pump implantation would work for your pain management. If you achieve a good level of pain relief (50 percent or greater) you may be a candidate for a permanent pump. Although uncommon, risks include infection, bleeding, itching, difficulty urinating, nausea, discomfort, drainage or swelling at the surgical site, severe headache, swelling in the extremities, increased pain, weakness or numbness or a disconnected catheter. I hope this helps you with your decision. If you have any further questions related here or to any other medical issue, feel free to follow-up with me here. Thanks for coming to HealthCareMagic.com

---

Brief Answer: All implanted, refills by professional Detailed Answer: Hi. So the only implantable pump I'VE ever used here in India is the 'Synchromed' infusion pump by Medtronic. The whole thing, pump, catheter and all are implanted beneath the skin and a well trained nurse or doctor can refill the pump at regular intervals by injecting the meds into a refill port that they will be able to feel beneath the skin. I'm not aware of any other types of pumps at this time. You might want to ask your doctor if this is the same one. If you like, you can give me the name and model of the pump that they plan to implant and I will do some research on it for you. Now. I really like fentanyl patches in my post operative patients. The patch delivers the drug through the skin at a constant rate and in my opinion the pain control is better. But as with ANY narcotic, patch or otherwise. The body gets used to it after a while and you have to use steadily increasing doses to get the same effect. So it might be that you are at the point where even the more powerful patches are not having much of an effect on you. So do patches work? Yes, I certainly think so, but you've got to pik and choose your patients very carefully. Hope this helped. Lemme know what you find out about the pump and we can discuss it further. Thanks again for coming to HealthCareMagic! Take Care.

---

Brief Answer: Lets shoot for the best of BOTH worlds Detailed Answer: Hey there. Thanks for following-up. I agree that Quality of Life is the most important issue here. But i'm afraid that the Opiods that are working now will fail to work in the future. The more you take oral opiods.. the more your body tolerates... the more you need to achieve the same effect. That's just the way the body works. The pain pump may never get you off ALL of the Oral Meds (Most of the time it DOES, in my experience) but it will cut down the doses that you need. So your getting meds both ways. That cuts down the side effects of the Oral Meds quite a bit. And remember.. as you age, the option of a pump implantation may be taken off the table if your not stable enough for surgery. So keep this stuff in mind. And bounce any other ideas you have off of me whenever you want! Thanks for coming to HealthCareMagic!

---