Hello to all. There are so many of you that I don't know and the rest of you are always in my heart. I have many questions for each of you as to how you and your family are but I will stick to the one that I named.

How many of you get a Rhizotomy when your pain gets out of control? I got my 2nd one in December and it had been about 2 1/2 years since my first one. It really helps even though for about 2 weeks the soreness makes you wonder what you have done to yourself.

I had such bad reactions to Remicade, MTX, Humira, Imuran, etc. etc. and the Prednisone has made my intestines so thin that they were tearing and had gotten quite dangerous so my drs. tell me they won't treat disease any more. We are just going for quality of life and the Rhizotomy is part of that.

My RA is very severe now and my spine is bad enough to make anyone shake their head if they read the MRI report. Besides the curvatures I have developed and the narrowings, etc.; I have 8 bulging discs. I wear a brace now most of the time and go to PT.

I am curious as to what all you are doing for quality of life.

Didn't mean for my first post in a long long time to turn in to a complaining session. Truly didn't mean it that way.

You are all very good friends and I have missed you.

Hugs and Blessings.
Possi

Where are you getting your Rhizotomies? I have had them in my lower back. The one on the left took good and I had no pain, the one the left was horrible. It left me with pain for 3 months on the right with no good result's. I have one on my neck set up for this Tues. but have never had one there. I am hoping for great results. Had new M.R.I.s taken to see what is going on up and down the spine. I have a bulging disc at L4 and L5 right above where I had a fusion 3 years.

How come you have so many bulging disc? Is it just from the progression of the RA?

Quality of life! Now that will be an different answer from all on here and at what stage they are in and how their family life is. It is different for all of. Dealing with the disease is a full-time job which leaves little time for quality of anything as far as I am concerned.

Hi there. I have never had Rhizotomy so have no answers there but as for quality of life well that changes day to day.

I guess it depends on your personal description of quality.
Many days I feel like what is the point when I can barely do anything. Other days I would say I have a good quality of life all things concidered. Take away the "all things concidered" and I would have to say I have no quality of life. Does that make sense?????

The best I can do is make the most out of everyday. When I am on the beach watching my kids excell at surf lifesaving, just the fact I was able to be there = quality of life.

All the best.

hi, good to see you again

glad the rhizotomies are helping with your pain

looking it up, sounds like its the same thing as the nerve ablations that the doc is talking to me about for my facet joint bone spurs / osteophytes pressing on the nerves in my neck. he did a cortisone injection, it helped some, but the effects only lasted a month or so. nerve ablation is one possibility. surgery of the bone spurs is another possibility. not thrilled with either choice at this point for a variety of reasons. thus always interested when i hear that you, rumble, etc have had good effects with a procedure that a doctor of mine is contemplating.

where (in your spine?) were yours done?

Hi Joyce, glad to see you posting. I know nothing about Rhizotomy. Hope it's able to help you with your pain.

HUGS
Gerri & Makaylah (my service dog - now 19 months old)

I get them on both sides; lower back when he finds the spot that lifts me off the table when touched. I see a spine specialist/pain management dr. at the Spine Hospital. He does mine with radio-frequency. He said he does most with chemicals now but I don't do well with chemicals of any kind so he sticks with the radio-frequency. When he grounds me, I always get the "Electrocuted!" thought.

The Rheumatologist says the AS has progressed to very severe in my spine. I am sure the RA doesn't help matters either.

Quality of life for me now is just being able to keep going. I have given up on the pain. If we can keep us fed, clothes washed, bills paid and house decently clean, we have a pretty good quality of life. Seriously, I feel I still have a good quality of life; it is just different than what I ever expected.

I have a very severe area in my neck and then a curve and then severe area between my shoulder blades and then a curve and then more bulging discs.

I hope you get some relief with your neck. I have never had one there.

Blessings.
Possi

I wholeheartedly agree with your thought on quality of life. If you can be there with your kids, you have a great quality of life. They are precious.

I have always been a pretty upbeat person but things are kind of getting to me lately. My Dystonia is really showing out. I got 20 Botox injections a week ago today and my eyes, face and neck are still really spasming. I go to the Neuro-Optho again next Monday. The Rheumatologist is going to inject my neck.

I have been to the ER a couple of times lately with my heart and the test showed that I have dead muscle at the bottom of my heart. When I had my surgery last year, they told me there was no damage. Now, I have to go back in and get him to explain to me when this happened. Can't do a lot of clarification on the phone with the PA.

My RA is so bad that my right hand is looking like a claw. Both wrists, both elbows, both knees (really bad), both ankles an my feet all make it difficult to walk/write/cook/etc.

I am having intestinal tearing and bleeding from a lifetime of steroids. It is serious.

All of this stuff makes me think that "quality of life" is just waking up again every morning.

Blessings.
Possi

Hi Sue. Good to see you.

I don't know if what I have had done is the same thing as you are having done or not. I know they can call things by different terms. The spine dr. told me that simply it is scrambling the nerves where they can't find their path and it relieves the pain. Doesn't do anything for my spine but does give me pain relief which I gladly accept.

The first one he sedated me for. The 2nd one in December, he didn't. They do give me a big dose of Benydryl because of all of my allergies to help head off any potential problems.

Hope you get some relief.

Hugs and Blessings.
Possi

Hi Gerri!! Good to see you. I think of you every day when I see a magnet from you on my fridge.

My, it doesn't seem like that long since you got your service dog. I withdrew my application for a service dog because I can't hold the leash any more. I do have a precious dog that hangs with me every day through good and bad. We adopted her at a No-Kill Shelter. She is a Brussels Griffon and the sweetest dog you can imagine. I was up most of the night last night because of my pain and she was up right with me. She is a blessing.

So good to talk to you.

Blessings.
Possi

Hi Possi, good to see you again. I have no words of advice but just wanted to send you a cyber hug .
You are amazing to stay so positive with all you deal with on a daily basis...a true inspiration.

I remember you are a Christian. This scripture gave Jon a lot of comfort when he was having a hard time with his AS.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "Therefore we do not give up, but even if the man we are outside is wasting away, certainly the man we are inside is being renewed from day to day. For though the tribulation is momentary and light, it works out for us a glory that is of more and more surpassing weight and is everlasting; while we keep our eyes, not on the things seen, but on the things unseen. For the things seen are temporary, but the things unseen are everlasting."