The girlfriend is about 5'9, 130 lbs, 35yo. (Im 22 so yeah, she's a cougar)

She has pretty severe lordosis with moderate spinal stenosis in the cervical/upper thoracic vertebre. We currently doing physical therapy, but her pain is so bad 30mg oxy dosent touch it. (No tolerance either) It seems to be mostly muscular pain in the area behind the scapula, traps, and neck muscles. As far as topical ointments go, ive tried them all. Tiger Balm, menthol, heating pads, ben-gay, capsascin etc.

I was wondering if one of you genius' out there (no sarcasm, you dude's are scary smart) Could put some of those brain cells into action to help me develop some sort of transdermal that actually works. Im no pro at this stuff, but would transdermal asprin be a possibility?

Her current supps are...

Multi
Vit-c
ALCAR
Kratom(sorta helps the pain)
Vit-d
Coq10
Inositol
Sesamin
GTE
Garlic
High Dose fish&flax
and some random others here and there

Scripts that dont help-
Zanaflex
Soma(sorta works)
15mg extended release cyclobenzaprine
Mobic
Celebrex


Any ideas on anything (exercises, supps, electro-therapy) would be greatly appreciated. It brings me to tears to see her suffer like this, and finding a decent doctor, well, ive got a better chance of seeing God.

Thanks to all who help, it is more appreciated than you know.

Matt

If you can get ahold of the Lipoderm or Ab-Solved carriers you could drop some NSAIDs into it, or maybe some glucosamine. IIRC there are several studies done using NSAIDs and topical carriers. I wanted to try this a while back, never got around to it though.

Sense it is muscular pain why not just ask the MD for some morphine patches? I would think insurance would cover it sense the pain is stemming from a condition and she is non-compliant with other pain meds. or just try other meds. Not everyone responds to pain meds.

I've had extremely good luck over the years with a commercial chinese liniment call Zengushui. You can get it right from Amazon...

Thanks yall, id rather go non-opiate, so would she. Ive gave her some 4mg hydromorphone once and she said it was weaker than a perky 10.

As far as getting those topical carriers, will the Avant boys sell that sans other ingrediants? Im not even sure how to find out if the Mobic would be the correct MW. Would I have to extract the fillers from said NSAID? Is there any danger of to much drug TD? (My guess some would get destroyed orally)

Thanks again

Just got back from the nuerologist, and she will be recieving Botox SubQ injections. (To block acetylcholine from intiating muscle spasms.) I mentioned to him a TD cox-2, and he said while there is nothing on the market, he will do some research about incoporating some Indocin into the injections, and possibly helping me put together a TD.

However, I acutally trust some members here more than most docs, even though this one is by far the best ive ever met. (My GP never heard of Deprenyl and said all MAO drugs will kill you, and gave me Roxi 30's for a simple back sprain)

Also if you have any advice on excersizes (Marc McDougal request) to help her, it would surely be appreciated. I will post some pics upon reasonable request if there is any interest in her current postural deviances.

Thanks

I think fixing the lordosis will go a long way towards helpin her back, obviously. What do you currently have her doing?

Hit up Par for some local TD carrier. ZSupps might also be able to help you out with this.

Im having her do a toned-down version of LFLYOC, bi-weekly, with some running, and mostly trying to isolate the upper back muscles. Side and front lateral raises, rack pulls, bent over rows, dead-lifts, suqats, overhead fly's, and some random neck excersizes. She says they help somewhat. I am also starting her on the McKenzie method.

Bumpity bum bump. Any ideas on the TD aspect of this? Her insurance wont cover the botox, and I really cant afford it ($5,000 to mix what she needs)

You can try magnesium sulfate cream to relax the muscles, which might help the pain. It is cheap and widely available.

I learned about a homeopathic cream called Traumeel from an old post on this board. It's indicated for muscle and joint pain.
Now, I've never really believed in homeopathy but, the main ingredient here is Arnica which my Doc. feels has some efficacy.
I think it may help. It's often very hard to tell (for me at least) whether some of these topicals actually work. But, I've tried many and feel Traumeel may actually
be of some benefit. Might be worth a shot. A decent price would be about $20 for a 3.5 oz tube of ointment.


http://www.allnaturalusa.com/IBS/SimpleCat...-id/638553.html

If it is really stenosis and her pain is that bad that 30 of oxy can't touch it, I'm surprised she hasn't had either and anterior cervical discectomy or a foraminotomy to relieve the compression on her spinal cord/nerve roots. Is the neurologist just trying less aggressive approaches before surgical intervention?

I don't know all that much about the stuff, but you might look into DMSO, either by itself or as a transdermal carrier. Here's the wikipedia link to get a general idea of what it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_sulfoxide

Her neurologist is one of the best docs ive ever met, however, he thinks its poor posture. She gets comments from people all the time that she walks "proudly" and has better sitting posture then most. However, the severe pain does coincide with getting a desk job from previously being on her feet (and knees haha) most of the day. She did have lower back pain and minor upper pain before the desk job though.

I sincerly appreciate the replies. It hurts me deeply to see her in pain all the fucking time, and really pisses me off that with all my resources and small bits of knowledge, that I still am not helping it to the point I would like to be.

Have you tried accupuncture, there was a few studies that showed an actual organic effect on opiate receptors from it, so it may be worth trying.

Traumeel was mentioned, i personally am not a fan of homeopathy but its pretty non invasive and worth a shot.

Traumeel is great. I was completely skeptical of it, but it clears up DOMS with quickness.

This is worth a read. From T-Nation, Conquering Enemies of the Spine.

http://www.t-nation.com/article/performanc...es_of_the_spine

have you tried lidocaine?

No, but ill go to the store in a minute and grab some. Just the oral analgesic shit right? Or is that to weak?

1. if you are in or near Seattle PM me as there is a resource there that might be of help, but only if you could see them in person.

2. Arnica i.e. traumeel works great but on acute injuries e.g. DOMS but I don't know it would be effective in your setting.

3. Zengushui I've used many times e.g. broken little toe and works amazingly well. I would definitely listen to Benson who turned me on to both the arnica and the Zengushui.

4. Iyengar yoga can probably be of some help in that it can correct some of the spinal misalignment OVER time. It it likely the most appropriate kind of yoga FOR *THIS* PURPOSE as it is excellent at rehab type issues.

5. Spinal stentosis is narrowing of the canal inside the boney spine with pressure on the spinal cord/nerve roots. Aside from surgery or possibly the person in seattle, I know of nothing that can adress **this component**. But is the spinal stenosis really the problem/cause of the major problems?

6. "It seems to be mostly muscular pain"

That is different in which case yoga over time which can adjust e.g. maligned posture/muscles and that along with e.g. good masage therapist and ART person can handle the different pieces of the puzzle. I know someone who radically transformed their body this way and if you thought helpful they's probably be open to telling you about their experience.

find good iyengar yoga teacher here:

http://www.iynaus.org/Search/search.aspx

Damn, you guys are awesome, thanks!!!