Osteopathic manipulation therapy

[mainepain]

Well I had my first round of OMT (Osteopathic Manipulation Therapy) and so far so good.

Whether it actually helps or not remains to be seen.

I will say that after my first session I did feel a bit better.

The good news is that if this works then I might be able to taper and eventually stop taking pain meds. At any rate I do hope to reduce my intake.

One thing he did say was that long term use of narcotics can lead to increased pain and when I mentioned to him that I was familiar with the term he was surprised. Apparently not very many of his patients are aware of this.

[Mark N]

I hope the good news continues with these treatments. You are right you can't tell the long term results at this point but I hope the initial good results continue.

[mainepain]

My Wife, her family and I rented a cottage in Old Orchard Beach for the weekend so I am taking it easy. :D Unfortunately, there is another winter storm brewing but it is still nice. I just love the ocean. Too bad it's too cold to swim.

Anyways, my body is starting to hurt a bit from earlier. I was told that might happen. I know if this is going to work it is certainly going to take more than one session but still it'd be nice if all this would stop. I do think that the doc doing the OMT is a bit skeptical that this may work because I've been dealing with it for so long but I've tried everything else so what not this. No one is forcing me this is my choice.

As for the Lahey clinic apparently they want to take more MRIs of my Lumbar, Thoracic, and Cervical Spine. They also want to perform some more EMG/NCV tests because my upper legs and groin and both feet are going numb and by numb I mean I lose all feeling. I also have what I believe to be sciatica?? in my right leg. It's very unnerving.

The good news is that the pain meds I take stop most of that horrible pain. Well it brings it from an 8 down to a 4 and I can live with that. What they don't do is help with the numbness or electrical like pins and needles.

[Mark N]

Mainepain, sounds like you are taking time to relax and enjoy yourself. It is important to take that time and many times we don't take enough time to enjoy ourselves [hard to do when we are in pain].

At least the Lahey Clinic seems to be taking your symptoms seriously. The numbness indicates some kind of nerve damage. I know when I lost all feeling on my left side from my T8 down was due to cord compression. It can be from some other form of nerve compression but it does indicate some kind of nerve problem. I hope the additional test helps the clinic determine the source of your problem. Enjoy the rest of your time at the cottage and good luck with the test.

[Kathi49]

mainepain,

I agree with Mark and am GLAD the clinic is going to perform all those tests. But it really sounds more than sciatica is going on. I only say that because my husband and I both have problems with the L5/S1...different things though. My feet are NOT numb...but his right foot is. And it is not Sciatica. I have had sciatica-like pain before but once the piriformis muscle was released; that stopped. I still have the pain though following the L5/S1 dermatome. But in any case, I think the clinic will get it all sorted out. And have fun and relax at the cottage this weekend. :)