Shoulder Pain Pump: "I can either spend the rest of my life in pain or a narcotic stupor."

La Conner, WABefore his second shoulder replacement surgery, Larry asked his orthopedic surgeon if he was going to get another shoulder pain pump. "We don't do that anymore," his doctor said. And that's when Larry understood why he has suffered so much pain.

Larry says he has lived with chronic pain for more than six years and has undergone five shoulder surgeries. It all started when he had a nasty fall at work and tore his bicep muscle; since that accident his quality of life has increasingly diminished.

"My first arthroscopic surgery was to repair damage from my fall and the second was an attempt to give me a better range of motion," Larry says. "About four years ago I had yet another surgery, and that's when I had the shoulder pain pump.

"The pain got much worse and I had almost no range of motion. I'm not talking about an ache in my shoulder to indicate a significant weather change; this pain was unbearable.

"I had a battery of tests, including MRIs, and found out that I had no cartilage left. My doctor said I needed more shoulder support and cartilage was the problem—big pieces of cartilage were 'getting stuck' in my shoulder. Six months later I was back in the hospital, this time to have a complete shoulder replacement. How could that happen? All the tendons and muscles in my shoulder have been cut out and I believe it is because of the pain pump. If not for that, the shoulder replacement should have taken care of the problem.

"My surgeon said that I had nothing left in my shoulder to support the existing joint. But the shoulder replacement didn't work. My fifth surgery replaced the artificial shoulder with yet another, this time they used a longer support shaft going to the bone.

"I can't relieve the pain and nobody knows what to do. My family doctor wants to prescribe Oxycontin and orthopedic surgeons want me to have yet another surgery. The way I see it, I have three choices: spend the rest of my life in pain or in a stupor. Or see a pain doctor.

"Even if I try to lift the covers off the bed I get terrible pain. If I do anything at all, I get more pain. I can lift a cup of coffee but my limit is a gallon of milk. My doctor told me that I can't lift more than 5 lbs. I try to be active and I hate to accept the fact that I am crippled. I was a fisherman and had a lot of hobbies, like bowling and gardening. I still try to plant a few things but after 10 or 15 minutes the pain gets worse.

"This shoulder pain pump has really screwed up my quality of life. Of course I can't say for sure that it was the pain pump but you would think with an artificial joint I would live happily ever after, but that's not to be…

"I don't blame my doctors; I believe they did everything possible. I guess the shoulder pain pump seemed like a great idea at the time, but now so many people have problems because they didn't know the damage it could cause. You'd think the pain pump manufacturers would know this eats up cartilage. I honestly don't think doctors knew the damage it could cause because they are so busy—but they get blindsided later.

"I hate taking Oxycontin because I know it is addictive and it doesn't help alleviate the pain unless I take too much; the more you take the worse it gets—it's just a bad way to go. As an aside, a few months ago I broke my ankle in five places; I have pain but it is manageable—no pain pumps were involved in that surgery. I would be more than happy if my surgeon could just deaden my entire shoulder, but I know that is dangerous and they won't do it.

"If I have to deal with this pain for the rest of my life, at least I should get some compensation for it. Money doesn't make you happy or solve problems, but it might make life easier. Maybe I could afford a really good pain doctor with the money."