Sorry to hear about your family's pain...

My father-in-law has terrible back pain and is also struggling with a medical system that seems unwilling and/or unable to properly deal with it. It can be very frustrating to say the least. He wears a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) unit that does provide some comfort. He also has his back fused and has some metal rods inserted also. His pain levels go up and down. He'll have a stretch of a few bad weeks and then the pain will dissipate for a while. When the pain is bad though, it is very hard for him to deal with, without strong medication. His doctors have told him that advances are being made in this area and better solutions will be coming. He has been dealing with his pain for about 10 years now.

On a related back problem note, my dog (a daschund, and thus prone to back problems) woke up screaming in pain the day after Thanksgiving. It was diagnosed as a calcified disk, rubbing against a nerve, but not the spinal cord. She's been on steroids and a muscle relaxant since then, but we are now reducing her medication. Hopefully she can avoid surgery (so far so good) as the disk in question is located between her shoulder blades and very hard to get to.

I wish you and your family all the best.

Peter

Miami, FL USA