"i have had a fusion of l4 and l5 in 2004 was doing fine until last year when i began to have pain in my low back and right leg accompanied with numbness and tingling down the leg. i also managed to severely rupture a few discs in my neck while stretching of all things. was misdiagnosed by the surgeon who only fixed one of the ruptures with a fusion of c7. off course this still left me with pain and numbness from my neck down both arms. about a month or so ago i switched to a spine and pain management doctor and he put me on the lyrica (75mg 3x daily) and a duragesic patch. these two drugs have worked wonders for my pain and quality of life. 
the only side effect is that my short term memory is a little sketchy and my mind doesn&#039;t want to shut down."