pain
"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't want to shut down."