Don't worry what others think! Many of us have 80E's behind our 5.3's or 6.0's. My cammed 5.3 has a HD2 shift kit and billet FTI converter and it hauls the mail! Yeah the trans is heavy, but soooo much stronger than the 60E by far.
Texas82GP's GMT900
- Thread starter Texas82GP
- Start date
I understand your pain well. At this point c2/c3, c4/c5, c5/c6, and c6/c7 have.... issues. As do t4/t5, t7/t8, L3/L4, L4/L5, and L5/S1. 3 levels stenosis, and theres sciatica in both sides but dominant on the right, and that radiculopathy (radicular pain) it sounds like you experience as well.
There are many options, not just surgery. I was forced into more non-surgical approaches due to extent, and the fact that FDA approval for replacement devices/disks don't allow for adjacent levels aside from fusion.
However, a good physical therapist who offers traction at their office can, over months, see a disc retreat back towards original position.
I also receive on a monthly basis epidural spinal injections (self explanatory) and radio-frequency ablation (they burn the nerve endings so your brain doesn't receive pain signals). Each trip targets a different level, some people they last a year, two years, or longer... others it's a few months. With ablation it depends.on individual body nerve regeneration rates.
Then there's the good old SCS systems, (spinal cord stimulator). Some these days use mini wireless leads, others implant a pacemaker type device around your hip/butt under the skin, then using a smartphone you adjust the amount of stimulation to the impacted nerves.
Point is, a ortho is a cutter and will focus on the fusion/discectomy/implant side, and a pain mgmt dr will focus more on injections, ablation, etc.
Whatever you do decide, I'd ask around and visit the different types. One good thing is they keep making advancements in pain treatment, and, in addition to the stem cell stuff some places are doing I recently read about how they believe the crispr technology may have chronic pain applications after some initial research.
Aside from that, hope you can get some relief. Pain sucks.
I tried the epidural and it maybe lasted a month. You can only get those a couple times a year so that wasn't gonna work. I know someone who does the ablation, again more than once a year. An ortho doesn't do back surgery, that's going to be neuro. Chiropractors help, but then again so does stretching, exercise, strengthening, etc.
GM put them behind the 4.3 V-6 in cargo vans. I had my 4L65E built up twice. It just didn't have enough capacity for this combination. After comparing output shafts between the 65E and 85E, I felt like the 60/65/70E's should never have been put in trucks.
Thanks. The Chiropractor was the first place I went. I had 16 adjustments over about three weeks. It either healed some or the Chiropractor helped. I felt the progress had plateaued and had a Tele-Doc with my primary care physician for an unrelated matter and discussed it with her. She set up an MRI. After the report came back, she referred me to a Neurosurgeon. I'm waiting for a copy of the report. I want to take it to my Chiropractor, let him review it and discuss it with him.
If I can resolve this without surgery, that's my strong preference. You guys have opened my eyes to a lot of options and I'm grateful.
I think the bean counters looked at the cost to produce the 60/65/70 vs the 80, and the CAFE benefits to having the lighter duty units, then considered the 2 facts that 1) most owners use the vehicles to haul nothing more strenuous than groceries, and 2) if it can make it past 5 years then they want to sell another truck anyways.
All in all it's not about durability or building capable trucks anymore. There's a reason older trucks are bringing the coin they are, in many cases equal to or more than they cost new.
Wow. You have it way worse and I'm sorry for that. Thanks for taking the time describe some of the treatment options. The better educated on this I am, the better off I'll be, hopefully.
Agreed. They didnt start putting 700-R4's in trucks to make them towing rigs. To be fair, for stock power levels with no abuse, they are ok (only ok). Drive it hard, put a load on it or hop up the power plant and no bueno.
Don't forget how utterly gutless everything was when the 700R4 came out. It probably wasn't the abomination it later became when hooked to a 180hp V8. Then they just kept hanging on and tweaking it here and there to get it to survive, also resorting to PCM trickery to pull timing on upshifts. I always wondered why there were no 6 speed autos in the 90s. My guess? It would have cost money, just keep pumping out these old POSs that don't require retooling. Most make it past 100k before they take a dump, that must have been good enough for GM.
Thanks, and you know, you'd be surprised.
My issues didn't all occur in one shot. And I actually had other areas that were helped by that aforementioned physical therapy where both broad based bulge/protrusion and narrow ones subsided, but none were ruptures (although there were tears in the annual disc which eventually healed, but, the repaired tissie will always be weaker. It also took a couple therapists to find the "right" one, different practitioners perform the same manual manipulations with different intensities, and, different bodies respond better than others when the treatment is rougher or gentler.) My insurance covered 40 appt per year at zero cost to a physical therapy program, outside deductible/coinsurance, and independent of chiro and other doctors so I am/was fortunate. Doesn't hurt to ask what yours treats things as.
Chiros do somethings one way, PTs do them another. Might not hurt to try different approaches if insurance leaves the attempt affordable. Same with a pain mgmt practice vs the neruo/ortho doctor. (I visited an ortho practice where all the ortho doctor treated was spine/neck issues, in addition to the neuro about the chronic issues) They can only cut once, but if that's what it takes to get relief it's well worth it. Also ask about the life of the device they choose to use if you do opt for the knife. Some devices only last 20 years or so, and, are difficult to replace because of how they modify the bones upon insertion - another reason among many we opted to forego surgical means on some earlier stages before everything had so many issues and it was no longer an option in some areas.
Meanwhile, on the one hand, honestly, other than the knowledge it was that way once, I don't remember what it felt like to wake up pain free anymore, can't picture it. BUT, it's kind of like that old joke - oh, xyz hurts? I'll punch you in the arm. That arm now hurts, but, xyz doesn't feel so bad now right? I've found usually its the one or two worst places that you feel the most. The others you're aware of, and, maybe they rotate.
take away - I'll bet what you feel right now is in its own way every bit as bad as what I (or others) go through, so, never feel when talking with your providers as if you need to downplay an impact or feeling. Don't worry about how they'd interpret it, or think other people you see in the office that may 'appear' worse make you feel you must be overreacting in any way or degree. Pain sucks, and different bodies have different tolerances and thresholds. All that matters is how your brain receives its particular signals and reacts. (There's people who have disc issues and feel no pain at all, lucky sons of...)
Now, you wouldn't be getting one with your issues, but, for 3 years after the lumbar and sciatica issues I refused to turn in my state disability placard because I felt like other people were worse off than I was. So I just walked real slow, and stopped every 100 feet or so for a bit because spasms would trigger and pain everywhere would be flaring. Eventually I gave in and admitted that part, got the tag, so, on bad days when I go out, things get a little easier. I was stupid and stubborn. Don't be an idiot like me when there's an alternative.
As an aside, in my case I've also been taking nerve pain medications, pain medications, and muscle relaxants for the last 5 years. Again, some things got rotated in and out, there were prescription antiinflammatories involved as well that were outside the purview of my primary care but the pain management doctor used and was more familiar with.. There are downsides, and upsides, and each area someone specializes in gives them different tools. Kind of like how you don't ask a Chevy rebuilder to do your Oldsmobile engine, they wouldn't know the specific tricks to get the best out of it and make thing work right.
And Supercharged111 was correct - things like the epidural have frequency limits, because in addition to the numbing agents there are steroids going in. Side effect of those shots is calcium depletion along with vitamin d and other issues. So, you need a good provider who educates you about those side effects going in and puts you on an appropriate vitamin regimen to compliment the medicines going into your body. Typically the older you are, and other health issues you have, influence what treatments are more recommended as far as frequency. I'm at 6 epidurals/yr and they hop between areas based on pain intensity for example.
And if you ever have questions about experiences with some of those treatment options (at least that I've done), feel free to ask in forum or pm.
