Possible Broken Harrington Rod

[Bellmore1]

I had a Harrington Rod placed on my spine in 1973 when I was 12 years old. I am now 43 years old and am 8 months pregnant with my first child. Previously to being pregnant I had lower back pain below my fusion from a degenerative disc and maintained the pain with Naproxin. After finding out I was pregnant I discontinued the Naproxin and believe it or not my lower back is not giving me any trouble. But for the past two weeks I have had extremely bad pain a little to the right of my spine (where the rib protrusion is) but not as far as my right shoulder blade. Sometimes this pain goes through to my chest. I am in fear that my rod has broken with the pressure of the baby pushing up on my chest. Is this possible? What could be going on. I haven't gained that much weight in my pregnancy - I was about 125lbs before and now up to 147. The pain will go away if I can rest for about 10 hours with a heating pad or warm bath but then will come back in about 4-5 hours. Am I worried for nothing? I can't have any x-rays or medication till I delivery on March 11th.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

It's unlikely that your rod broke unless you have an area that never fused. You should make an appointment to be seen by your scoliosis specialist.

Regards,
Linda

[joshandtaysmom]

Hello, I to had scoliosis surgery when I was like 12 or 13. I am now 31. I had/have been having a lot of back pain. Last summer I went back to the dr. that did the surgery. That is when I found out that my rod is broken. I don't know when it happened. I just know I have constant pain in my shoulder blade on up. So, unfortunately, yes the rod can break. But, I do not know the solution.

[JerseyRob]

Hi all, Yes unfortuantely, the rod can break. My rods were inserted in 1980 and a few years ago I was having the pain between my shoulder blades and once it got too bad I went to see my surgeon. I actually went to a local ( in R.I.) hospital ER and they Xrayed me and told me they couldnt find anything ! I got a call 6 hours later from a different doc at the ER telling me Id better get to my surgeon.
Long story short, it DID break adn it CAN be fixed. However, I told him if it wasn't going to come poking thru my skin Id leave it be. Its been over 5 years and so far so good.
Does anyone know any NEW techniques that are bein done? Maybe I could have it fixed without too much hassel.

[wpg. Deb]

Congratulations on your first child!!!

Mine isn't great news either, i just found out my rod was broken, and yes it started with pain under my right shoulder blade. But don't panic get to a specialist, and after you have the baby hopefully it wil stop hurting. Remember that baby has pushed everything up and out of the way, so hopefully everything will go back to normal! As normal as we are lets say" special". Keep us posted for when you have that baby!

A new friend Debbie

[Bellmore1]

Baby

Hi this is Bellmore1. Just wanted to tell everyone that I did have my baby - a baby girl on February 29, 2004. I had an successful epidural with a successful delivery of Jill - 7lbs. 1 oz. My upper back is better but still has a tingley sensation once in a while. I do need to have an xray and see my doctor. But I feel much better.