Hi, Thanks for writing in. Back surgery helps many patients with their pain but in some the pain might not be relieved completely. As you have had 3 back surgeries, the scar tissue might be causing irritation of nerve roots in the area. There is a condition called as failed back surgery syndrome and this is not a real syndrome. It is a condition where even after back surgery patients continue to experience pain as before or even worse due to many reasons. This is not due to the failed surgery as such but there might be one or more areas where nerve pinching is persistent and it is not possible to release the pressure on nerves entirely by doing surgery. This is possibly the reason you are having so much pain including in the hips and legs. Fentanyl and hydrocodone might help initially but then slowly these can develop tolerance and medications need to be reviewed regularly. Newer medications are being developed which are targeted to nerve related pain. Please discuss these options with your pain medication doctor.