Any stories about getting a spinal epidural for pain relief?

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

SF VIP
Location
Mid-Missouri
Finally, after over 2 years of living with this chronic pain caused by "idiopathic" reasons, the first trial of where the nerves are being injured will happen this Wednesday. I hope it works wonders, but I am also getting ready for disappointment. The C3 and C4 areas are where the med is going. This is all pretty strange....
 

I did a few spinal injections for back pain. The ones done in the office were great at first, but didn't go as deep. Then my Doc did them under x-ray which was supposed to better. The first one was great & the second was good. After that they didn't work as well so I stopped.

You can only have so many cortisone shots to one area as they can eventually cause some deterioration to that area.

I hope they can give you some relief. If they allow you to move better, maybe you can get some muscle built back up in the area giving you problems for longer lasting natural results.
 
Paco Dennis said:
Finally, after over 2 years of living with this chronic pain caused by "idiopathic" reasons, the first trial of where the nerves are being injured will happen this Wednesday. I hope it works wonders, but I am also getting ready for disappointment. The C3 and C4 areas are where the med is going. This is all pretty strange....
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Arrrgh!! I hate the thought of getting one of those. So far, at ninety, I have avoided one. :sick:
 
Paco Dennis said:
Finally, after over 2 years of living with this chronic pain caused by "idiopathic" reasons, the first trial of where the nerves are being injured will happen this Wednesday. I hope it works wonders, but I am also getting ready for disappointment. The C3 and C4 areas are where the med is going. This is all pretty strange....
Click to expand...
Epidurals work pretty well. The first injection can reduce your pain as much as 90%, but it's very temporary, especially for long-time sufferers. If they hit the target, you can expect relief for about 3 months.

An alternative is radiofrequency ablation (RFA). The procedure is very similar; a triggered injection; but the chemicals are different. RFA chemicals burn the nerve that's causing the problem, which, in simple terms, disables it so it can't send pain signals until it heals. That can take 6 months to a year. Meanwhile, your pain is reduced by 90% to 70%. Your pain gradually comes back as the nerve heals, but it worked way better for me than the epidural.

Epidural injections work best on people who have a temporary issue, like a herniated disc or an injury that's going to heal.

The RFA is for people who are long-time chronic sufferers with an issue that doctors don't yet know how to resolve. (in my case, a birth-defect)
 
Murrmurr said:
Epidurals work pretty well. The first injection can reduce your pain as much as 90%, but it's very temporary, especially for long-time sufferers. If they hit the target, you can expect relief for about 3 months.

An alternative is radiofrequency ablation (RFA). The procedure is very similar; a triggered injection; but the chemicals are different. RFA chemicals burn the nerve that's causing the problem, which, in simple terms, disables it so it can't send pain signals until it heals. That can take 6 months to a year. Meanwhile, your pain is reduced by 90% to 70%. Your pain gradually comes back as the nerve heals, but it worked way better for me than the epidural.

Epidural injections work best on people who have a temporary issue, like a herniated disc or an injury that's going to heal.

The RFA is for people who are long-time chronic sufferers with an issue that doctors don't yet know how to resolve. (in my case, a birth-defect)
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I had a heart ablation for my atrial fibrillation at Temple University a few years ago.
 
Paco Dennis said:
Finally, after over 2 years of living with this chronic pain caused by "idiopathic" reasons, the first trial of where the nerves are being injured will happen this Wednesday. I hope it works wonders, but I am also getting ready for disappointment. The C3 and C4 areas are where the med is going. This is all pretty strange....
Click to expand...
yep had them 3 seperate time in my lumbar region... The first time I got them it was like I'd been reborn ..it was fantastic, no pain...and that lasted between 18 month and 3 years... I was able to get my life back, and I made the most of it...doing things that I hadn't been able to do for hile.. drive long distances , mountaiin climbing.. paragliding etc...

the second time it only lasted about 18 months total.. but it actually took about 3 weeks to work and that first 3 weeks was very painful....

The 3rd time it never worked at all..
 
Dave03 said:
I had a heart ablation for my atrial fibrillation at Temple University a few years ago.
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That's a totally different thing. With a cardiac ablation, they use radio-frequency energy to modify an electrical pathway in your heart to correct irregular heartbeat. In the spinal procedure, they inject chemicals very near to a nerve root that's gone haywire to intentionally damage/disrupt it.
 
I've had the epidural injection series once for lumbar stenosis. First injection was like magic for a week or so then pain returned. Second injection did nothing. Third injection hit directly in a nerve and caused a lot of pain, not a pleasant experience. Overall I didnt feel I got much relief out of it. That was in 2017, to this day I still have a knot of pain where the third injection hit.

I've also had cortisone injections in both shoulders and both ankle joints, worked good in my ankles, no success with my shoulders.

I know there's plenty of people who have had positive results, I wish you luck.
 
C50 said:
I've had the epidural injection series once for lumbar stenosis. First injection was like magic for a week or so then pain returned. Second injection did nothing. Third injection hit directly in a nerve and caused a lot of pain, not a pleasant experience. Overall I didnt feel I got much relief out of it. That was in 2017, to this day I still have a knot of pain where the third injection hit.

I've also had cortisone injections in both shoulders and both ankle joints, worked good in my ankles, no success with my shoulders.

I know there's plenty of people who have had positive results, I wish you luck.
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I had cortisone injctions in my knees last December...the right knee I didn't feel at all the inection going in... However a minute later I nearly went through the roof with the pain of the injection in my left knee.. as you say it hit a nerve....OMG...agony :eek::eek:
 
Paco Dennis said:
Finally, after over 2 years of living with this chronic pain caused by "idiopathic" reasons, the first trial of where the nerves are being injured will happen this Wednesday. I hope it works wonders, but I am also getting ready for disappointment. The C3 and C4 areas are where the med is going. This is all pretty strange....
Click to expand...
How are you doing Paco?
 
hollydolly said:
yu're going to be so glad you did this..honestly.. in a few weeks time you'll think you've never had any pain... ..
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Yea! The procedure went fine. Right now it feels good. They said it will take about a week to really take effect. I think we have to become proactive with our health. Learn what we can, find a Dr. ThAt will listen and then get involved. Especially as we age. It takes daily involvement. Diet too. :)
 

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