Epidural steroid injections

[Hub]

Well, I haven't had these injections, but my DH has had plenty. I am surprised that they said you can drive!
Clint has had the injections at L-4 & L-5- the lumbar area- I just relaizied that your post said C- so that's the opposite end of the spine- still I think the procedures should be very similar!
Even though he is alert aftern the procedure, I'm required to sign him out at the clinic, and say that I will drive him home. Usually they strip him down to a gown, hook up IV fluids, give him
some sedation and then do the injections. The doctor said the point is to
'saturate' the joint/discs with the steroids and painkillers. This is expected to give relief for about a month or more.

After his first injection about 4 or 5 years ago he was able to walk without pain for the first time in weeks. For him they did lose some effectiveness as he had them more often. He also has a differnt kind of injection that's done in the hospital, they give him more sedation and use a fluoroscope to target the disc.

Good luck!

[surgtech1956]

Hi Regina, I've had these injections(C6-7 herniation with pain and numbness going down my right arm). I had a series of 3 - once a week. I couldn't drive home. They hooked me up to monitors, an IV. I never had any pain etc.. afterwards. I didn't start feeling any relief until the 3rd one. Good luck.

[7rider]

Ho-man!
Whiiiiiine........
Now I'm *really* starting to get stressed out.
Multiple injections? Temporary relief?
I was kinda hoping - one needle, boom! Done.
Guess it's a bit more involved, eh?

[surgtech1956]

Regina, around here it's the practice that they give a series of 3 injections. I was a little nervous too. Didn't feel a thing, give me a small amount of some good 'stuff'. Not too much, I moved myself over to the table and back to the gurney. It was worth it to get rid of the pain.

[bambu101]

I have 2 bulging discs at C2-3 and C-4-5 from a serious whiplash injury in 1998 (hit in the left front of my Jeep Cherokee by a truck doing 50 while waiting to make a turn). I had may of the same symptoms you are describing. Long story short, I had almost 5 years of various treatments, including steroid injections, 4 rounds of PT, chiropractic care, alternative treatments, Prednisone, anti-inflammatory and narcotic medications, including Oxycontin. I also had 2 radio-frequency nerve treatments to "burn" the nerve endings in the facet joints to try to stop the pain signals. It was 2 treatments because the specialist doing this procedure did the wrong facet joint the first time! The last treatment was about 6 months in an outpatient pain management program at a rehabilitation hospital. Most of this was ineffectve, and as time went on, the discs stabilized somewhat and the pain subsided, although it has never disappeared completely, and some days are better than others. I did a ton of research on my own and found some good books for dealing with neck pain, and also developed a serious distrust of the medcal profession. I found too many "professionals" with the attitude that if the patient is not responding to our treatment, it must be the patient's fault.

[KnottedYet]

Regina - have you worked with PT, or just with acu and chiro? I'm wondering why they have you going to pain management, when you have weakness (motor) as well as sensory symptoms. Did they explain things well to you? Can you ask the doc's office or the pain management folks the same questions you asked us?

I've just started working with a McKenzie clinic, they do some cool stuff. I'd be interested to know if you've done any McKenzie stuff, since it's all about getting discs to behave. (Have you seen the book "Treat Your Own Neck"?)

[7rider]

Regina - have you worked with PT, or just with acu and chiro? I'm wondering why they have you going to pain management, when you have weakness (motor) as well as sensory symptoms. Did they explain things well to you? Can you ask the doc's office or the pain management folks the same questions you asked us?

I've just started working with a McKenzie clinic, they do some cool stuff. I'd be interested to know if you've done any McKenzie stuff, since it's all about getting discs to behave. (Have you seen the book "Treat Your Own Neck"?)

Thanks, Knot. I think the Orthopod addressed things pretty well - other than what the actual process is like. I intend to ask the Pain Management folks lots of questions. These...and more.

I have not seen a PT, to the extent that my Chiro had been doing things like massage, e-stim, ultrasound, traction, and the like. Orthopod said that weakness was directly related to the foraminal stenosis (hope that's the right term) in the neck and would go away when the nerve issue is resolved (assuming the epidural works). You can almost trace the sceaming nerve from my neck, down through my back, behind the arm, past the elbow, and into the hand. Oh, the joy.

I've been suspecting that chiro and acu were addressing the symptoms and not the cause, and I'm hoping (?) that this will address the "cause" and get me over some hump I have thusfar been unable to get over by way of other methods. Am I off base with that?

I'm not familiar with McKenzie's "stuff". Gotta link?