Epidural Steroid Injection

[StaticCling]

I've been suffering with Sciatica/Low Back Pain on and off for 10+ years, but the last two months have been HORRIBLE.

Finally got into a Pain Management Doctor and had my MRI on Monday. I go back to the Pain Management Doctor today...

More than likely I will be getting an Epidural Steroid Injection. I have been reading some negative stuff on the interweb about these, and now I am a bit apprehensive.

Perhaps I am just a big puss, but has anybody done this before?

[Rob]

Isn't that similar to what they do when a woman is in labor?

[Utah997]

Mrs Utah is going through this. She is super active, and has had this pain for several years. She got the exact shot you are talking about.

Her experience was that it really helped starting about 5 days after the shot.. and lasted for 2 months or so. Then back to normal. She wasn't willing to go back in and have it done every couple of months so she is just living with it.

Good luck...

[StaticCling]

Originally Posted by Dixievet

Isn't that similar to what they do when a woman is in labor?

I guess sort of. But with these they inject roids directly into the inflamed disc/bulge whatever it is.

[Mike Mercury]

from wikipee:

ESI is controversial. Most studies conclude that pain relief from ESI's are short term and do not reduce the need for surgical intervention. While corticosteroids are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for other uses, the FDA has not approved the use of corticosteroids for ESI

It reads like it's considered a "last resort", before caving in and having the full surgery.

Technique

Elective spinal injections should be performed with imaging guidance, such as fluoroscopy or the use of a radiocontrast agent, unless that guidance is contraindicated. Imaging guidance ensures the correct placement of the needle and maximizes the physician's ability to make an accurate diagnosis and administer effective therapy. Without imaging, the risk increases for the injection to be incorrectly placed, and this would in turn lower the therapy's efficacy and increase subsequent risk of need for more treatment. While traditional techniques without image guidance, also known as "blind injections", can assure a degree of accuracy using anatomical landmarks, it has been shown in studies that image guidance provides much more reliable localization and accuracy in comparison.

[StaticCling]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

from wikipee:



I reads like it's considered a "last resort", before caving in and having the full surgery.

Yeah...

[Barn Babe]

I've had it done twice on my neck. Both times the relief was only for a couple of days, nowhere near the $500+/- I paid. My insurance required me to do it twice before I could move on to the next procedure. That's their story anyway, I later got the feeling they were just stringing me along. If they had actually fixed my neck, they'd lose a source of income. They were completely content to prescribe me pain meds each month.

I ended up going to a neurosurgeon who recommended surgery. It took a while to recover, but I'm so much better now. YMMV

[69camfrk]

I'm not a surgeon, but I do have a Buck knife, rebar, and some safety wire that might be conducive to back surgery. Seriously though, good luck with whatever you try. Back pain is no joke. My knees are shot, but so far (knock on wood) my back seems to be ok. Hope whatever you try gives you some relief.

[Flh Den]

I have been suffering with back pain for years now. DGD. I came very close this summer to having the spinal injections, but I chickened out as I have read mostly the same that is being said here. It's a temporary fix for the most part. I did have a shot in the meniscus a few years back and that actually helped quite a bit with no side effects. Good luck either way, back pain is awful.

[Vet4jdc]

Chinaski.....don't hesitate. Do it.

I had my severe disc issue last summer and found myself barely able to walk from the sciatic pain. After trying several other corrective measures, I finally saw a pain management doc and started a series of the shots. I had a total of three and it's the best thing I ever did. Four days after the first shot, I was able to walk again almost pain free. I had two more over the next 6 weeks and was 95% better. I still have a little sciatic pain now and then but am still approx. 98% better than last summer. It's been almost a year since the last one and I would get another tomorrow if I started hurting.

The shot is nothing...the first one is a pain killer that feels like a bee sting..then the epidural shot is painless. You may feel a little pressure or sensation down your leg but not much pain.

Good luck!

[StaticCling]

Allright, I was under the impression that I was going to get the shot today, but it was just a follow up appointment.

According to the MRI, My L5 Disc, or at least the last one that cushions onto my tailbone, is completely munched. Blown out. Apparently 8-9cm out of whack to where it should be.

Doctor said that we will try the Steroid once and make a determination if it helps, if it does, maybe another. But if I show no improvement, or the Steroid makes it worse....


Surgery. **** ME.

[mrvette]

I have a spondalitis L6, extra lumbar vert, and so it's growing to another one because the cartilage is gone, and so last Feb I was in such gross pain I went to the ER and they did Xrays, went to my Doc, and he took one look, and basically told me that my spine is trash from ass to neck, and that's about where it hurts too, got more crunches then a gravel driveway......

I got some pain pills/muscle relaxers that allowed the pain to subside enough to make my March flight to see my Grandson.....it acts up enough still but I Just take another pill or so when it does....

I take a steady on 600 mg scrip of Ibuprofen one in AM, another in PM, the muscle spasms pill if Robaxin/Methocarbamol 750 mg....if I wake up really bad off, I take one of them....but it sez may cause Dizziness and do not take with alkyhaul.....so I limit my activities to doing roofing, climbing ladders, chopping trees, etc......