Had cervical epidural a week ago. Lidocaine did nothing for me and I felt the entire procedure. Catheter insertion hurt, but wasn't a big deal. Additional pokes hurt like hell. The worst part was the "medication" injection.
Instantly started sweating, burning radiating from center chest outward, immense pressure made lungs feel like they were going to pop.
Afterward: Cracking where I wasn't cracking before. No help to chronically tensed shoulders. Pain in chest still there. Neck still hurts.
Overall, my epidural wasn't really worth it. Painful procedure and no subsequent relief.
What is that chest pain anyway? I'm afraid that my "dura" popped and is leaking CSF into my lungs.
Instantly started sweating, burning radiating from center chest outward, immense pressure made lungs feel like they were going to pop.
Afterward: Cracking where I wasn't cracking before. No help to chronically tensed shoulders. Pain in chest still there. Neck still hurts.
Overall, my epidural wasn't really worth it. Painful procedure and no subsequent relief.
What is that chest pain anyway? I'm afraid that my "dura" popped and is leaking CSF into my lungs.
Had cervical epidural a week ago. Lidocaine did nothing for me and I felt the entire procedure. Catheter insertion hurt, but wasn't a big deal. Additional pokes hurt like hell. The worst part was the "medication" injection.
Instantly started sweating, burning radiating from center chest outward, immense pressure made lungs feel like they were going to pop.
Afterward: Cracking where I wasn't cracking before. No help to chronically tensed shoulders. Pain in chest still there. Neck still hurts.
Overall, my epidural wasn't really worth it. Painful procedure and no subsequent relief.
What is that chest pain anyway? I'm afraid that my "dura" popped and is leaking CSF into my lungs.
Instantly started sweating, burning radiating from center chest outward, immense pressure made lungs feel like they were going to pop.
Afterward: Cracking where I wasn't cracking before. No help to chronically tensed shoulders. Pain in chest still there. Neck still hurts.
Overall, my epidural wasn't really worth it. Painful procedure and no subsequent relief.
What is that chest pain anyway? I'm afraid that my "dura" popped and is leaking CSF into my lungs.
i had lumbar pain for a few weeks, manageable but getting a little worse. I could still walk but was starting to get crooked could still ride a bike and the elliptical. Doctor told me a steroid epi shot would help. I went in and got the shot and the second he put the needle in i got the worst pins n needles pain down my left leg during the whole injection. I sweated, locked up, was the worst pain imaginable. Since then I walked with ski poles holding me up for two weeks and couldnt walk longer than a couple of minutes.
Two weeks later I had to call 911 because I couldnt get off my couch. Doctor took another MRI which was excruciating because of the way my legs had to be for the procedure. He recommended and Nerve Root Block which I got on friday (2 1/2 weeks after the epi). i had a different doc do it and I felt no pain going in. For the next several days I got worse and worse. The doctors told me it takes up to a week for the steroid to kick in. Tomorrow will be a week and im not getting any better. I am either in my bed or on my couch. I have a window of about 1 minute where I can walk. It progresses from no pain to pins n needles to excruciating pain from the lower back to my toes. My calves n glutes of my left side KILL. My mother had to finally fly out to take care of me., I have a high tolerance of pain but this is too much. I am trying to stay optomistic but this is ridiculous. doctors just dismiss it. Tomorrow I meet with the surgeon to discuss Microdiscectomy surgery. All this progressed in one months time.
I feel if I just rested and NOT gotten the epi shot I would have recovered but instead I listened to the doctors who I think are shooting in the dark and NOW I am on multiple pain meds and spending a ton of money on them. I cant do anything physical at all, and I used to teach aerobics up until this injury. Do yourself a favor and rest, ice, and lightly walk before you consider this procedure. Everyone has different results but mine were the worst.
Two weeks later I had to call 911 because I couldnt get off my couch. Doctor took another MRI which was excruciating because of the way my legs had to be for the procedure. He recommended and Nerve Root Block which I got on friday (2 1/2 weeks after the epi). i had a different doc do it and I felt no pain going in. For the next several days I got worse and worse. The doctors told me it takes up to a week for the steroid to kick in. Tomorrow will be a week and im not getting any better. I am either in my bed or on my couch. I have a window of about 1 minute where I can walk. It progresses from no pain to pins n needles to excruciating pain from the lower back to my toes. My calves n glutes of my left side KILL. My mother had to finally fly out to take care of me., I have a high tolerance of pain but this is too much. I am trying to stay optomistic but this is ridiculous. doctors just dismiss it. Tomorrow I meet with the surgeon to discuss Microdiscectomy surgery. All this progressed in one months time.
I feel if I just rested and NOT gotten the epi shot I would have recovered but instead I listened to the doctors who I think are shooting in the dark and NOW I am on multiple pain meds and spending a ton of money on them. I cant do anything physical at all, and I used to teach aerobics up until this injury. Do yourself a favor and rest, ice, and lightly walk before you consider this procedure. Everyone has different results but mine were the worst.
I have scoliosis, DDD, and Facet joint Disease with two herniated discs. I had two injections in my facet joints 12/30/08 that actually made my right pain worse. I had four more epidural injections last week 1/27/09 and now I am having radiating pain down the back of my left leg with is almost intolerable. I will not get any more injections! My Neurosurgeon is doing surgery soon but I dont have a date yet. I am have lost faith in the injections and I am hoping the fusion of my lower spine and Discekatamy works. I guess I had high hopes the injections would work but I was wrong....
I got an epidural shot in L4-L5 two weeks ago and got immediate relief. Do I need to get the other two?
i had my 3rd epidural it hurt like hell i felt it go in and let him no that he took it out and put it back in .i was not that bad before that now i cant walk 10 feet im only 36 this really sucks they are talking surgery i looking in to spinal decompression
I have scoliosis, DDD, bone spurs all over my spine and 4 bulging discs with 2 others that were torn during the spinal injection for my c-section. I went in for my first Epi last week. The second the medicine went in I gritted my teeth cause I wanted to scream... He may as well have ripped my sciatic nerve out, dipped it in gasoline, lit it on fire and shoved it back in... thats what it felt like. 3 days later I had to go see my doc cause I could barely walk and I couldnt handle the pain... I was told that he must have irritated other nerves on the way in.... she gave me some trigger point shots in my lower back and wrote a script for breakthrough pain... At this point I can tell that the steroids have kicked in because the pain in my legs from before is gone... BUT... Now I have new pain, new pain in my back, in my hip, in my legs... And the new pain is twice as bad as the old pain... I feel as though all hope has been ripped out from under me... I am suicidal now an never have been in the past... My son is the only thing keeping me here.... I am 29. I am not supposed to be in this condition... I;m supposed to be in my prime... and instead of fixing it, they made it worse... :cry: The only thing I can be happy about is that they didnt paralize me...
I stumbled upon this site and feel compelled to comment. I offer epidural injections and have been performing them for 12 years. I perform them using the same technique. The variation in patient response to the procedure is tremendous. Based on my personal experience, 85 % of patients don't find the procedure any more uncomfortable than an IV stick. Of the 85%, half are surprised the procedure was finished when I am done. 20% are so anxious because it is their first injection and people share stories of friends uncles second cousin removed being paralyzed. After they have had their injection, they are more relaxed if another is needed. It is the muscle tension that causes some of the pain. If needed, we will offer valium by mouth before the procedure to those few patients... its a lot cheaper than iv medications. There are less than 5 in a hundred patients that complain of terrible burning pain on injection. I explain it like this and warn everyone ahead of time of the possibility. If you put rubbing alcohol on intact skin, it feels fine. If you pour rubbing alcohol on a cut, it will burn. Likewise, if there is a lot of inflammation and a 'raw' nerve, putting any medicine in the area will burn. That includes the local anesthetic. As the inflammation subsides, the burning is less with subsequent injections. This also explain, why some injections burn more than others because is varies depending on the degree of inflammation. There are other reasons for increased pain, but this is the most common. If the person does not have a lot of experience or is not good with their hands then that is another matter. There are a lot of people who do spinal injections. Look for someone who is board certified. More importantly, ask around, but it is human nature to share horror stories.
hope that helps
hope that helps
I'm 17 with l4-l5 buldging/pertruding disc and am scheduled to get the injection sometime this week and reading these comments scare me and makes me curious if these are really the right choice iv been like this for 4 months and was extrememly active bit can't do anything but walk anymore and this pretty much is the last resort before surgery which would happen for about a year due to my age
i have had 3 l5 s1 facet joint injections with minimal sucess..3rd was because the doc missed the spot alltogether. i broke l1 to l5 with major trauma to s1 to s5 nearly 20 years ago..the docs said in 15 to 20 years was when it would catch up and oh sh1t did it what.the pain of facet joint injections is becoming to much to bare pain wise aswell as the fact you can not have to may steroid and cortizone hits to often. i have tried all types of rehab and found the best and the 1 the docs told me never to do again incase of seizures was surfing.dont be a hero but to be on a board paddling works every muscle in your lower back and allmost every other muscle in your body.the pure feeling...and only a sufer knows the feeling also helps take the mind away from the issues that are tucked away in the brain allways even for just a few moments.some days i can go , some i cant. but the fitness it has given me in the lower back and stomach aswell as in general has been the best form of rehab i have found to work for nerve muscle and bone issues like mine that are not able to be fixed by surgery. have a paddle on a board for a while and feel the difference. hope this helps.
Hi, i get the facet injections every 3-4 months. And like a lot of people i have heard they get what they call coctails(drugged up when they have theirs done) Me on the other hand I skip the iv thing and just get the injections. Every time i have gotten them it hurts like hell. Not just the needle going in, but I know he is putting the medicine in, I have asked him, because the first time i jumped, not a good thing when they have a needle in your back. But anyway now he tells me when is going to and it hurts like hell again when he puts the medicine in. I asked him why and he told me thats it when the drug is going in between the bones and so forth it puts pressure in there and thats really what you want because it helps give it sort of a cushion in there to help with the pain as well. Dont know man i read a lot of stuff about back pain and so forth and you can almost never find more than three doctors whom have the same answer and opinion. I have begun to believe that doctors are just like any other technician whether it be electronic computer or what ever. They just have a lot more school for it and the skills to do something safe about it. But i believe that each doctor has there own ways of diagnosing and much of the time when it comes to the back their first isnt really the correct one, with the back you almost always try many things on top of other things to find something that helps, but its never just fixed once to that point of injections and surgery you will always have pain. The trick to a good back and pain doctor is finding one that will do this with sometimes a combination with medication the two of you together can find something that gets the pain to a tolerable level so you can live life and enjoy life. Just a few thoughts. And I promise i am not a newbie. I have been hit by a car riding my bike two hip surgerys for that one, fell off a few roofs, not fun. Stupid things like walking off a roof to compete in one of those stupid man competitions, four motor cycle accidents, and the worst a brain anyrism. the military, as well as Close to ten years of football. Eight surgerys all together. So live life as it were your last and have fun, what time you spend pissed at the world or whomever, you dont get that time back to enjoy. Especially if you have children as i do. Love em hang withem, love life with them........................
I have degenerative disease of L 4 and 5 which has caused a buldging disc which is causing nerves to pinch. My pain level has been at 10 and higher because of the pain in my buttocks and legs. I have recently started having tingling and or numbness in my calf and foot. The DR I am going to recommended getting the steroid injection without sedation. SO I said sure anything that will help.
It was VERY painful I will tell you my experience.
They sterilized the area, numbed it with a little shot and then stuck in the bigger needles. Well when the DR started pushing in the steroid...I'm not sure if I can describe it...MASSIVE pain went directly to my right thigh. It was like the worst muscle cramp that you've ever had. But it was also burning. The DR just kept saying he would push it in slow. It didnt matter how slow he pushed it in it hurt so incredibly bad. UGH after it was over the nurse and DR said see it wasnt that bad??? HELLO yeah it was. So I just had this done today and my pain is about the same as always and I do have a headache I am hoping it goes away soon. I am not sure if it helped or not. And I am not sure I would have it done again.
Honestly I have had back surgery in the past...I had a ruptured disc at L 5 and it was so much less painful. Yes this lasted 15 minutes but my back surgery was a breeze compared to this. Seriously.
It was VERY painful I will tell you my experience.
They sterilized the area, numbed it with a little shot and then stuck in the bigger needles. Well when the DR started pushing in the steroid...I'm not sure if I can describe it...MASSIVE pain went directly to my right thigh. It was like the worst muscle cramp that you've ever had. But it was also burning. The DR just kept saying he would push it in slow. It didnt matter how slow he pushed it in it hurt so incredibly bad. UGH after it was over the nurse and DR said see it wasnt that bad??? HELLO yeah it was. So I just had this done today and my pain is about the same as always and I do have a headache I am hoping it goes away soon. I am not sure if it helped or not. And I am not sure I would have it done again.
Honestly I have had back surgery in the past...I had a ruptured disc at L 5 and it was so much less painful. Yes this lasted 15 minutes but my back surgery was a breeze compared to this. Seriously.
i have had so many epi blocks in 8 yrs i cant count. never helped my back (L4-L5) but always helped my leg pain 100%. i went today for second round of three and am have n worst pain of my life. dont understand
My second one was ubbearable been ill for 2 weeks. I will not do it again ever.
I live in Italy where ozone-oygen therapy is used rather than cortisone. I have had 8 double bi-lateral (not painful) injections over the same number of weeks and together with osteotherapy my back pains have disappered. Don't know how long the effects will last but for the moment I'm happy.