epidural steroid injection

  • Thread starter Thread starter clasact1956
  • Start date Start date
C

clasact1956

Guest
I had my first injection 5 days ago. Within the 1st 24 hours I was pain free. After 5 days, the pain is coming back. My doc says I may need to try it one more time. Why bother if it only lasts a week? I knew the minute it felt great that it would not last.

I am so mad and tired of the pain I have indured for so many years.

D
 
I have had many epidurals over the past few years. For some reason, I've had amazing results with them. I am telling you this so you can hear from a real live person that the CAN work. In fact, they are the only things that give me true pain relief.

They do inject some nurabing medication, so you are correct that you do feel great the first day. Then, the next day the pain always returns. In fact, my pain always INCREASES the first week. Then, BAMMMM....it kicks in and starts working.

I am put to sleep for my injections and they are done under floroscopy (sp). This is suppose to be a better method. The dr. can see exactly where he is injecting the meRAB.

I hope that maybe yours will kick in. If it were me, I would give it one more chance after this one. Trust me.....I know how horrible it is to be in pain all day, every day.....day after day after day. It eats away at you. I am telling you that it does work for some people, and given that chance that it could work for you, I would give it one more chance. I will tell you that the pain relief is only temporary when it does work. But that 6 weeks of reduced pain is worth it.

Best of luck to you!
JRABun
 
All I can say is get ready for more epidurals if your pain keeps up. Speaking from experience, doctors are always going to want to do anything they can before doing something like a surgery. They usually put you through epidurals in sets of 3 before doing anything more extreme. For me, they did one set of 3 before they went to surgery, and that happened before my first two surgeries, by the third surgery they did not bother with epidurals.

My only advice is ride it out, hope the treatments work, and if not, take the necessary steps. I can't tell you it will be pleasant, so try to have an understanding with your Doctor about whatever pain medication you will need during this time. If one set of epidurals does not work and the Dr. suggests more epidurals, I'd at least try to let him know that if this next set doesn't work you want to move on to something else in terms of treatment options. I don't wanna say surgery, but if epidurals don't work that's pretty much the next step :(.
 
I have found that ESI, when they did work for me, worked when I completed the series of 3 injections.
 
Yep. I keep asking why I can't have just local anaesthetic only on the days I want to go to work since it is 100% relief. I haven't had a straight answer either. And without work I am gonna lose my house as well as my mind. All they have said is "there is no protocol for it".
Like you, the injections are great for a week, and one can only have 3 so no use.
 
I have had many ESI's. Go for them. Let the steroiRAB work for you. Sometimes it can take a couple of weeks for the steroiRAB to work. The second or third time may be the charm.

Good Luck.
 
I was told that it sometimes takes up to three injections. My first one didn't relieve the pain entirely but helped some. My second the same. Not sure I'm doing a third. I also go to physical therapy -the electrical stimulation they use helps as do the stretches my doctors advised. Also, moderate exercise -fast walking. It helps get nutrients to the discs. I found that gently bouncing on an exercise ball helps as well - it helps get nutrients into the disc. I don't know if surgery is the next option. You might look into traction and there's also radio frequency lesions. I've been dealing with bulging discs L2&L3, L3&L4, and L4&L5 since July when I was walking around on crutches from a broken leg. I don't know how long discs take to heal but they are very slow.. Ice and anti-inflammatories are your friend. Heat is not as it adRAB to the inflammation.
 
Back
Top