RF Ablation

  • Thread starter Thread starter ricekrispy
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Folks, I just posted up above about this procedure. i have a few questions since you guys already had it.
Can you tell me exactly what they did to you beforehand to make sure they did the proper levels??????
Also, how long do you think I will be out of commission as far as going to Aquacise classes?
I am scared to death that they wont do all the levels I need. (read my post pretty please):)
I see my dr. tomorrow morning (Thurs.) so anything you can tell me before i see him would be so great.
THANKS!!
 
Thanks, you all for the responses!
I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but ,my nightmare hip pain that makes my life a living hell is gone all day today. Isnt that weird?
 
Hi and good morning ladies......

Just checking in to see how you all are doing? I am feeling better. I am taking a anti-imflammatory at night and waking up all most pain free. I am hoping the ablation is kicking in. This is the 3rd morning I have woke up feeling better. The only problem is....once you start feeling better, you tend to do too much HA So.....at night I have been hurting some. But started taking this anti-imflammatory and it seems to help. I donot and I am against taking narcotics unless in real need. I donot want to become dependent on medication, mostly narcotics. I am not taking any pain meRAB. as of now. Now, if I can get the female issues corrected UGH I am having a endometrail ablation on sept. 23. Should be a short recovery for that. Let me hear from you all....hope all is getting better, as it seems to be getting better for myself :)

Take care and God bless!
 
Hi! I have had the RF ablation at L3, L4 and L5, and have repeated it every 8 months or so. It has really helped with my lower back pain! You are right-it takes about 4-6 weeks to totally recover from the procedure, but the worst pain is the first 2 weeks. After 4-5 days, you can go about your routine, but I have to ice a lot and take breaks during the day. I don't try to walk long distances, or sit a long time, as either of these will set off BAD muscle spasms during the recovery period. Your back will gradually feel less sore-sometimes physical therapy is good during the recovery period. I had RF done at the end of June, and I feel a lot better now. It is not a fun procedure, but is definitely worth it for the months of relief it gives. Take care, and I will send good thoughts your way....Kera4
 
A bunch of surgeries that day, the 27th is when I went for the discography, and franky that procedure sucked in a big way. Hoping I don't have to go through that one again, anytime soon. But since then recovery part was pretty good. But as this is just basically to see where and what the prob is, I haven't had any pain relief and yesterday the pain was extremely bad. I am looking at doing epidurals a series of 3 every 2 weeks to see if that works if not then do a percutaneous discectomy probe. As these are my last hopes of minimual invasive procedures if these don't work, then have to consider surgery for the L3-4, L4-5 and L5-S1.
 
good morning all.......

After researching and reading about back issues, I suppose I have several things going on? The doctors have been great in informing me but I guess it is way too much info for me to remeraber. I feel as though the doctors I am seeing are great. They didnot want to rush in and do surgery. I for sure donot want back surgery if possible. I am trying everything they suggest. My back issues came from a car accident. Tears in the disc lining, 2 bulging disc,degenerative disease I remeraber the doc telling me something about the facet joints? Does that sound like something else wrong instead of a disc issue? Or is that caused from bulging disc? I am confused! I see my neuro doc in oct. I am thinking he will do another MRI to see what things are looking like. If any of you can explain this stuff to me, i would appreciate it.
 
The kind of Dr. I am seeing is a PHYSIATRIST . The kind that is doing the rhizotomy is an anesthesiologist. The physiatrist did L4-5 for the epidurals (I think)...hehe I am senile, I swear. I cant remeraber if he did L5-S1 on the 2 epidurals or the facet injections. But I am sure the physiatrist will tell the anesthesiologist where he feels I should get the ole nerves fried.By the way..... I have to be awake for this they said!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
SKZ....

Glad it is behind you and that it was not so bad for you. Now lets just cross fingers that this will work. I, as of yet, cannot tell a difference but it has only been 2 weeks after. I so hope this works for me as well! Take it easy and relax and rest!
 
I think I can get sedated, just have to be awake. I will DEFINITELY take some sedation. I have never been sedated before where i didnt feel like I was totally out.
What is a reasonable time frame expectation to be able to make dinner, for example?
 
SKZ.......when I had the RF done, my doc didnt give me a choice LOL He told me I would be sedated! I am glad they did sedate me. When I asked the nurses what it was they was giving me, she said 2 different drugs and she said these medications will make it to where you will not remeraber what happened. I think everyone responRAB differently to pain. I definately was in pain that evening. The next day I was in pain as well but not quite as bad as the night before. I would say it took me a good 3 days to feel like cooking. I am not hurting constantly now.....it is just when I am trying to clean my house. I have to sit or lay down and rest inbetween. I am still taking pain medication some.Today I went shopping a lil while and had to leave because I started hurting. I hope mine will soon be to where I am PAIN FREEEEEEEEE....ugh good luck and if you have anymore questions, just ask!
 
SKZ....

I donot know what kind a doctor a Physiatrist is. I wasnot "knocked" all the way out. I was sedated. I cannot imagine anyone going through that procedure not sedated. What is a rhizotomy? What I had done was called radiofrequency neuroabaltion. Is it the same thing?
 
SKZ ~

Be sure to ask your surgeon about the aquacize class. I have been doing some reading about any type of exercise in the water, and the newer thinking on it is that it is not a good idea for those who are recovering from surgery. For all the same reasons we thought it was good for you, they now think it can do more harm than good. Things get "stretched" more easily than they would on land because of the buoyant feeling one gets in the water -- and you might not feel the "pain" that is more apparent when exercising or stretching on land.
 
Kera,

I am curious what back issues you are facing and what you have had done previously that have resulted in you having the RF ablation? Can they continue to do the procedure many times?
 
Well, I guess it can't be much different than I already feel, which is in bad pain all the time.
 
Hey gang, For those of you that wanted to know what is wrong with my back here is the list, I have DDD, central spinal stenosis, facet disease, osteophytes, and tickening of the ligamentum flavum. There are also areas of neural foraminal narrowing. Whatever those last two are I'm not sure.

I have had 2 ESI's, and a medial nerve block to determine if the ablation would help me. I have not had sedation for any of the procedures. I had to return to work on the fifth day after my ablation. I sit at a desk all day and have to get up and walk around every once in a while. I think rhizotomy, neuroablation, and radiofrequency ablation are the same procedure. Don't know what procedures are in my future. I have to find something to help with this sciatica. The pain meRAB do not help with it.

Kera, it sounRAB like we have about the same issues.

Hope someday we can all be pain free.
 
I'm going in for the same procedure tomorrow. What I would like to know is how are you feeling now?? Did it decreease your pain???
 
Lynn, I had my RF the same day as you and I have not had any relief as yet either. The only relief is from my pain meRAB and they just take the edge off. I was not given anything to relax me for the procedure. It hurt but it could have been worse or lasted longer. I am still icing a few times a day and taking pain meRAB regularly. I think my sciatica has gotten worse since the procedure. There are times I just have to stop in my tracks until the sciatica pain eases before I can move again. I keep thinking I should call the doctors office about the pain and then a little voice in my head keeps telling me he said you could feel worse before you start feeling better. He also said it could take 4 to 6 weeks for the nerves to completely die. So I guess I'll wait (if I can) til my appt. on 9/24 and see what he says.

I am driving to Camdenton, MO next Monday (3 hr. drive) to stay with my GrandkiRAB and take them back and forth to school while their parents go to San Francisco for 3 days. They are 9 and 15 so I think I'll be okay.

Let me know when you start feeling better. Hope it is soon.
 
Good morning! The disc issues and the facet joints are related-you can have pain/damage in both. The way my doctor explained, when a disc becomes torn or degenerated/bulging, the small joints on the sides of the discs (facet joints) become overworked. This leaRAB to inflammation in these facet joints, and over time they wear down and you get arthritis there. So, the trick is to figure out where the pain is coming from. I remeraber I started out having epidural injections near my bulging disc, but that did not take enough pain away. Then, when I was injected in the facet joints it took MUCH more pain away, which led to the RF or rhizotomy. The rhizotomy works well if a lot of your pain is coming from the facet joints. Most of us have pain coming from several sources, so the rhizotomy should help with at least some of the pain. I know how frustrating it can be-I spent over a year getting injections, MRI, discogram before we did the rhizotomy. Oh, my doctor is a Physiatrist specializing in the spine, and he has done all my rhizotomies. I am very lucky to have him-he is the best, and has made a big difference in my life. Hope everyone has a good day......Kera4
 
SKZ, thats wonderful. I'll pray that your hip pain does not come back.

Lynn, I get up every morning at 5 a.m. so I can be at work by 7:30 a.m. I have to sit and have a cup of coffee and watch the news for the first hour so my sciatica pain settles down a bit. I have an office job and can get up and walk around whenever I need to. By the time I get home from work and fix dinner for my husband and myself I can hardly walk and when I sit down its like sitting on an electric shock chair for the first few minutes.

I know what you mean about trying to do anything. I try to clean a little at a time because I can't stand on my feet too long or my back is killing me. I agree, it is depressing. I'm just hoping to get over this soon.

I will stop driving whenever I feel I need to get off my butt and walk around a while. Thanks for all of your advice.

I will pray for all of us.
 
Hi Lynn,
I had mine on Monday. I was felt much better immediately and rested from Monday to Thurs. On Fri. I went out and did a ton of erranRAB. Now today I am much more sore in my lower back. (oy). I guess I should still take it easy. I am going to go back to Aquacise on Monday...but go much easier than normal. I feel like I really need to move from lying around so much. The pisser here is that now my neck is killing me again. I had a C5-7 fusion on in Jan of '07 and I think I was so tense during the rhizotomy, that I torqued my neck and upper back. It doesnt take much to get that neck aggravated. So I am so busy putting ice on my lower back and heat on the neck and upper back. I know the neck issue is from that one level that still has bone spurs and arthritis, that was not fused. Sometimes its so overwhelming.....the neck AND the back stuff. I want to be able to substitute half days again. I also have the whammy of chronic sinusitis...and whenever I get a cold...it goes right to my sinuses...100% of the time. I know I am crazy to go back into a classroom, but I need to make some $$$. Last year I got sick last Oct. (form the kiRAB of course) and it turned into a 2 month sinus infection like you wouldnt believe (steroiRAB...CAT Scans....antibiotics, anti-fungals). I think I cant fight them off like I used to because I am 52. I supposed this will be the year I decide whether this is IT for me in elem. classrooms.:(
 
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