What Next

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kye021

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Ok so i had two epidural shots, and neither of them have worked. I have an annular tear in one of my disks, and now i am at a loss of what comes next. Does anyone know anything about what happens after epidurals. I have tried therapy and medications and all that jazz, but i have no clue what to expect. It seems as though i am going to be stuck like this forever. Any thoughts?
 
Why did you have the epidural shots?

Usually the ESIs are tried prior to resorting to surgery.
 
Ditto what Marlosmom said...ESI"s are usually the last things tried before going for surgery. That doesnt mean you have to have surgery, it's entirely up to you, but you should definitely discuss with your doc what he/she thinks is the next option.
 
I disagree. ESI's are often tried right after PT, exercises/stretching & meRAB don't work for a few months. After ESI's don't work, and you know you have an annular tear (how do you know? From MRI, or have you had a discogram?) a procedure like IDET or nucleoplasty would be an option. If you have not had a discogram, you might want to have one done just do you can get a better idea what is going on inside. You have more options before jumping into fusion surgery.

-Beth
 
Yah, I have to agree with Lizzy also. ESIs are done at different intervals for varying reasons, and is not necessarily a stepping stone toward surgery being the next resort. I have personally had them done to ease my pain while I was in PT because I got flared up and it helped to calm things down a tad. I had them done initally to see if it would help ease my pain and control inflammation. Now it is thought to do more if I want them done, but it would be more of first trying them in certain places to sleuth out or eliminate pain generators.

It's really hard for us to really tell you what's next. I saw over 4 surgeons from the time i injured my spine until the fusion surgery. ALL of them wanted to start fresh as a new patient and run me thru the traditional stuff of medications, PT, injections, then gave up and said.. try more PT and more meRAB, etc. Only the last surgeon I saw was willing to test things further to try and find the source of my pain. Which was the discogram that found the bad disc that looked normal on my MRIs.


So it could be anything, including your doctor saying the word "surgery".

Im sorry you arent any better. Which disc is it and how long has this been going on. When was your last MRI? Were the injections done with fluroscopy?
 
Well maybe i should have been more clear,sorry. I tried about every med out there for my back and nothing worked, i also had pt about 3 times for my back, and that didn't work. All of this was with a prior pain man. doctor. I have an new one and i had an mri and then he decided to do the epidurals, with the floroscopy. But obviously those didn't work. After 8 years of this pain surgey sounRAB like a walk in the park. thanks to all that responed.
 
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