Post Op Epidural Steroid Injection

[skoshi314]

Hello all,
It' been a while but I'm back and needing some help. I am 10 months post op from 10T-L5 fusion and still in a significant amount of pain. On a regular day, I take 20mg Oxycontin and 7.5/325mg Percocet in the morning, more Percocet every 8 hours as needed (and I need it every 8 hours) and 10mg Oxycontin and 7/5/325mg Percocet in the evening before bed. I also take 7.5mg Temazepam for sleep. I called my surgeon and asked about doing an epidural steroid injection to help with the pain and I was told by his nurse that it's fine to do and might be helpful. Has anyone had experience with the ESI post-op and if so how did it go? Did you have positive results?

I am just so tired of being in pain. People around me keep saying "But you're so much better than you were a year ago!" and I keep thinking "But I wasn't on massive amounts of pain meds a year ago!!!". I'm disappointed and disheartened. I really thought by now I'd be so much further along than I am. This weekend was particularily bad. When I woke up the last 2 days, I literally couldn't move due to the pain in my lumber back. It was definately a 10 on the pain scale. I average a 6-7 most days.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[summer]

I'm sorry to hear that and hope you feel better soon. The only advice I can give is what I just had done for lower back pain, but I'm 3 years post op. A couple of doctors said it's a strained muscle and it was killing me for weeks. I got trigger point injections of pain meds. (lidacaine) directly into the muscle and was pain free for about 6 weeks.
Good luck!

[wendyh]

Hello all,
It' been a while but I'm back and needing some help. I am 10 months post op from 10T-L5 fusion and still in a significant amount of pain. On a regular day, I take 20mg Oxycontin and 7.5/325mg Percocet in the morning, more Percocet every 8 hours as needed (and I need it every 8 hours) and 10mg Oxycontin and 7/5/325mg Percocet in the evening before bed. I also take 7.5mg Temazepam for sleep. I called my surgeon and asked about doing an epidural steroid injection to help with the pain and I was told by his nurse that it's fine to do and might be helpful. Has anyone had experience with the ESI post-op and if so how did it go? Did you have positive results?

I am just so tired of being in pain. People around me keep saying "But you're so much better than you were a year ago!" and I keep thinking "But I wasn't on massive amounts of pain meds a year ago!!!". I'm disappointed and disheartened. I really thought by now I'd be so much further along than I am. This weekend was particularily bad. When I woke up the last 2 days, I literally couldn't move due to the pain in my lumber back. It was definately a 10 on the pain scale. I average a 6-7 most days.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Becky,
I am now 6 months in from my Oct. 6th sugery and still have daily lumbar pain and stiffness. I am going in for my 3rd injection into my right sacroiliac joint. Last two were for my left side which became very inflamed. The shots helped quite a bit. This healing process is very slow and I have been off pain meds for a month but have gone back to taking 2-4 vicoden per day again because I can't stand it. I keep thinking that I should be further along too but mt PT guy and my surgeon just keep saying that it takes up to a year or more to fully recover and I have to keep remembering all the progress I have made rather than focus on the pain I still have. Feel free to email me anytime. I can totally relate to how you are feeling and how slow and BORING this waiting to recover is. wendyohms@gmail.com

[Karen Ocker]

Epidural???for skoshi314

Not sure if anyone can get into your epidural space if you are fused to L-5. The only space below that is L5 - S1.

If you are having nerve pain opioids/benzodiazepines(temazapam) do NOT work. I suggest visiting a good pain management doc. They have expertise and the time to fine tune your pain management--and offer good alternatives to what you are using now.

It is not unusual to have pain for a good year and half post-op.

[Fritzky411]

trigger point injections

I have no personal experiance with ESIs, but my pain management Dr gives me monthly trigger point injections and I have amazing results! Now, these are only effective if the pain is related to muscle spasms and only lasts a couple weeks, but it is the most relief I have found.