Epidural Steriod Shot......

[asccbodypro]

So hear I am lying in bed and so uncomfortable, can't sleep because my neck hurts. I can officially say that the shot worked for all of maybe 10 days. Headaches are coming back and quite frankly I just feeling misserable all around. UGH! Just done!!!!! Ok, I'm done complaining now.

[JenniferG]

That's so disappointing Susan. I'm sorry you didn't get relief for much longer.

[foofer]

So hear I am lying in bed and so uncomfortable, can't sleep because my neck hurts. I can officially say that the shot worked for all of maybe 10 days. Headaches are coming back and quite frankly I just feeling misserable all around. UGH! Just done!!!!! Ok, I'm done complaining now.

Susan,

I have had success with getting rid of the neck headaches after buying the book, "Fixing You: Neck Pain and Headaches" by Rick Olderman. I'm still pre-fusion (confusion), so maybe it's quite different, but it's an inexpensive book (check out Amazon) and the exercises are really easy. You're supposed to do them 5 times a day, which I did for a few weeks and then tapered off. My neck MRI shows all that fun stuff: bone spurs, stenosis, bulging discs, yada yada, but it feels so much better than last summer when I was about ready to operate on myself.

I really hope it gets better for you. I think I know just how you feel and it's absolutely no fun at all. Why did they make heads so heavy?

[asccbodypro]

neck book......

Amy,

I will definitely check that book out and it certainly can't hurt to try. I like your statement.....pre-fusion confusion. Been there done that! I was very hard for me to make my decision. It certainly not a decision to be made lightly. Where are you at in your decision making process? Getting close or putting it off as long as possible?

For me I had no choice. It go to the point where I had trouble walking and was at the chiropractor 4 days a week for an entire year....only missing two appointments. I wanted my youngest son to reach 1 before I had my surgery and that was a tough year. When I first saw my chiropractor I could barely get in out and of his office. Of course he wanted me to put surgery off for as long as possible. After a few months I was tired spending 2 hours at the chiropractor.....I would get adjusted and than workout and get adjusted at 5 times through out my workout because my back had a mind of it's own. I wanted my surgery when I was young enough and fit enough to bounce back. I laugh at that now :O)

My neck issues are just like yours....imagine that. Last night was one of those nights where I had just had enough. I finally fell asleep around 3am this morning and my head is killing me but am meds are kicking in a little and now that I'm not in bed my neck feels a little better. I'm definitely calling the pain management doc and see where to go from here. I have an ortho appt. in early May so it will be interesting to see what they have to say about all of this. I'm not sure if I'm at surgery level yet. While my neck is presenting like my lower back did, I'm not experiencing sharp nerve pain. Hopefully it will stay that way. Again, thank you for the input.

[backissues]

I have been frustrated as well with the nerve pain in my upper abdomen coming from T8 or T9. I'm scheduled for an epidural on Monday. I've already had facet joint shots and intercostal nerve blocks.

I am trying acupuncture. I have had 2 treatments so far. I haven't had any relief but, after the second treatment, I was able to feel where the needles had gone in and movement inside my body. Those are good signs. I was told it takes at least 5-10 times. With me, I'm sure it will be more.

Also, for headaches, have you tried Fioricet? That is my "magic" pill. I take it for migraine but it may work for headaches as well.

Good luck!! I am sorry you are having such difficulty.

Irene

[asccbodypro]

[QUOTE=backissues;119596]I have been frustrated as well with the nerve pain in my upper abdomen coming from T8 or T9. I'm scheduled for an epidural on Monday. I've already had facet joint shots and intercostal nerve blocks.
Also, for headaches, have you tried Fioricet? That is my "magic" pill. I take it for migraine but it may work for headaches as well.

Irene,

I should ask about the nerve blocks, it's been mentioned but I think they want me to have at least three epidural shots first. I'm fighting that. It didn't work before so save me the time and aggrivation and move on to something new please! Not sure what facet shots are but I have had trigger point injections and that was a joke. Laid with ice on my back for 25 minutes and ALL the shots hurt like hell and they didn't work AT ALL.

I will ask about the Fioricet....haven't heard of that at all. I can promise everyone this though, the next doctor in the pain clinic is going to be so grilled on Scoliosis pain he is going to leave his day needing a drink. I'm done playing the nice patient. Perhaps they should join this website and read what living with this is really all about!

[jrnyc]

so sorry Susan...but not surprised!
i have not gotten much more than 3 weeks relief from any shots, besides the botox i get for upper spine....
i am trying sacroiliac joint injections again April 19th...they gave me TOTAL pain relief for 3 weeks...only thing that ever eliminated ALL my lumbar pain!

i feel for you! i don't have headache pain
i do have neck pain left over from Lyme...and from a bad whiplash accident...but not connected to my scoli...
the hydrocodone and oxy i take usually helps the neck pain...
worst of my pain is lower spine, not upper...

jess

[backissues]

Sometimes the shots work and sometimes they don't. I have had shots that have worked for months. All of the shots are steroid. It depends where they put the needle(s).

Check on the internet about Fioricet. It is butalbital and tylenol. I don't like how I feel like a zombie right after 20 minutes but it does get rid of the migraine. I haven't tried it for other kinds of headaches.

Good luck!!

[loves to skate]

Susan, I had one cortisone shot in my facet joints in my neck and it worked like a charm, unlike the shots I had in my lumbar spine. Jess is correct, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't and I believe also with Jess, it depends if they get the medicine in the right spot. Usually, the protocol is to try three shots. If after three you get no relief, then it is time to try something else. It has been a year and 1/2 since I had the facet joints done and now my neck is starting to hurt again. With moving twice in seven months, packing and unpacking, I haven't kept up with my neck exercises which I really need to get back to, because they really help with the pain and range of motion. I feel your pain and hope you get some relief soon.
Sally

[asccbodypro]

Sometimes the shots work and sometimes they don't. I have had shots that have worked for months. All of the shots are steroid. It depends where they put the needle(s).

Check on the internet about Fioricet. It is butalbital and tylenol. I don't like how I feel like a zombie right after 20 minutes but it does get rid of the migraine. I haven't tried it for other kinds of headaches.

Good luck!!

Definitely going to ask about the Fioicet might be worth a try

[jrnyc]

i think those for whom the shots work are very lucky!
i think it also depends on whether the pain is nerve related...doctors keep telling me shots work better on that type of pain...
i know some folks get good results....i just haven't...
but i keep trying...
i know i need surgery...but am not ready for it...yet...

i had fioricet years ago..i think it combines a relaxer with a pain killer....

jess

[foofer]

Amy,

I will definitely check that book out and it certainly can't hurt to try. I like your statement.....pre-fusion confusion. Been there done that! I was very hard for me to make my decision. It certainly not a decision to be made lightly. Where are you at in your decision making process? Getting close or putting it off as long as possible?

For me I had no choice. It go to the point where I had trouble walking and was at the chiropractor 4 days a week for an entire year....only missing two appointments. I wanted my youngest son to reach 1 before I had my surgery and that was a tough year. When I first saw my chiropractor I could barely get in out and of his office. Of course he wanted me to put surgery off for as long as possible. After a few months I was tired spending 2 hours at the chiropractor.....I would get adjusted and than workout and get adjusted at 5 times through out my workout because my back had a mind of it's own. I wanted my surgery when I was young enough and fit enough to bounce back. I laugh at that now :O)

My neck issues are just like yours....imagine that. Last night was one of those nights where I had just had enough. I finally fell asleep around 3am this morning and my head is killing me but am meds are kicking in a little and now that I'm not in bed my neck feels a little better. I'm definitely calling the pain management doc and see where to go from here. I have an ortho appt. in early May so it will be interesting to see what they have to say about all of this. I'm not sure if I'm at surgery level yet. While my neck is presenting like my lower back did, I'm not experiencing sharp nerve pain. Hopefully it will stay that way. Again, thank you for the input.

Hi....!

My "plan" was to see where I was in the spring of 2011. Now that it's here, I can think of so many things that sound better than surgery. I'm not one of the ones who has no pain, but mine is more of the major achey, stiff compressed type, not sharp, and not relentless sciatica, only intermittent and mild. Pain is an amazing topic. Some times I wish we could trade bodies with people for an hour or so. Then when we got back into our own, we could say, "Your call that pain?!" or else "OMG, I had no idea. I'll keep my own pain."

So I guess I'm of the putting it off variety....

If you try that book, he has a website with examples of the exercises and I watched those carefully for body positioning and really did them several times a day, which was easy because they are easy. I hope it helps you. It's heartbreaking to read tales of the young moms trying to deal with their issues with young ones around. I had some episodic eras when I was running around after kids, but back then I didn't even know that adult scoliosis surgery was available. That was before internet fever and my GPs always told me I just had to live with it. It all worked out pretty well, and I'm happy with the path my body chose within the realm of snaky spines....

Do you miss bodybuilding? I did quite a bit of weight workouts in my 30's and early 40's back when I used to pretend I was normal. Seems like all-in-all it was helpful, but I was not a heavy lifter. It was also so easy to get lop-sided aches and pains after a workout.I hope some day they (?) will have some concrete answers about exercise and scoliosis.

Hang in there, Susan.

[Confusedmom]

Does these pain shots work at all for sciatica? I've been putting off going to the doctor about the (newish) sciatica pain b/c I have been thinking there's nothing that can be done about it (until surgery).

Evelyn

[jrnyc]

hey Ev
maybe if the doc can figure out what nerve(s) is being pressed on, he/she can inject for that nerve and then the sciatica might be relieved....
as far as what i have been told, sciatica is related to nerves being pressed on somewhere in spine...they've got to figure out which ones/where...and try to treat them...
i ain't no doctor...but that is what i was told by pain docs...2 different ones....

i am having sacroiliac joint injections for 2nd time April 19th...first time i had them they gave me total pain relief in lumbar for 3 happy weeks! my sciatica (back of left leg) was relieved in that the pain in lumbar was gone, & whatever nerve in my spine is contributing to my sciatica was relieved of pressure temporarily...at least, that is why i think it helped me...& hope it helps again this month...

best regards...
jess

[Confusedmom]

Thanks, Jess. Happy news--they can pinpoint it exactly. Dr. Lenke showed me a film of the MRI where it clearly shows compression of the nerve root (at L3/L4 if I remember correctly). Maybe I need to go see my local ortho and see if he can put a needle there.

Thanks,
Evelyn