My PCP has sent me toa pain management Dr. who wants to do these facet block injections in my lower spine(L5-S1), as well as my neck (chronic cluster headaches). Has anyone had this done and if so what has is done to/for you. I am very apprehencive about this.
hi zap, you can go to painsupport.co.uk and read about this, im pretty sure thiers some long topics on the subject. best of luck onna
I have had those injections done about six months ago. They did nothing for me. But for other people in the office swear by them and feel a great deal of relief from them. Things work differently for everyone, you have to commit yourself to trying anything on the road to pain relief. The injections do not have any negative affects. So rest asured if you decide to go through with them they only put you out of commision for a day and if they dont work no real damage is done. Best of luck.
Yes, I have had those treatments, too, for Klippel Syndrome. That's congenital deformitires in the cervical spine. That has caused so many painful problems that I don't want to list them all here, but one of them is severe headaches. The facet caused my pain to worsen, but everyone's different. They are not able to fix my neck, so I think it was worth a try. They're right, it won't cause any lasting problems, and if it works, that's wonderful.
Good luck,
Debbie
Hi,
I've had a number of facet blocks. I've found them most helpful for radicular pain down my leg caused by scar tissue pressing on a nerve after one of 4 back surgeries. I'm not a poster child for successful back surgery but I know of people who have great luck.
The blocks can be helpful for pain control and they can also help with a diagnosis, I believe. I use the blocks now in combination with pain meds. My pain doc gives them to reduce inflamation and to lower the level of pain instead of constantly increasing the amount of pain meds I'm taking.
I've also a block for headaches, not cluster though and that block did significantly reduce my headaches for months. It's so nice when something actually works. I don't usually find the blocks too uncomfortable, considering living with daily pain. It's never made me worse.
Good luck.
I had steroid injections in C5, C6 & C7 facets back in February at the Pain Center. They put me to sleep briefly while they did it. My doc had sent me to physical therapy for neck and back pain, but the therapist there recommended an MRI. He was right! I have a bulge in my bones pressing in on the nerves in my upper back/neck. The pain was nearly gone for a month or so but creeped back up. Now I’m getting that can’t move my head to the right or left or up and down without pain. Pain meds do nothing for it. Are you going for it?
ask your Doctor to prescribe you GABAPENTIN i guarantee it will do the job
on the neck pain.It is expensive here in Australia but i am on a Disability
Pension and our Government has a very generous policy towards those of us
who are unable to make a proper living;i only pay $4.90. We are indeed a
very lucky people here in AUSTRALIA. Good Luck
On 4/16/07, bedhead chronicpain-cpt1418@lists.careplace.com wrote:
What type of medication is GABAPENTIN? UR very lucky in Austrailia. My nutrionalist got her training ther and she is going back to get her full doctorit. The meridian testing, along with the suppliment, is really helping my get my bodys' systems back in working order. All the meds have really messed them up.
zapp8084
it must be nice to afford a nutritionist,but i fail to see how nutrition can
relieve a injured spine that causes me pain that has brought me to my knees
on occasions;i am a great believer in acupuncture and have had some great
results from it on my back in the past,but now it does very little if any
good and besides since i am unable to work it is out of my financial
reach.GOOD LUCK and GOOD HEALTH
On 4/16/07, zapp8084 chronicpain-cpt1418@lists.careplace.com wrote:
my pain management dr prescrbed me that gabapentin, i guess i does do wonders for alot of people in pain, but unfortunatly i had a bad reaction to it, and had to stop it. my heart would speed up really fast for fifteen minutes, than sloe down, than speed up again. it was very scary. i even tried it a different day, but the same thing happened. i really had high hope on it too, but i find some days soma seems to work, the other days valium works. im curios about zanaflex, i heard that works pretty good for back pain.
I HAVE HAD THESE INJECTIONS SEVERAL OF THEM WITH NO HELP THEY SAY IT COULD TAKE AWILE TO GET THE FULL EFFECT OF THEM BUT I NEVER DID BUT EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT MAYBE TRY ONE OR TWO IF NO LUCK DON’T DO ANYMORE ITS ALL UP TO YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO TRY I HAVE TRIED ALOT OF THINGS WITH NO LUCK SO I TAKE THE PAIN MEDS SO I CAN HAVE SOME TYPE OF LIFE.
I have an ephidural @ L5-S1 about 2 months age and it is just starting to wear off now. I was so happy to have 3 days without ANY pain meds!!.
I had one in my neck also that is still working great. I went from weeks of cluster headaches and migraines to only a few days after my cycle!! Huge for me. Migraine meds do not work for me. My Dr said because it is a smaller area it will last longer. I don’t know about all of you, but without exersice and all the meds my butt is a lot bigger area than my neck. LOL
The facet bock I had at L4 only worked for about 3 weeks. I was so disappointed, since I had such great results with the others. That is thew ares that keeps me from moving my legs forward to walk.
I am definatly going to do the ephadural @ L5-S1 when/ and if it gets like it was. I really believe that the time my back had to rest from all the inflammation and the decress in meds, was a step towards slowing the degeneration and the Pars down.
Be blessed
zapp8084 :>)
I am out of town till the 26th. I don’t think I’ll have e-mail access. Blessings and Grace to you! Talk to ya later!