Epidural
my pain specialist has added cervical nerve disorder and degenerative arthritis of the neck to my docket. he wants to try an epidural injection to treat the pain in my neck now, and i'm truly terrified. the last round of nerve blocks we tried caused me more pain than relief. has anyone else received an epidural before for treatment??
I have had several epidurals and, for the most part, find them helpful. I have not had any luck with my neck, but in my thoracic and lumbar spine, that is what keeps me able to walk and live a semi-normal life. I had one in my lumbar spine last Thursday and was able to fly on Sunday, pain-free. I don't like taking pain meds and find this a much better solution.
I have had many cervical (as well as lumbar) epidural injections. The fear of a needle in my spine was so much worse than the actual procedure. The worst pain was from the lidocaine and that wasn’t that bad. The process literally took 5 minutes once I was on the OR table. I had relief from the first few that I had. The first injection lasted the longest; with about a year of relief. By my third injection, however, I was already experiencing loss of feeling in my hands and was dropping stuff all the time. In 2013 I had a cervical laminectomy and fusion and actually felt the success as soon as I woke from the surgery. I could feel my hands; no more tingling. I’ve been 90% better ever since.
I basically lived on epidural injections in my cervical and lumbar spine for years. As far as the shot itself, it is not fun. You get a numbing shot first to help. The trick is to stay still and let the doctor do his/her thing. As soon as the medication is injected and the syringe is removed, the discomfort ends. It is certainly manageable pain. As far as how well it works, that varies. I've had several doctors give me the injections. I found that when it is broken up into 2 shots, I've had the best results. Even with that, it does not last very long. Still, a few weeks of comfort is worth it.
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There are quite a few community members who have had epidural injections for neck pain.
I'm hoping some will chime in here with their personal experiences.
In the meantime, I thought I'd share this article that discusses treatment options: https://axialspondyloarthritis.net/treatment
I hope you are able to find some answers sand relief soon.
My best, Doreen (Team Member)
