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Spinal Epidural

Anyone had any sort of spinal epidural for back pain?  If so, can you let me know if it relieved your pain and how long the relief lasted?  Any complications? 

After dealing with constant pain for over 3 years, that is their last option with me (cervical epidural).  I'm a little scared, but at this point willing to do anything for pain relief.  Trigger point injections only last about 5 weeks for me, so the ortho dr seems to think this will help provide longer pain relief.

Re: Spinal Epidural

  • Wow, that's extreme! How long should this method provide relief for? What are the risks/complications? Is there potential to lose feeling and/or sensation in your arms/legs/fingers/toes?

  • wow...I give you a lot of credit for trying that out.  Epidurals scare the sh*t out of me!  Chrissy asked some good questions.  I've never heard of this method for pain reduction - seriously look into this and do your research.  Have you tried any alternative methods - chiropractic, acupuncture, orthopedic medicine, etc?  GL and keep us posted.
    Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • haha just re-read and saw that the orthopedic dr is the one recommending it! 
    Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • Yes and it is actually very common.  If you google it, you can see how common it is and read all about the potential risks (which are minimal), but it's way too much to type on here.  This was a last resort for us, since I'm so young, but it's a much better alternative than surgery.  I've done everything...chiropractor, physical therapy (multiple rounds for over a year and a half), TENS unit, muscle relaxers and naproxen, etc.  My doctor has done over 10,000 of them, so I'm pretty confident that he'll know what he's doing.
  • Keep us posted hops!  Good luck!
    Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • Yes, this is a very common method of pain relief.  I am an x-ray tech and used to work for a doctor who did spinal epidurals.  I think you should definitely try them to see if they work for you.  Complications are very rare -- you might get an infection at the puncture site or very, very rarely, get some numbness.  I can't remember every possible complication.  I worked for him on Saturday mornings for 8 months, we saw about 15 people every Saturday and no one ever had any complications that I heard of.

    I heard a gamut of reactions from people.  Some told me it was the greatest thing they ever did and were able to stop taking their pain meds.  Some people said it did nothing at all for them.  I would say most people got some relief to a good amount of relief.

    And it's not something you can do on a long-term basis.  My doctor would do a series of 3 shots, 2 weeks apart for each shot, then wait to see if they work.  Long term steroid use is not good for your body.  He might do another set of shots 6 months or so later if the first set provided some relief.  I hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any more questions, and I'll try to answer them for you.

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  • I forgot to add something else.  I would bet the shots aren't nearly as bad as you are imagining them to be.  It only took 10-15 minutes for the entire procedure per patient.  I had many, many patients tell me it wasn't nearly as bad as they were thinking it would be.  If you decide to do the shots, good luck and best wishes!  I can't imagine living in pain every day, like I've seen with so many patients.  My heart goes out to you. 
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  • Thanks so much for the info!!  I really feel like that since the trigger point injections provide relief that the epidural would for even longer (at least I sure hope so)!!  I'll keep you posted on how I do and if it provides some pain relief.  I really hope it does since it seems like nothing else will for very long (except the trigger points that only last 5 weeks or so).
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