Oh goody, injection in the spine, really looking forward to this ...

JodieG said:
I've had lower back problems (they called it pelvic girdle pain) since I was pregnant with my first child and it comes and goes. I had some physio when I was last pregnant but due to problems had to stop it. I've also got coccyx pain since giving birth which hasn't gone 10 months later but I mostly ignore it, it was a lot worse where I could barely sit comfortably and I couldn't ride a bike but it seems to have eased up a lot.
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I'm going from weeks where i feel pretty good and i just feels like i've had a heavy day lifting stuff to times where i need tablets to get to sleep and my wife has to put my socks on for me in the mornings. I want this fixed!
JodieG said:
I've had steroid injections a few times whilst pregnant and they did sting a bit but it was over quickly. I'm not sure how they compare to steroids in the spine though as I had mine in my thigh and also hip, hip hurt more.
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Don't know how they compare but i swore at my doctor the first time (appologised afterwards!) and by the third injection he was having trouble getting the needle into me (something about thickened muscle :confused: )
 
firstborn said:
My experience of sciatica - suffered for 6+ months, pain in the bum, leg numbness and pain all down leg to foot (further down the pain the worse the condition apparently). Pain eased when active so continued to play rugby. Then had MRI that showed prolapsed disc. Discussed injections and surgery which I turned down. Resigned from work and went to Uni. Still suffering from sciatica, but played rubgy for Uni.

Decided that whilst active, my back muscles were tense offering more support to spine reducing effects of prolapsed disc. Hit the weights concentrating on lower back and symptoms eased and eventually dissapeared. That was 10 years ago.

Not recommending any of the above but it worked for me.
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You're a stronger man than me (yes this is jealousy :p)
 
SB118 said:
I'm going from weeks where i feel pretty good and i just feels like i've had a heavy day lifting stuff to times where i need tablets to get to sleep and my wife has to put my socks on for me in the mornings. I want this fixed!

Don't know how they compare but i swore at my doctor the first time (appologised afterwards!) and by the third injection he was having trouble getting the needle into me (something about thickened muscle :confused: )
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I feel for you, I've had bad days where I couldn't even move but, thankfully, not for over a year now.

I imagine it's more painful in the spine, can't be nice at all :( I would never have an epidural during labour as I'm scared of having needles, especially in my spine!
 
It hurts like the devil when he does the first injection but thankfully the first "hit" is the anesthetic, then steroid, then water. It's the time between being stabbed with the hollow nail and the anesthetic actually kicking in that's a nightmare.

Not forgetting every cloud, etc. if i'm knocked out for the night, i don't have to do the 1am nappy. win!
 
well i've had an epidural before, they numbed the skin on my spine before hand, so didn't feel a thing (then they knocked me out :D )
 
I've got a neurosugeon appointment on Tuesday! I've had sciatic pain for over a year and have finally had an MRI scan showing 2 bulging discs. I'm hoping for an operation as I'm fed up of the pain.
 
SB118 said:
You're a stronger man than me (yes this is jealousy :p)
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Most would say stupid! Meant to have said it was 16+ months not 6. Even though my whole lower leg would go numb whilst walking and was in lot of pain whilst sitting, no way I was going to let a needle or a knife near my spine. Each to their own I guess.

When I had my MRI done the guy said that the majority of people would show a disc or two bulging to some extent.
 
Captain Kirk said:
I've got a neurosugeon appointment on Tuesday! I've had sciatic pain for over a year and have finally had an MRI scan showing 2 bulging discs. I'm hoping for an operation as I'm fed up of the pain.
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Good luck with it, shouldn't be that much longer till they get you sorted.
 
not hadinjection in the spine but, for knee problems, which due to a worn knee cap and scar tissue in the membrane my knee's regularly swell up and have been painful on off(as in a day here or there i won't notice it unfortunately) for a decade, only 25, bit of a crock.

i had surgery to remove folds in the membrane which grew to big then scar tissue fromed to essentially replace the folds, trying it again is too risky as more often than not thicker worse scar tissue would form, making it worse.

anyway, i had the odd steroid injection right into the knee cavity, it has to go through a fair bit of cartilage, was painful, not that bad at all though. what was much worse was the steroid they pumped in, its obviously much more liquid than is normally there, i got this painful pressured feeling within the knee which was horrible for the first few mins, bad for a few hours then goes.

due to amount of steroids they could only do it once/twice a year, which in general i would do beginning/end of winter as thats when it was worse. but i stopped getting them after a few years as, they only help a lot for a couple weeks, very little help after a few weeks. the pain is easier to ignore if its always there, when you get a little break, as the pain comes back it seems so much worse. though a break from the pain/discomfort is nice, it ultimately makes it harder when the pain comes back if you see what i mean.

i am very deeply sympathetic to anyone with chronic pain, people that haven't had it just can't understand it, its not the sharp intense pain, its the rarely getting a break from it, and that it can flare up from doing the most basic thing.

ohope it all gets sorted for ya.
 
NightSt@lk3r said:
can this thread like be deleted or something as everytime i see the title it makes my spine tingle:p
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Did i mention that the surgeon might be drilling a hole in the bone in my spine, then pulling out a piece of the cartelidge to relieve the pressure on the nerve?

Better? :D
 
This is SB118's fault that the tread is resurrected. I posted above, but for the full (boring) story, please read on...

September 2006, I go to get up off my bed and suffer cramp like pains down my left leg, only it hurts 100 times more than cramp, and won't go away.
Before this I had just finished my final year of uni exams, and started a job, so I think the amount of sitting, and probably in a bad position caused this.
Anyway, I think it will go away, but a few weeks later I'm still in a lot of pain, so I go to the doctor (in Hertfordshire) who says it will go away if I give it time, and try not to stay still for too long. Also gives me painkillers.
several weeks (probably about 6) of going to the doctor and getting drugs, and I finally get sent to a specialist at the hospital, who basically says its probably a prolapsed disc, and give it rest and time and it should sort itself out. I give it time (and physio at my own expense), and keep going back to the Doctor, who just keeps pushing drugs on me. It slowly starts to get a little better, but I have massively restricted movement. Anyway, I start doing my sport again (kayaking) slowly, and it seems to help with movement.

Around April time it goes again. This time I have moved to Wirral (where I am now). I think it was brought on by kayaking more, however it seems to have freed up something, and my movement is improved. I am however in a shed load more pain. I start seeing another physio, who helps a lot. I also go to a new doctor, who starts the cycle of giving me more drugs and tells me to rest, even though I pretty much demanded a scan as I had been through all this before. It hasn't really got much better than this since. I have been in pretty much constant pain, and although it's not as bad as I have heard some be, being in constant pain can really get you down at times.
Anyway, I go for a bit of a driving holiday around the alps, whilst I watch my friends kayak. When I get back, nothing has changed much.
I keep pestering the doctor, and in October I finally got an MRI scan, the results of which show 2 bulging (prolapsed/slipped) discs between L4/L5 and L5/S1 which is right at the bottom of the spine.
I then got referred to a neurosurgeon, who saw me on November 27th. The hospital where I had the MRI scan hadn't sent the pictures through, so he couldn't say for sure, but he thought that surgery was probably the best way to go.

I got a phone call yesterday (6th December) to say that they wish to operate on me, and can I come in on the 11th Jan for a pre-op, and then come in on the 13th Jan, so that I can have the op on the 14th. Not sure if it is just the worst disc, or both discs, that they are going to operate on. I will ask on the 11th Jan!

So, from the original occurence to the surgery it will be approx 16 months. Not bad for the NHS I guess.

Thanks for reading
 
Got a letter from my surgeons office today, they've found my MRI results, yay!

"blah blah ..a disc prolapse on the right hand side, which could be compromising one of the nerve root.. blah blah"

And now i'm on the waiting list, was expecting to get done at the end of feb/start of march :(

Had a bit too much thinking time now, keep coming back to the possible problems that could occur during surgery, very small chance of loss of bladder and bowel control, even smaller chance of erectile disfunction (posh phrase for never getting it up again) and the very outside possibility of paralysis in one or both legs. Obviously these are standard warnings that he gives to everybody but i've not had the best of luck the last few years and i'm not sure i want to push it. :eek:

I know that these are remote possibilities, but .... i'd rather feel the pain than feel nothing.


ps, good luck to CK when he get's his sorted out.
 
SB118 said:
i've not had the best of luck the last few years and i'm not sure i want to push it. :eek:
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Sorry, but that just gave me the hardest laugh all day! :p:D

I'd have words with the surgeon, and discuss what the risks are. If the pain is that bad, I'd be very tempted to go with the surgeon's suggestion.
 
Oops, one of the downsides i missed out was that he could do the op, and it still wouldn't be any better (nerve could already be damaged not just pressed against) So i'm also weighing the negatives against it not actually fixing it either! bugger!
 
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