Epidural

[KRUSTYMAN]

After 15 years of chronic back/neck pain during which I have been on high doses of painkillers etc and having been turned away by a spinal surgeon because he says it is too dangerous to operate on I have been told I can have an epidural in my neck in the new year. Unfortunately the Doctor was rather brusque and left the consultation quite fast and I suddenly found myself outside the hospital with little more than a brief note explaining the do's and don'ts on the day of the procedure. I have made an appointment to speak to my own GP about it but can't get to see him for another fortnight. Anyone got any experience of this procedure that could enlighten me a little? TIA

[JamSam17]

Hey there... Do you know which type of epidural you might be having?
I have a prolapsed disc in my back and have had two different types of epidural to put off surgery as long as possible! I can only tell you what I know, but it may not be the procedure that you're having. I hope you're ok, the last one I had was the best thing!

[Scarlett]

All it is is an injection of steroids around the nerve that is causing the pain. This "heals" the nerve endings causing you grief. It is not a permanent fix but may or may not give temporary relief. I have had lots of these in my back for pain. My Dad has had them in his shoulder. They tend to them as a pain relief where other methods have failed- physio etc. Steroids are immense healers and when given as an injection, have very few side effects as the dose is relatively small. It can "fix" the area, but does wear off after a few months. It can also take a few weeks to work. Sometimes it does not work at all. It's worth a try. Just make sure that you can really point to the precise place where it hurts, cos that's where they will do the injection. Get it wrong, and it's a waste of time! I think you can have up to 3 injections a year.

[Scarlett]

P.S if you don't want to wait, you can have it done privately where they will really take their time and do it very carefully, for about �90 for the specialists time, plus �100 for the clinic's facilities/needle etc.

[Scarlett]

P.P. S JamSam! Which types have you had?

[daffy654]

The epidural procedure is not the same as the steroid injections Scarlett.I have had the steroid injections to try and alleviate nerve pain in my chest wall from lung surgery............it didn't work for me :(

[Scarlett]

Are you sure Daffy? Whenever I have heard of someone with a chronic pain problem, the first thing the doctors do is inject the area with steroids. It seems a pretty basic thing to do but it does help some people. Why is this problem a different procedure?

[daffy654]

You can actually have all sorts of injections into back pain and chest pain areas,I even had botox in my chest muscles but again it didn't work,my pain doc thinks the pain is muscular whereas my chest doc thinks it is nerve damage so they keep trying all sorts of things. My sister and my mum have both had the epidural procedure and it is very similar to the one they do during labour,they inject the long lasting anaesthetic into the epidural space of the spinal column.

[JamSam17]

Hi Scarlett, sorry for the very delayed reply. I've had a caudal (sp) epidural and a lumbar epidural. The first one was very uncomfortable but didn't hurt as such, the second one has been the most sucessful and didn't hurt at all. (Despite the tears beforehand!) It was really good for me, luckily. They've offered me another one which I'm really pleased about!