Lumbar epidural update | Arthritis Information

So far, I've found that I can stand without agony (still with discomfort) for an extra 2-3 minutes at a time. I suppose that's a significant change for me, but that's not as much of a gain as I was hoping for.  I'd call it a 5% improvement.  I tested it out today by going food shopping (OK, I had to do that anyway) and it was pretty much the same as always...me leaning on the cart for dear life and in terrible pain after 10 minutes, wondering if I can make it out of the store by the end of the trip.

 

I know you can get up to 3 epidurals a year, and sometimes getting repeats is more helpful.  I'm going to ask the doctor about it at my follow-up on Friday.  But if it's only going to get me another 5%, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Humm... I wonder if it has the same effect as when taking meds. You know like our infusions. The first one does ok, then the next one does good and the next one even better. Wow- what a bummer. Sorry you got so little relief. Did you ask your doctor if this is the best you can expect?Is that the same epidural procedure like when you have a baby just not as potent? Just curious, I never knew that did that unless you were pregnant. Maybe you need more epi in your dural??? Sorry, I know how you feel. SOmetimes I have to go grocery shopping and I am in agony about half way in and wonder if I'll make out of the store. I take my kids to help but just walking and reaching for the items on the shelf are enough sometimes to make me want to cry.

Thankfully my hubby does 99.9% of the grocery shopping, but sometimes he forgets things or doesn't know what I need.  And this time I had to get some special ingredients for a recipe.  He did bring in all the groceries from the car and put them away though!

CinDee, the epidural simply means the method of how it's done, an injection into the dura, or the outer layer surrounding the spinal cord.  I believe during childbirth (someone correct me if I'm wrong) they give you an anesthetic, where for orthopedic purposes they would give you a high dose of corticosteroids, or pred, to shrink the inflamed tissue.  Unfortunately the effect is not permanent, but it is supposed to help for at least a few months.

I'm not sure I ever discussed with the doctor exactly how much it could help.  I just know that I've exhausted the other options on my lumbar discs and this was pretty much the last one.  I'll see what the pain mgmt doc (who did the epidural) says on Friday, and what my orthopedist says on Monday.Thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering just in case I ever need one. I had a reaction to the epi I had when I had my daughter and I was told not to ever have one again. But that was 20 years ago. I started having convulsions, and throwing up and was numb from my neck down. Then they couldn't find my babies heartbeat and the next thing I know....I was getting a c-section. Scared hubby and I something fierce! Never was going to have another baby but hubby wanted a son so Then had son 5 years later by c-section and they knocked me out completely. He was a breeze. Just curious. ThanksCinDee Here's what I don't understand...when they do it for ortho, they use x-rays to guide the needles into the right place.  Obviously they're not using x-rays when you have a child inside you, so how do they get the needles to the right place?  (I mean when they do it right and don't go into your bloodstream...OMG!)Hey Wanttobefree, we are the 2% of women that it can happen to. I know the dr went in too deep when he did mine. I also had the "spinal headache". It was horrible when I sat up or stood up I had the worse headache. I was throwing up because of it and with staples in my stomach. UCK! Finally after about one week or so, I called ob and they had me go to er and they took blood from my arm and blocked the hole in my spine. Instant relief!  The dr explained it. Said "I had a hole in spine which when sitting or standing, air would get in and cause the headache" Crazy. I'm always that little percentage that gets weird stuff!Saw my pain mgmt doc this afternoon.  He said I should be seeing an improvement by now, and although he was hoping for a better result, the deck is stacked against me with problems in multiple adjacent levels, my excess weight, and the RA and Fibro.  He wants to do another epidural next week to see if the second one will show improvement, but we are doing it at a surgical center so they can give me mild sedation (yay!).  In my particular case, the spot they need to reach is in the front of the spine, and since the needle goes in the back, it is a long way to travel and potentially hit nerves.

 

I'm not holding out a lot of hope for the second injection, but trying to remain open to the possibilities.  If that doesn't work, he said we could try facet joint injections...ones that go into the facet joints on the back of the spine, like a regular joint injection you'd get in any other joint.

Hope you get better success this time Inner Glow- Best of luck!

                                                                                                                                               


     Hi Innerglow. Hope you're feeling better today. I had an epidural on Tues of last week This was in the caudual area?????? They put me to sleep for about 20 min.....at least I didn't know what was going on for that time. I woke up in recovery. It was done at a surgery center. I did well the day of the shot, but started to have a reaction to the anesthesia on Wed and it continued on Thurs. Called the dr and was told to take Benedryl. I had a red rash on my face and upper body. And my face was swollen..... A little scary as I've had anaphalactic reactions before to foods. By Thurs night I sort of felt my throat closing up, so I got prepared to give myself a shot of epinephrine. But it got better. It was too scary for me to go through again so soon( had a appoint for next tues for another one) That one is into L4, L5 and S1. so far my pain has been about the same as ever, except my leg doesn't hurt. I really don't know if I will have the next one. Have to talk it over with the pain management dr first.  Hope you have good luck with your next one.                        

Jeanie
IG - I sure hope you get some relief, and sedation pre-epidural is helpful.  I had one epidural in my neck about 7 years ago after a terrible W/C accident which herinated a cervical disc.  They had new assistants who didn't position my head properly to get the disc space open enough and he hit bone THREE TIMES before HE adjusted my head/neck properly and finally got in.  So I had four epidural sticks in about 10 minutes NO FUN AT ALL.  And he hit the spot because I felt the flood of the pain reliever flood correctly into the terrible right arm/hand pain I had from the accident.  Good luck ~~ Cathy[QUOTE=justsaynoemore]They had new assistants who didn't position my head properly to get the disc space open enough and he hit bone THREE TIMES before HE adjusted my head/neck properly and finally got in.  So I had four epidural sticks in about 10 minutes NO FUN AT ALL. [/QUOTE]