Guest guest Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hi Annie, At first I had a lot of anxiety about an epidural too, not knowing what was involved, but the procedure was fluoroscopic guided and I was totally knocked out, or seemed to be, by an anesthesiologist, who put something in my IV. Afterwards I had minimal or no pain. They did give me an ice pack to keep on the injection site, which was in my upper back, for the first 24 hours. I know that anesthesiologists don't always attend epidurals, in which case they probably use a local and it would be a good idea to take an antianxiety med recommended by them. Rochelle ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2008 Report Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hi Annie, At first I had a lot of anxiety about an epidural too, not knowing what was involved, but the procedure was fluoroscopic guided and I was totally knocked out, or seemed to be, by an anesthesiologist, who put something in my IV. Afterwards I had minimal or no pain. They did give me an ice pack to keep on the injection site, which was in my upper back, for the first 24 hours. I know that anesthesiologists don't always attend epidurals, in which case they probably use a local and it would be a good idea to take an antianxiety med recommended by them. Rochelle ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Annie, From what I read and from what my pain doctors tell me, we are only allowed 3 epidurals a year. And the reason is that corticosteroids cause bone to lose calcium and with too many epidurals the vertebra could be weakened enough to collapse. I know how wonderful corticosteroids can feel, but very unfortunately most every treatment man has devised for the pain of spinal arthritis comes with drawbacks.. Medical science has miles to go on this one. (However, there is one medication-free option and that is an implanted electrical stimulator. I think they've come out with a super small one. Ask your pain doctor if this is an option.) Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Annie, From what I read and from what my pain doctors tell me, we are only allowed 3 epidurals a year. And the reason is that corticosteroids cause bone to lose calcium and with too many epidurals the vertebra could be weakened enough to collapse. I know how wonderful corticosteroids can feel, but very unfortunately most every treatment man has devised for the pain of spinal arthritis comes with drawbacks.. Medical science has miles to go on this one. (However, there is one medication-free option and that is an implanted electrical stimulator. I think they've come out with a super small one. Ask your pain doctor if this is an option.) Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Annie, and Rochelle, First off depending on the doc some docs will do numerous epidurals. I inow I have had as many as 9 in a year....the problem is anything injected into the arachnoid space can cause arachnoiditis.....which is VERY PAINFUL...I know I have it....I also have an implanted stimulator which is worth its weight in gold...it gets rid of all of my leg burning and pain. Deb Rn From: neck pain [mailto:neck pain ] On Behalf Of Rochelle Cocco Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 9:16 AM neck pain Subject: Re:For Rochelle Hi Annie, From what I read and from what my pain doctors tell me, we are only allowed 3 epidurals a year. And the reason is that corticosteroids cause bone to lose calcium and with too many epidurals the vertebra could be weakened enough to collapse. I know how wonderful corticosteroids can feel, but very unfortunately most every treatment man has devised for the pain of spinal arthritis comes with drawbacks.. Medical science has miles to go on this one. (However, there is one medication-free option and that is an implanted electrical stimulator. I think they've come out with a super small one. Ask your pain doctor if this is an option.) Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Annie, and Rochelle, First off depending on the doc some docs will do numerous epidurals. I inow I have had as many as 9 in a year....the problem is anything injected into the arachnoid space can cause arachnoiditis.....which is VERY PAINFUL...I know I have it....I also have an implanted stimulator which is worth its weight in gold...it gets rid of all of my leg burning and pain. Deb Rn From: neck pain [mailto:neck pain ] On Behalf Of Rochelle Cocco Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 9:16 AM neck pain Subject: Re:For Rochelle Hi Annie, From what I read and from what my pain doctors tell me, we are only allowed 3 epidurals a year. And the reason is that corticosteroids cause bone to lose calcium and with too many epidurals the vertebra could be weakened enough to collapse. I know how wonderful corticosteroids can feel, but very unfortunately most every treatment man has devised for the pain of spinal arthritis comes with drawbacks.. Medical science has miles to go on this one. (However, there is one medication-free option and that is an implanted electrical stimulator. I think they've come out with a super small one. Ask your pain doctor if this is an option.) Rochelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi and thank you dearly for your query to me--- I am still able to get out of bed-- but it is with extreme difficulty and I feel inflamed in my entire back now--- not just the neck - - -they also found a growth -- like a spur on my L-5 region-- I had had 4 sciatica attacks and just finished up with PT - -16 applications of it and it was a great experience for me, Rochelle-- it was an intimate group of very nice women all trained and healthy who really lifted my spirits-- (I lost my brother to suicide and my best friend I found dead 8 months ago so the emotional trauma is at times very debilitating for me-- and too I am very isolated in the Florida woods all alone-- sometimes Rochelle my amazonian persona fails me--- at 60, most of my friends are far and into their own lives with jobs, kids, grand kids)--- I am artistic and a writer/ musician and so that life style affords me richly with arts but not with popularity and I firmly think that all this factors in when you consider the whole being is affected when you have health concerns. Who wants to be around someone who is as different as myself-- btw I am Arab too, and also with health issues? I have no feeling in my arms at night only--but the stiffness and nerve pain and too a feeling of fire in my spine( ridiculopothy) and in my neck when I sneeze-- has gotten worse, These injections of metho-carbostoroids? really have helped me through at least 2 months tops-- but this last one was a miss and I got undone at the next week after wards and since they can not offer me another one until May 12 I am literally hanging on counting the days until I get that shot-- I also think that one in my lumbar would be good-- it will meet the one in the neck and voila I will feel fantastic for a while, nes't pas? The injections are keeping me from having surgery and that is exactly what the surgeon is wanting to accomplish at this point-- he said until my life is shattered and i cant get out of bed--- so I trust his judgment-- he is one of the top ten orthopedist's in the area-- very conservative and not a cutter--- that is a plus right? I take 30 Mg's of hydrocodone a day and ice at night when I am not active. Thank you Rochell-- how re you and the microbiology ? When I see posts from you I immediately think of my dear genius brother-- he had a PhD in entomology and a masters in biology, a BS in zoology--- oh well part of my situation is loss of family--- they are indeed a good distraction but they are all gone--- Love, Annie A poet is, after all, to see From: Rochelle <rccoc1977@...> Subject: Re: cant walk--- neck pain Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009, 10:08 AM Hi Annie, How badly are your spinal cord and nerve roots being impinged? Are your reflexes over-reactive, are muscles in your arms and legs spasming or are your arms and legs going numb. Do the epidurals fix everything? I'm wondering, can you raise your head up when you are lying on your back? Actually this is a good question for everyone with neck problems. If the answer is no, then your neck is too weak and needs to be strengthened because everyday activities are stressing the joints and leading to inflamation. For a long time, I could not lift my head from the bed and that was also when my neck pain was the worst. As my neck and upper back has gotten stronger my pain levels have gone down. Rochelle > > > >Hi Dave, > >I'm so sorry you are dealing with so much pain! An 8 is pretty bad > >and usually makes me want to crawl under my bed and die. Sometimes I > >flare like that for no apparent reason, has that happened to you > >before? I know you have said the PT is going well but do you think > >it was just a little too much for you and now your body is > >rebelling? Whatever the reason I hope you are feeling better today! Take care > >Hugs, > > > > > > > > Well after a real bad 24 hours where the pain got up as high as a 9, > it finally broke last night between midnight and 3am. It dropped all > the way to 4 when I woke up, then ramped up to a 6 only about an hour > after I woke. I had PT today. I felt tired and not into it. But > then I had a brisk workout on an elliptical machine and a treadmill, > and I actually felt better when I left. They have been teaching me > that you need to expend energy in order to make energy, and for me, > it works. I have wasted a summer or two by just lying around in > pain. I would then get less and less motivated, more depressed, lay > around and sleep more. Since I'm going to PT on my own and not being > forced there, it's working for me. I'm open to try all that they ask > of me. Dave > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Annie, I also have had the burning pain in my back and neck. When I sneezed or coughed or turned or stepped wrong, the pain would be excruciating. However, I believe this is not radiculopathy, which is radiating pain along the path of a nerve root. An example would be pain extending into your fingers from stenosis at C5/6. If you look at a dermatome map of the body, you will see where pain from compressed sensory nerve roots in the spine will extend to. Abnormal reflexes (either brisk from irritated nerve roots or absent due to really bad compression) are due to compression of the motor nerve roots (controlling muscles). Both sensory nerves and motor nerves are bundled together in the nerve roots. The burning pain is inflamation of joint spaces in the vertebra. Have you been checked for rheumatoid conditions? Also there may be tick borne diseases in your " neck of the woods " like lyme disease. A friend of my mom called from Northwest Florida wanting to know where my mom was and of course I had to tell her she had passed away recently. But we talked awhile and she told me she suddenly has inflammatory arthritis and thinks it was due to a tiny tick bite so she's going to get tested for one of the diseases spread by ticks. I also know someone who did test positive for lymes from a deer tick bite where we had lived in Florida. She was treated with heavy dose antibiotics and got better. So this might be something to be checked out. When I had the bad inflamation in my spine, a rheumatologist put me on oral prednisone for 2 months, then I was weaned off for 1-2 months. I had intensive physical therapy during that time, which helped a lot. Then I transitioned to celebrex. Unfortunately, I reacted badly to the celebrex and had to go off it. I began having pain again, but in a serendipidous turn of events, I had torn both rotator cuffs, while pulling myself up because my back was so painful I could barely move. Here I was, neck and back messed up and both shoulders very painful to where I couldn't even pull my pants on or off to go to the bathroom. I went to one bout of physical therapy and that helped my shoulders a little but not my neck or back. Then I went to a new orthopedist and a new physical therapist, who was the best I've ever been too. The exercises for strengthening the shoulder blade area and my decision to be persistent about lifting my chest area and keeping my back straight has made all the difference for me. I wouldn't have believed it myself. What I thought was purely stenosis and unfixable was actually, constant muscle strain from poor posture. Spasming Muscles pulling on vertebra will cause the vertebra and joints to be painful. I don't know whether my diet made any difference either, but because I developed salt-sensitive hypertension due, I think, to the celebrex messing with my kidneys, I went on a low sodium diet. I do not eat processed food of any kind. That means no restaurants and no processed food, which is all very difficult. So of necessity my diet is much healthier than I've ever had. I also wonder if this could have made a difference too, because I was a big coffee and baked goods eater (loved anything sweet--donuts, danish, cookies, which make me sick to eat now,and no more coffee or tea or chocolate) and I loved fast food like Taco Bell, which is loaded with salt. Any way, as you can tell I'm a believer in good posture and healthy eating. But I know that these changes in life style won't help everyone, especially those dealing with worse stenosis than I, but I do have moderate to severe stenosis of nerve roots at 3 levels in my neck (C4 - C7) and mild to moderate stenosis at C1/2 and 3 years of moderate chronic pain and 30 years of episodic severe to moderate pain. I think if I'd listened to my mother about my posture in my early 20's, I'd be a lot better off now. sorry to carry on so. I don't work in the microbiology field any more. I don't work at all right now, due to getting a severe stomach ailment (gastroparesis) 3 and a half years ago from a stomach virus. I went down below 95 pounds and was headed for a feeding tube and then the neck, back and shoulder thing flared up. That was a very low time in my life, which I'm finally coming out of. But when I could I went to a poetry class at a local community college and helped out with their online literary jounal and I have to say, being around poets and people who write has been a life-enriching experience. Also we have a whole range of people in class, old (70s and 80s), young, gay, black, hispanic, asian, all different but all appreciating the written word. Perhaps the difference here is that we live in the city--Los Angeles area--and even though poets are a very small percentage of the population, there are enough of us here to find each other. I do pray you find relief soon, Rochelle -- In neck pain , Ann Wood Fuller <gatorma1@...> wrote: > > Hi and thank you dearly for your query to me--- > I am still able to get out of bed-- but it is with extreme difficulty and I feel inflamed in my entire back now--- not just the neck - - -they also found a growth -- like a spur on my L-5 region-- I had had 4 sciatica attacks and just finished up with PT - -16 applications of it and it was a great experience for me, Rochelle-- it was an intimate group of very nice women all trained and healthy who really lifted my spirits-- (I lost my brother to suicide and my best friend I found dead 8 months ago so the emotional trauma is at times very debilitating for me-- and too I am very isolated in the Florida woods all alone-- sometimes Rochelle my amazonian persona fails me--- at 60, most of my friends are far and into their own lives with jobs, kids, grand kids)--- I am artistic and a writer/ musician and so that life style affords me richly with arts but not with popularity and I firmly think that all this factors in when you consider the whole being is > affected when you have health concerns. Who wants to be around someone who is as different as myself-- btw I am Arab too, and also with health issues? > > I have no feeling in my arms at night only--but the stiffness and nerve pain and too a feeling of fire in my spine( ridiculopothy) and in my neck when I sneeze-- has gotten worse, > These injections of metho-carbostoroids? really have helped me through at least 2 months tops-- but this last one was a miss and I got undone at the next week after wards and since they can not offer me another one until May 12 I am literally hanging on counting the days until I get that shot-- I also think that one in my lumbar would be good-- it will meet the one in the neck and voila I will feel fantastic for a while, nes't pas? > The injections are keeping me from having surgery and that is exactly what the surgeon is wanting to accomplish at this point-- he said until my life is shattered and i cant get out of bed--- so I trust his judgment-- he is one of the top ten orthopedist's in the area-- very conservative and not a cutter--- that is a plus right? > I take 30 Mg's of hydrocodone a day and ice at night when I am not active. > Thank you Rochell-- how re you and the microbiology ? > When I see posts from you I immediately think of my dear genius brother-- he had a PhD in entomology and a masters in biology, a BS in zoology--- oh well part of my situation is loss of family--- they are indeed a good distraction but they are all gone--- > Love, Annie > > A poet is, after all, to see > > > > > From: Rochelle <rccoc1977@...> > Subject: Re: cant walk--- > neck pain > Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009, 10:08 AM > > > Hi Annie, > > How badly are your spinal cord and nerve roots being impinged? Are your reflexes over-reactive, are muscles in your arms and legs spasming or are your arms and legs going numb. > Do the epidurals fix everything? > I'm wondering, can you raise your head up when you are lying on your back? Actually this is a good question for everyone with neck problems. If the answer is no, then your neck is too weak and needs to be strengthened because everyday activities are stressing the joints and leading to inflamation. For a long time, I could not lift my head from the bed and that was also when my neck pain was the worst. As my neck and upper back has gotten stronger my pain levels have gone down. > > Rochelle > > > > > > > > > > >Hi Dave, > > >I'm so sorry you are dealing with so much pain! An 8 is pretty bad > > >and usually makes me want to crawl under my bed and die. Sometimes I > > >flare like that for no apparent reason, has that happened to you > > >before? I know you have said the PT is going well but do you think > > >it was just a little too much for you and now your body is > > >rebelling? Whatever the reason I hope you are feeling better today! Take care > > >Hugs, > > > > > > > > > > > > > Well after a real bad 24 hours where the pain got up as high as a 9, > > it finally broke last night between midnight and 3am. It dropped all > > the way to 4 when I woke up, then ramped up to a 6 only about an hour > > after I woke. I had PT today. I felt tired and not into it. But > > then I had a brisk workout on an elliptical machine and a treadmill, > > and I actually felt better when I left. They have been teaching me > > that you need to expend energy in order to make energy, and for me, > > it works. I have wasted a summer or two by just lying around in > > pain. I would then get less and less motivated, more depressed, lay > > around and sleep more. Since I'm going to PT on my own and not being > > forced there, it's working for me. I'm open to try all that they ask > > of me. Dave > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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