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Pain In Arm, Burning Neck, Fatigue. MRI Shows Leaking Disc, Bone Spurs, Spinal Stenosis. Help
Hi, Doctor, I am scheduled to have an intralaminar steroid injection in c- 6 on the 15th of this month. I want to know how badly this will hurt. I am scared to death, but am going through with it because I cannot take the pain. I don t sleep because of the position of my arms, raising them hurts and i just want to die.I feel like I have meat hooks in my back, pain and electric shocks in my left arm, fatigue , burning and nectk pain, etc. I am sure you have heard this all before. The meds I take aren t helping at all; they take the edge off, but it is not sufficient to allow me to drive or do any other daily activities. And I don t like the effects of the drugs ( Vicodin , Soma) .This is all the time. I am afraid of injury, and the pain, too. I have read so many posts of people who said it hurts like nothing they have ever felt before. Is this true? Is the pain different for different people? My MRI shows four leaking discs, bone spurs, and central spinal stenosis . Is it really necessary to go through this when it seems to me that just removing the spurs might help? If you have done these injections, would you please tell me what your patients experience during the proceedure? God, I am scared.
Tue, 10 Sep 2013
Hi, thanks for writing to HCM.
Epidural injections are an effective way of reducing the radicular pains in the limbs secondary to a protruded disc material.
Any intervention tends to carry its own risks and complications but the risk-benefit ratio is to be taken into consideration.
The complications reported with interlaminar cervical epidural steroid injections include dural puncture, bloating, nausea and vomiting, vasovagal reaction, facial flushing, fever, nerve root injury, pneumocephalus, epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, stiff neck, respiratory insufficiency, transient blindness, epidural abscess, paralysis, cord injury etc
Use of Fluoroscopic during the procedure will reduce the risk of complications to some extent.
Pain perception always differs from person to person.
Surgical decompression is the last option when you wont find any relief even with Epidural steroid injections.
Hope this information is helpful. Good day
Epidural injections are an effective way of reducing the radicular pains in the limbs secondary to a protruded disc material.
Any intervention tends to carry its own risks and complications but the risk-benefit ratio is to be taken into consideration.
The complications reported with interlaminar cervical epidural steroid injections include dural puncture, bloating, nausea and vomiting, vasovagal reaction, facial flushing, fever, nerve root injury, pneumocephalus, epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, stiff neck, respiratory insufficiency, transient blindness, epidural abscess, paralysis, cord injury etc
Use of Fluoroscopic during the procedure will reduce the risk of complications to some extent.
Pain perception always differs from person to person.
Surgical decompression is the last option when you wont find any relief even with Epidural steroid injections.
Hope this information is helpful. Good day
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