Steriod Injections In Lower Back - I'm Scared !!!!

I've had 5 back injections and 2 surgeries in the last 3 years... There is lots of information on the pros and cons of this procedure, and it can be easily found on the web.

I will tell you my personal experience is this: If you have the choice of being wide awake or "asleep", choose the asleep! If you are like I was and have pain in your leg or legs, and they go to do the injection in the same region of the spine, it puts perssure on the nerve and... You talk about pain...

The other 4 injections I had I was "admitted" to the outpatient surgery, and they gave me some "forget juice" as I call it... They said I am awake enough to respond to them (like me moving from the bed to the table or roll over or something) but I dont remember any of it... the wife drives me home and the rest of the day I take it easy... The next Day I feel fine.

I'm not sure that injections will help with numbness or pins and needles, but it sure helped with my pain for a while.... For a while... eventually injection wore off and I eneded up with the spinal fusion surgery anyway...

That was my experience... Hope it helps...

Jason

4 weeks post op and feeling GREAT!

Hi Jason
Thanks for your comments, and support ....
I've had the OP, but I still get the odd back ache and the Pins n Needles ... I'm happy that you told me that I can be sent to sleep, I'm a real baby when it comes to needles .... I also asked if my hubby could come in to hold my hand (how sad is that) but I feel I can't put him thru the agony of watching !!
Good luck with your recovery, just take it easy, but stay active ...STOP MOWING THE LAWN !!!! Or if you do, do it in stages, and rest inbetween each row .... Speak later Angie X

Ginger,
I'm not sure if you have had your injections yet, but I'm going to say this anyway. I had 3 injections in my lower back around the L4 L5 area and OMG that had to be the worst pain ever. The first one was horrible I'm not one to cry but let me tell you I cried like a baby. I wish I would of had the option to be put under to have it done. By the time I had my second one I had to have valium just to get on the table.. I told the doctor if he put this injection in the same spot he did last time I was going to hurt him.. lol
He told me I shouldnt feel anything that the area was numb. I informed him that I was not numb and I felt everything he did to me. Each one of my injections were equally as bad. I have informed my doctor if she wants me to do that again she can just shoot me in the head.. lol I hope your injections went better than mine.

Hi, the first epidurals I had , the doc put me under "twilight" sedation. Its like a semi-sedation, you're still awake and conscious, but you don't feel or remember the injection. It's realllllly strange! You do you have to have someone drive you back & forth and wait 24 hours to drive yourself to make sure it's all out of your system. So for when I got those, I had no pain and even had to check in the mirror later to see if they really even gave me a shot!

As for side effects, yes it's possible. Many don't get any side effects except maybe some worsening pain the first few days, or facial flushing, feeling warm; some people get antsy or jittery. Supposedly it's rare for the epidural steroids to cause systemic side effects...but Iam one of them who does get them. I get moon face, bloat weight gain, hungry. However, after about a week, it makes alot of the rest of my body feel better, not just my spine. I also have lupus and other arthritis in other joints. So it makes everything feel better. But the horrible thing for me is when the meds wear off in a few weeks. Then I feel as if I were hit by a freight train and I get all kinds of symptoms taht I usually get with a lupus flare. Not to mention that my entire spine will ache and be totally stiff.

baybreeze,
I wish I would of had the option to be mildly sedated I most certainly would have. I went thru all of that pain and it did nothing to my pain. Well, let me change that for days afterward I hurt even worse than before. After that wore off I was back to my normal pain.

Dont do it, im 18 years old and i fell on ice delivering pizza over 6 months ago ive tried almost everything i feel like, but i had 2 epidurals and one facet block all under no anesetic (u know what i mean) and they all took alot of pain away for the first 2-3 hours and then i felt horrible for the next 5-7 days, also after the shot i started using crutches my leg and back hurt so back, i still cant walk on my leg at all. all in all i had an awful experience and i suggest you dont do it

Jeff, I know how you feel. My experience was pretty bad too. I don't plan to ever get spinal injections again. It has been about 6 months for me and I hurt just as bad if not worse than I did before I had the 3 injections. I hope you find something that helps you, your so young to be having this much problem with your back. good luck

Thanks! i feel like were pretty much in the same spot. i would like to ask of ANYTHING has helped you anything at all. im taking 450mg lyrica/day and 90mg morphine/day i put lidoderm patches on and use an ice pack but thats not really touching it at all. some days i can barely move, i fall down constantly and have to call people to pick me up off the floor and i struggle to walk to the bathroom. please let me know if u have any ideas, i havent found anything that works, but if i do ill be sure to share with everyone.

Thanks to all of you that sent me a post to my problem..
I had the injections last week (on the 25th July) ... no sedation, just a local anesetic to numb the area (which didn't kick in till I was in the car going home !! )
It hurt like a SOAB, and I turned into that girl from the film ' The Excorsist' I was spitting nasty words, cos the pain of the needles going in were unbareable, the I went into hysterics laughing and crying together ... but that was due to my phobia with needles, after the first 3 needles, I calmed down, and sinse I have felt an improvement.. I'm more mobile now and in not so much pain, so it worked for me ..
I hope all of you find the appropriate pain releif for yourselves, as now I'm no longer taking pain killers, and enjoying my life with every breath I take..
Ginger

I know how you feel. I have been dealing with this pain everyday for the past 8 months. my buttock left and right are numb, my right leg is very weak i can no longer hold my body weight on it. the only relief I get is in a swimming pool... as long as I dont swim that is. Being able to float around on my back (without a float) I have no pressure on my spine and feel pretty good. As for meds I took myself off of them I was taking 7.5/500 perc and celebrex, I also tried the lidoderm patch which did nothing for me. No I just try to grin and bare it. So, honestly I dont know what to tell you about meds that work, nothing has worked for me so far.

owww angie!!!

I'm sorry that your injections hurt you so bad. At least you are feeling positive results of them though. God knows I wish I had felt them lol... As for getting the local and still feeling the injections I'm in the same boat with you on that one... When I got the first set I almost kicked the doctor in the face it hurt so bad. lol Just like you my local didnt work until I got in the car to go home.
I hope your back continues to get better.
Good luck,
Alexa

first i wanna say ginger - im happy your injections worked and i hope u continue to function and enjoy life

alexa - thanks for the advice im going to try to float around a pool as soon as i can it sounds like a really good idea. i really want to get off meds but it hurts so bad im in tears like every other day. i feel like if i stop taking them (even slowly tapering) i will be in even more pain and im alredy in a position where i feel like i cant get out of pain enough to enjoy anything and i dont know what to do anymore. anyways i want u to know i feel bad for you and if u need any ideas/help (anyone else also) just e-mail me or something, im in my bed next to my computer all the time. hope you feel better

i'm still so surprised at so many docs not using sedation when doing spinal injections.

Everyone i've talked to in massachusetts who have had them all had sedation as did I.

My injections where done in a day unit surgical area under IV sedation. I was out like a light bulb for the whole thing. The doc also used xray equipment to be sure that the injections where in the correct place.

I came to about 10 minutes after the injections back in the room I was given. The IV was removed, blood pressure etc monitored for about an hour, given some Juice, coffee, toast as had been NPO for several hours. I had a bandaid over where the needle went in and was told to put ice on it for 20 minutes, off for an hour and then more ice.
Also told to lie down as much as possible as having the injections can cause what is known as "spinal headaches". I did start to get one with the first injection and did lie down.

the injections didn't help me for long. The first lasted 48 hours, the second did nothing and the third made everything worse.

So I had decompression laminotomy of the L4.L5.S1 in the lateral recess area and have been doing fine since.

There can be quite a few side affects of steroid injections though, especially if you have several of them over a period of a year or repeated ones over several years.

According to both my spinal doc, pain managment doc and my opthamologist, those side affects can be

Increased appetite,
weight gain
decrease calcium in the bones
joint pain in other areas of the body
dry eyes
cataracts or increase size of cataracts that you already have, especially if you have what is called "seeding cataracts"
increased thirst
increased blood sugar levels, especially if you have diabetes.

And if the injection is going into the hip you can suffer from temporary loss of bladder control.

With all three spinal injections I had all the side affects except for the calcium loss on my bones.

When they found bursitis in my right hip and I had an injection there, it caused a 24 hour loss of bladder control.

Fran

Hey thanks for all your replies and support
I too think that I should have been sedated, as I'm a big baby with needles, and I hyperventalated, so I was distressed thru the whole thing... the bloody local anesetic didn't kick in till I was in the car on the way home !! ANd I let the Doctor know I didn't like him much .. (see previous posting)
BUT and it is a big butt ... (and it is, so say my hubby - the cheeky sod) .. the pain has gone, and my nerves and muscles (which were once non-responsive) have come back to life .. so I'm now getting 'growing pains and spasms' they hurt like mad, but at least I know they are getting better ..... I'll soon be able to dance again ... he he he.
(that's me kicking my own butt, or I'll sit and cry and feel sorry for myself) ...
Ginger