Just had a Radio Frequency Ablation-- what now?!

[chelsiewizper]

My boyfriend was diagnosed a little over a year ago with a herniated L5 and degenerative disk. Since the original diagnoses, his nerve pain has gotten worse and worse. He has tried everything non-surgical, having the Radio Frequency Ablation does last week, but still no relief. It is really bad and he cannot really function as a normal human being-- cannot sit, cannot stand, cannot walk, cannot bend, cannot sleep, cannot eat (because that would require either sitting or standing), etc. At this point we do not know what to do because we have read that it could take months to see results from the RFA. The Dr. refused to give any pain medication because she wants to see how he reacts to the RFA, but we are terrified that it could take months to work and without pain medication he cannot function at all. He is the sole provider for our family so him being out of work is going to be a huge hardship on our lives. Does anyone know how soon after getting RFA can you have a spinal epidural injection? He has had those in the past and while they did provide some relief, it was only for a short period of time. Wishing that we would not have tried the RFA because honestly the slight relief from the injections are way better than the no relief/worsening of the pain that he is getting since the RFA. Any help at all is appreciated.