protruding disk in neck-epidoral??

[mskiba53]

Pain management wants me to go to the hospital to do epidorals in my neck
3 times once a month. Is there any other way to treat this?
My cousin had this done -it didnt help-as a matter of fact they hit a nerve & he felt electrical shock thru his leg for over a yr

[MarisaV]

I've had 5 epidurals over the last 4 years for my neck. For me, when things get really bad, they've been a life saver. The effects may only last a month or so, or you may get relief that lasts years.

The firs time, I had a series of three, one per month. The second one gave me the most benefit, the third one added little to the second. The epidurals took things down to bearable levels.

The last epidural I had, also included a nerve root block, which doesn't last long, but was still a major relief (I was using dilaudid, and that was doing nothing for the pain). Kinda scary, though having that needle stuck un the fron-side of my neck. But, again, it took things down to a bearable level, that lasted a good 6 months. Things are now starting to get bad again. :-(

Personally, I'd give it a try. They are painful, and typically a tempoary solution, but have been worth it for me.

Mar

[yanksgirl]

I had 2 done years ago and my advise is to go to someone who has experience doing them. I did because I worked at the hospital and knew the doctor who did  most of these and he was chief of anesthesiology and was very good at what he did.

I did get relief but it didn't last long. Mine just got better,  it seemed, over time and especially  after my work station was made ergonomically correct so that the 'bulge' and bone spurs I had weren't aggravated on a regular basis by my being on the phone all day and doing alot of arm movements at a desk and computer.

Since retiring I've had only mild problems until lately and I overdid I guess as I'm having bad pain the last couple of weeks. See my post on this board today.
yanksgirl