Cervical Epidurals

[luvmytigers2008]

I have a herniated disk @ c5/c6 w/ spurs. I have had 4 epidural injections in the last 4 months. It has been the only thing that has brought me relief. The relief would only last for 4 weeks. Since I started receiving them, I have gained 25lbs and I am a small / petite person. I eat well, rarely salt my foods, and walk on the treadmill 4 times a week. My whole body seems swollen. My throat looks huge to me as if a double chin appeared out of no where. When will this go away and should I take fluid pills or something else to speed up the process? I am very uncomfortable. I see a neurosurgeon next month since I can't receive anymore injections.

[Ghilly]

Please be careful with epidurals.  They have  been determined to be one of the causes of the disease that has made me a pain management patient for the rest of my life.  Epidurals are one of the causes of arachnoiditis, which is an inflammation of the arachnoid, the covering of the spinal cord.  

In most people, the reaction is a mild one, causing nothing more than some aches and pains that are routinely written off to the aging process, but in some, like myself, the reaction is much more severe and can result in the person ending up needing a wheelchair and losing the use of their arms and/or legs, depending on where in the spine the inflammation is the most severe.

In my case, the scar tissue is building up at the base of the spine.  I have the adhesive form of arachnoiditis, where the nerves in the spinal cord begint to stick together, or adhere to one another, forming clumps of nerves instead of individual nerves around the perimeter of the spinal column.  The scar tissue eventually builds up to the point where it impedes the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid, and this causes the legs to not work and just be limp.  

Arachnoiditis is also often the culprit when the diagnosis is that all-too-vague "failed back surgery syndrome", but doctors are loathe to admit to this diagnosis, because to do so would implicate either themselves or other doctors as the cause, since this disease is almost entirely iatrogenic, or created BY doctors.  

Surgical intervention for back problems is one thing, but when there are constant insults to the spinal column in the form of needles puncturing the arachnoid, or foreign substances (steroids or myelogram dyes) being injected into the spine and thereby irritating the nerves inside, there is a danger of arachnoiditis developing.  While the pain is relieved temporarily, when the effects of the injections wear off, the pain in the spine is oftentimes worse than before.  

The true pain from arachnoiditis usually takes about 6 months to begin after the onset of the disease.  Because it takes so long to appear after its cause, it is often not connected with the event that caused it, because nobody thinks that anything could happen that would take 6 months to start hurting.  And, as I said earlier, doctors will often not mention that the cause of the pain is arachnoiditis, because the blame for it lies with either them or their colleagues.  But epidural injections, so beloved by doctors as their first line of defense in the treatment of back pain, does SO much more harm than it helps.  A doctor who, himself, is an adhesive arachnoiditis patient has been quoted as saying [I'm paraphrasing here] that living with adhesive arachnoiditis is living with the pain of cancer without the release of death.   Please think twice before having any more of these injections.  For more information, Google "adhesive arachnoiditis" to learn more about this beast of a disease, its causes and what it's like to live with it.
I'm sorry that I have rattled on like this, but if I can prevent even one person from developing this beast of a disease, I'll feel like I have helped in some way.  

Ghilly