The Complaining and Bitching Thread

A friend went to LSU for his undergrad and claims that is what he misses the most about Louisiana.

 

I just had a diagnostic spinal injection procedure called a 'selective nerve root block' on three nerves in my back.

It was even less fun than it sounds (and than I thought it would be).

I was picturing a couple of local injections to numb me then a couple big needle injections that I wouldn't feel, similar to a cortisone shot.

Nope. 9 or 12 local injections to numb me. Then at least 6 big needle injections that were x-ray guided to make sure they hit a nerve. The spasms caused by needle colliding with nerve were not fun even with the local anesthetic.

The best part is that, if my symptoms fit the proposed diagnosis, I get to do it all over again next week to confirm it.

 

I've had chronic back pain for a long time, 10 years or more. I have one "mildly to moderately" herniated disc down low (L1 I think?) and one disc higher up (T8 or T9?) that has more degeneration than it should and some arthritis in it. All of this was true in an MRI 8-9 years ago and confirmed in another MRI last month.

However, based on my symptoms and reaction to physical therapy (went about 12 times last month) he feels the real cause of my pain is my facet joints rubbing together in the lumbar region. Today he shot me with novocaine in three nerves on each side. He purposefully didn't tell me the dosage ("this should work for x-hours") but wants me to keep a diary of how I feel tonight, and wants me to purposefully do a few things that would normally cause increased pain. If my pain diary matches the dosage he gave me (i.e. "I felt relief for 4 hours, even with activity" and he dosed me with enough to give relief for 4 hours) then he does it all over again next week. If my pain diary again matches the dosage, then he'll consider a treatment of just killing those nerves with (IIRC) RF beams. This should give me relief for 9-18 months. During that time my back may heal up and I never need it again, or it may be something I decide is worth getting done once every year or so.

We'll see. I just shoveled the driveway, which would normally put my back at a solid 7-8 on the pain scale. I'd say I hit a 3-4. So something is doing something in there.
--- merged: Dec 9, 2013 at 6:28 PM ---

When the doc goes "WOW your back muscles are tight!" and "This is hurting way worse than it should because of how tight your back muscles, I can't believe how tight they are!" I consider that a bad sign.

 

Yes, RF ablation, that's it.

I do hope it is a match at this point. If it means relief, even with annual procedures, I'm all for it.

Not sure what Plan B would be yet.

 

Great. Apparently the print shop didn't have my poster when my thesis advisor went to collect them. Guess I'm glad there's an extra few days to get this sorted out. I wonder what the hell happened, as I submitted with plenty of time for printing.

 

Thank you both. Assuming the block was scheduled for 3-4 hours, it worked. I went out and shoveled the snow, usually something that leaves me in a lot of pain, and felt pretty good. Almost normal. Felt great for about 3 hours, then over the course of the next hour my pain cranked up, to what it normally would be after shoveling the snow. Ouch. But I am guessing that means the diagnosis was accurate, and RF ablation may be for me.

 

Thanks man.

I have a pretty decent pain tolerance and whining doesn't help anything, so I tend to just deal with it the best I can and move on. Lots of people have it worse than me. If this gives me some relief I'll be awesome.

 

I hear you. I'd love to go get a full workup done on my back at some point, but I'm honestly a little scared, if I'm frank. I really don't want to find out if my scoliosis has gotten worse, but I would like to get some help with my chronic sciatica.

 

I've basically dealt with it for most of the last 8-9 years, with the occasional 'script for pain meds when it really flared up. I tried getting it treated about 10-12 years ago but basically got the answer of "you are too young for me to recommend surgery, so try to hold out for a while and see if technology/age makes it where something breaks loose one way or another". I'm glad I finally decided to revisit getting it treated. It was starting to degenerate to the point where it was becoming a daily factor in what choices I made as far as activities. I have been measuring out "is it worth the pain?" too often lately. Hopefully this gets me over that hump. I'm optimistic it will.

 

I'm at the point where I have to engage in certain activities to keep my back functional. Skipping them is not an option--foam rolling, stretching, yoga. If I skip, my back will spasm or I'll have a sciatica flare-up. It sucks, but it's what I have to do. I'm just hoping I don't end up like my dad--spinal stenosis.