Epidural for nerve pain?

Hi all -
I was wondering if anyone has had an epidural to help with nerve pain. I have been dealing with this for about 16 months since my lung surgery and the cortisone shots aren't helping anymore. I just had a set yesterday and he used twice as much cortisone this time, but said if this doesn't help he wants to send me to get and epidural. He also thinks I should get this anyway to help manage this pain when I have surgery on my stomach in two weeks. He thinks it will help not having two different areas to deal with. So I guess what I am asking is had anyone tried this for neuropathy?

Thanks,
Bill

I used to be treated w/ nerve blocks that worked well for a while. I have severe nerve damage in my foot. After the blocks started to fail, we tried radiofrequency, which has worked very well, and i have not needed a proceedure for 7mo now!

What type of stomach surgery will u be having? I also had a hysterectomy (which is assme u r NOT having :) but ended up with a entrapped nerve in my inscision. I have had 4 blocks for them in the groin area, and nothing has worked, so im headed back to surgery by the end of this month. I guess sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't....good luck, i hope u have luck with them.

I have had several surgery's on my low back and I also have had so many epidurals that I have lost count, in my case yes they have helped ease my pain and on a few occasions they have taken the pain completely away, but on the flip side they have done nothing or have increased my pain, to answer your question YES I would have it preformed, the chances that it will help you are better than it will not. Good luck and let us know how it go's

                             Sam

                        

There have been lots of back post on epi's and nerve blocks, if you have the time to
go back through and read them, just a suggestion! most of us here have had them done
without much success, I would say try it and if it helps, might be worth it..
So, I'll wish you good luck in hopes that these help you...
lots of soft hugz.........

I'm a bit confused. I always thought that injections were supposed to be short term relief for just when the pain spiked to unbearable levels. That's what my PM tells me anyways. He says the facet injections should last for 1-3 days, the epidurals for 5-10 days. I'd say he just made that up, except it seems like just about everybody I know, with a few exceptions here or there, doesn't get months worth of relief out of injections.
For me, they're very helpful. I'm not usually at an "8.5+" for more than a few days, so the injections help bring down the pain a couple levels so I can use heat & PT & such to continue functioning during that time & prevent deconditioning & then the pain will return to my normal level (7-8). On occasion, I need to repeat the injections a time or two & on other occasions I have lucked out & had the shots last longer than typical, but I always thought that they are just supposed to be a short term fix for acute flare-ups.

I think plenty of past posts probably address that, so Char's suggestion is a good one about checking back through old posts. :)

Hi all -
I had the epidural today. My back is quite nub, but the rib pain is slowly creeping back. It's been about 8 hours since it was done. He wasn't sure if it would help much if any at all. At least he was upfront and truthful. He told me to get a hold of the anesthesiologist at the hospital where I am having surgery and ask them to do one there with the catheter left in place for a continuous control after the surgery. We'll see how that plays out.

Take care,
Bill

Hi Bill, glad to hear u got the block...im sorry it is not working really great tho!

Did u get scheduled for surgery? Mine is set for the 18th....I am praying i get this nerve fixed, as i don't know what i'll do if it doesn't work! good luck to you!!!!

wow! so what exactly will they be doing to u...what type of recovery are you looking at? i will say a prayer for u monday morning as i pray for myself...LOL

Hi, Bill,
I don't think I've said hello to you yet, so I apologize for my lateness. There's not much I can add. I've had tons of various injections, but the only one that helped was the one to my SI joint. Still, it's always possible the people who get longer term relief from epidurals and other injections aren't posting here!

Anyway, I wanted to wish you luck with your surgery. I'm beginning to think we should have a calendar page so we could list when everyone is having surgeries, procedures, tests, etc.

PaLady

PaLady -
The calender page is a good idea. Would make it easier to remember who was having what and when for sure.

Skeye -
The blocks used to work for a month or so until about 5 months ago. Then they only lasted a couple days or a week at the most. My spine is still sore today, but my ribs are a little better. The pain isn't as intense now, so I say it was worth it.

Bill