Is there anyone that has my condition?

I have cervical dystonia, chronic myofacia pain and 3 buldging disc 2 are herniated. It took 3 years to get botov shots approved for spasmn in my neck and shouder thru workmans comp. I had my first one 12 days ago and no relieve, pretty discouraged right now. Is there antone who knows how long it will take to get relief? I am scheduled to get a epidural in 3 weeks. hopefully that will help.

Hi Presly and welcome here. I have had dystonia in my legs and feet for several years now, secondary to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. My feet and ankles are permanently twisted because of contraction of my calf muscles. More recently it seems to be becoming more generalised and I have dystonic 'attacks' where my whole body is rigid or twitching or has tremors - sometimes for several hours.

As far as botox injections go - I didn't have good results with it, but I certainly noticed a change within about 3 days. The maximum effect usually occurs within 7-10 days, and then wears off again over 3-6 months. It may be too that they just didn't use enough, or didn't get into the right muscle groups

Are you on any oral muscle relaxants?

Best of luck with the epidural

Laura

Hey there! Sorry that you're in so much pain and dealing with these issues, but I am glad you joined us on the site and have shared some of your story with us.

I have several issues with my back, but I also have muscle spasms in my lower and left back due to having scoliosis. I take oral relaxants (Robaxin) for it, as well as Naproxen for inflammation. I'm assuming my problems aren't as severe as yours are, but I personally did get help with oral relaxants and pain medication in conjunction with physical therapy. The physical therapy helped me to ease the pain from the muscle knots that I got from the spasms, and just the general pain. They used hot compresses on me as well and that helped over time.

I hope you find some relief! Keep us informed! :)

I'm so very sorry I know you are in pain. I always say no one gets it until they are where we are. The headaches, no appetite, side effects of medicine & what I miss the most is sleeping more than 2 hours a day. (If I'm lucky) One thing my pain management doctor told me (7 years ago) it may take a long time to find the right combo to work- hang in there. And I started with Norco, I am now on a pain pump with dilaudid & I take dilaudid orally as well. Addressing the injections- I have met some people in the waiting room who went years with success from them. I only had a few months at a time & never any "real" pain free days. And I have even had trigger injections, I am actually scheduled Saturday to have kind of similar to an epidural done (I have a lot of pain in my tail bone- sitting, etc.) though my issues are everything from my neck to my tail. (same as you- herniated, bulging, even a few breaks, muscle spasms, etc.) Just hang in there.... Unfortunately this crusade the government is on about pain medication is making things even more complicated for those of us who really need it. And usually my drs. do the injections in sets of 3 (one week apart) so don't be suprised if they ask you to do that. There is a medication, I can't remember the name they can inject into those shots to help numb (like I'm having done) areas that bother you. Good luck!