esi

I did some research and what your opinion on esi's. I have a few friends that had them and told me they failed on them and one of them had to have back surgery anyways. I also read esi only works in 50 % of patients. To anyone that had them for back pain did they work? I also want to know is multilevel esi like my dr ordered is it all levels of the back. how did you feel after an esi was instant relief or even more pain for awhile?

Thanks SB

I have had great success with them. Neck, and lumbar.

hey goodmorning, i have had tons of injections done in the lumbar area. i have also had with and without sedation. i also recommend that you get sedation for that type of injection. typically they do normally work really good. i have had relief for 8 months at a time before, and some i have had repeated 3 times. typically when i had it done that many times with no response is when they suggested the scs.


i do still have to get injections even after my implant but not near as often. i hope this helped out a little. hope you get to feeling better.
janet

My experience is pretty much as the others. I have them under sedation,not much relief immediately with exceptions of how much lidocaine/benzocain or particular numbing meds they use and a couple of times they went overboard(diff Dr) and I lost bladder control and took 7 hours for me to be able to walk and feel my legs. This is not the norm and it was due to the intake nurse not reading my chart and seeing the big HOH and when she said do you still weigh 150 and I thought she said 115 and I said yes!! I was at that after my daughter was born 3years earlier.

Anyway it's usually less then a half hour and I'm up an getting outta there. I get my best relief about a week to ten days out and lasts hopefully months and months.

If your not out money the risk is minimal so I look at it as it can't hurt to try something.

Vickie

kSD9807, my experience with ESI wasn't a very pleasant one. The actual proceedure was pretty quick, I showed up for the procedure around 11 in the morning, which was a little late for me, as they said do not eat anything after midnight the night before, and they started at noon. They put me under for it, I'm not sure what kind of anesthesia they used, but I know I was only out for about 30 minutes, and when I woke up, I was wide awake, not that totally foggy feeling like with general anesthesia. When I woke up, I was in fact virtually pain free for close to an hour, but then my pain increased tremendously before I even got home. I was in far worse pain for over a week before it subsided to it's previous level. I ended up having to contact my PM later that afternoon to get permission to take more pain medication, as by the time I arrived home, I was at an 8 of 10.

For me, the proceedure was pretty much just a wast of time, I ended up having to have the surgery anyways, and had the L3-4 level in my back fused in September of last year (had the ESI in June if I remember correctly).

By multilevel, that means that they will be doing more than one level, but, they can only administer so much of the medications back there in one proceedure/year. On me, they ran 8 catheters into my back, 4 at the L3-4 level, and 4 at the L4-5 level, I was told that the purpose of this, is so they could put more medication back there and that the stuff at the lower level would migrate up to the really bad level. I honestly do not know the standards for how many levels they can do in one setting.

I do know one person, my mom, who has been able to put off surgery for many years with the ESI's, she has 3 levels in her back that have required surgery over the years, one fusion and 2 laminectomies with microdiscectomies, and she has 2 other levels that she has been successfully treating with ESI's since 2006. She usually has to go in about ever 6 to 12 months or so, and get another round. For her, at least the way she explained it to me, she experiences an increase in pain for about a week, and after that period, the pain slowly tapers down to almost nothing, over the course of 3 or 4 weeks.

I think for every person with serious back problems, the ESIs are just one milestone on the road of treatment, as they do work for some people, and now, having had the back surgery, I'd rather have had the ESIs work and had to have them twice a year or so from now on, then to ever have another back surgery. My main spine issue was just far too advanced for anything else to help, but I really wanted to give it a try. Now I have another level that it looks like I will be trying the ESIs at in two months as long as the doc says OK.

I wish you the best of luck, and truely hope the ESI's give you some relief. Take care, and please keep us posted on what happens. Definately let us know if they work for you, I for one would certainly like to have a little more of a ray of hope for those things.

Hello,

I have had several lumbar and 1 cervical esi(s) and for me they have provided significant relief from the pain. I just had my first cervical esi on 1/25/13, and the relief was immediate for me. While I still have neck pain, it had been to the point of feeling like a had a kink in my neck from sleeping wrong daily, my shoulder felt injured, and the pain was going down to my elbow. As soon as the procedure was over, the arm and shoulder pain was pretty much gone, and has not come back yet, but just having that gone has made a major difference. I was at a point of coming home right after work and taking muscle relaxers and laying down on an ice pack...but now I can actually still be up and moving around. I still have to take my medication, but the esi(s) allow me to be able to continue working and living somewhat normally and I would recommend at least trying it. Keep in mind that this is not meant to be a cure but a pain management tool. By decreasing swelling you may decrease pain which can then allow you to possibly do physical therapy, etc. that can help reduce symptoms.

SB, pm said he would sedate me I didnt ask he just said he would. I dont plan on doing anything that weekend but to use alot of ice and relax.

I have had many ESI's, lumbar and thorasic. These are done in the office under flouroscopy, no meds required. Just a few numbing sticks and then the injections. Usually takes about 10 minutes for me and then I am able to drive home right away.

I have not gotten relief from them, but every so often the PM dr wants to try them again. Just because they never worked before doesnt mean they wont work now. I feel I need to respect the drs recommendations, although I do express my concerns each time.

The dr will not do "all" levels as you asked above what does multilevel mean. My drs policy is 3 levels at a time, but I dont know if thats his rule or a standard guidline. Those injections are typically just on one side, since the irritation is typically from a disk pressing on the nerve. Facet injections, I have had 4 levels done, both sides. That was 8 numbing injections and 8 medication injections, that time was uncomfortable.

I am hoping things go well for you! Keep us posted.

Hugs,
Shell