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Facet Joint Injections and pain management for degenerative bulged discs and canal narrowing?

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Posted 8/4/2013 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hi...I just had facet joint injections. First one about 10 days ago on the left and my pain shot up to 8-9 but after 5 days it finally calmed down. I just had the second set on Thursday the 1st of August and that wasn't too bad. Some burning. It is getting better but I still struggle with sitting and when walking too much or standing my legs in my thighs burn and my upper back spasms. (This was the first symptoms that I experienced in that order starting last fall).

Has anyone had facet joint injections and if so what was the outcome.

I am getting better but I still find it difficult to sit or to walk for very long. When I walk I get pain in my legs (burning and I know it's the low back) and then the upper back spasms.

Any insight as to what has worked for anyone with: multilevel degenerative changes especially L4-5 and some in L3-4. Both are bulged discs with facet degenerative change and mild prominence of the ligamentum flavum (whatever that is?????). Some narrowing in the central canal It is greater on my left than my right side and most significant slightly on the left than the right. There is also bilateral mild to moderate neural foraminal narrowing. I don't know what the neural f thing is? If anyone can interpret any of this I would appreciate it. I think I get part of it.

I guess one of my questions is how long do facet joint injections take to really work?

How about Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections?

What procedures worked best? What type of pain afterwards (mine for the left was significantly longer and more painful than the right and I think not average for facet injections). Do they work well? Any tips or experiences would be great as to what worked best for a situation similar to mine

I don't come on here too often as it is still difficult to sit but I'll check in tomorrow some time.

I send lot's of positive vibes and energy to everyone and hope that some serenity and pain relief affects us all.

Sally
Posted 8/4/2013 4:47 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Sally first off the neural foraminal opening  is the hole that the spinal nerve roots pass through, that come off your spinal cord and innervates the area that they go to. When that area starts closing up, ( the foraminal opening getting smaller) that can put pressure on the nerve roots that pass through it, same with a bulging disk if it presses on the nerve root, this pressure or nerve impingement, can cause pain, but usually the pain is not necessarily felt at the point of impingement but further down the nerve path way. An example of this is if the nerve is impinged at the L5 area the pain is usually felt in the buttocks and down the back of the leg, often know as sciatica pain. When I had the severely herniated disk in my neck at C6 all my pain was from my elbow down into my fingers, (felt like I hit my crazy bone really hard, but  the pain and feeling didn't go away!) then damage was in the disk pressing into the nerve root. Allot of times with the nerve root is being pressed on or impinged there is inflammation, the epidural spinal injections are usually steroid injections that are used to combat the inflammation and thus relieve the pain.

I have had both facet and epidural injections, and neither one gave me any lasting relief. three weeks at the most! and I was usually pretty sore for a few days after the injections, before I got any relief at all, if I did. The epidural injections can be a good diagnostic tool and allot of surgeons ask if you have had them before wanting to do surgery.

I sure hope these injections help you and you can get some pain relief!

Good Luck to you!

White Beard

Posted 8/4/2013 7:48 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Sally and wanted to say we've had numerous threads about facet injection, lumber, trigger point, all of them. They have tons of opinions and success and failure rates. It being the weekend im not sure how many responses your going to get but if you use the search feature for the forum your going to get all that information in those threads and its going to provide you with far more info then this.

I too have had numerous injections of varying kinds and the length that it takes to work, the amount of relief I get and for how long varies from injection to injection. Sorry I can't be more specific but they're just so many factors involved and its always a crap shoot not a sure bet.

Hoping you continue to get better
Posted 8/4/2013 10:55 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you both so much.

WhiteBeard thanks for all the information. Now I know what they are talking about. I feel my pain mostly on my left side in the buttocks and both of my legs in the front of the thighs burn when I walk too much. Upper body spasms as well.

I have gotten a little bit of relief from the first facet injection almost 2 weeks ago but sitting is still difficult and so is walking without the leg pain and spasms. If you pop back on here I would be interested to know what if anything did you or they do to treat C6 and if it worked or not?

Vickie I will do a search - great idea. Let's hope these injections work though I'm a bit skeptical as they haven't so far - not to any extent. The next step is lumbar epidural steroid injections and I think I had one years ago and it didn't do much. At that time the pain just went away.

Cheers to you both and the response is much appreciated.

Sally
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