Posted 2/4/2015 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
Hi again Chelsea.
I've had years of injections in all parts of my spine and some other places and have mostly had very good to great results, with only a couple that didn't work. Some have lasted a year. The ones I had for some rib issues that were done in the front didn't really help, while the ones in the spine for the same issue did help. I'd like to try the injection for the abdominal wall nerve entrapment that I got after a surgery.
I've never had any pain except the local anesthetic and some pretty intense pressure for a few seconds. When I've had a repeat injection, even after many months or a year, it hurts less.
I've had a lot of nerve ablations too. The only one that was pretty bad was a neck ablation, and even that was bearable. A repeat after many months was not a problem at all. I absolutely would rather have a couple of sticks for a local injection and have my brain afterwards than getting knocked out, which you can't have for that anyway.
There are many types of "nerve injections," usually called spinal injections or nerve blocks. Google them. I like the information on spineuniverse if you want simple information. Epidurals work for a while, but after years have stopped helping me. Facet joint injections, which put to sleep nerves that transmit pain sensation to the brain, are mainly a test to see if an ablation will work. Ablations heat the covering of the nerve to stop the transmissions. The covering does grow back, but are supposed to help for 6 - 9 months. I've had even better luck, over a year for one of those, although only 6 months for a neck ablation, which I still consider good.
I'm going back for another ablation next month. I just have to figure out if lumbar is hurting worse than neck because he can't do both at the same time.
I can't say I liked the caudal injection I had. That one hurt for a very long time and didn't help much. Trigger point injections in soft tissue haven't helped me either, but my pain is from my deteriorating spine and injuries.