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Rhyzotomy/Back Surgery/Acupuncture????

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 1/13/2016 1:23 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I have been amazed to find so many in chronic pain with similar or even worse pain than I am having. I have been having cortizone injections for several years now with relief that lasted up to 2 years. The last had no effect. I have been diagnosed with arthritis in L4, L5, and S1. Had facet injections on Friday, 4 days ago, and have been without pain until last night. My pm doc said if the facet injections didn't work I would need to do surgery, which I have no desire to do. I am so tired and frustrated with the pain, don't want to live on hydrocodone, and can't imagine that acupuncture and physical therapy could be that helpful. I welcome your comments. I don't know if 4 days is long enough for pm doc to approve rhyzotomy, and if not, what next??? It does seem that many have had relief from the procedure, I think I would try it if offered. Thanks for any comments!!!
Posted 1/13/2016 4:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Readyforrelief & welcome to Healing Well. I say give the injections a little more time. Have you done a rhyzotomy before? Many do get relief with this procedure. There is no guarantee but sure worth considering. It is not uncommon to have even more pain for a week or so after doing an injection. Your dr should do some diagnostic blocks prior to doing a rhyzotomy to see if you are a candidate for it too.

Surgery should always be a last resort when everything else fails. I am just not sure that having surgery for an arthritic condition would be my option. I would have to see what an MRI showed & see how bad things are looking. If it comes down to having surgery I would only let a board certified neurosurgeon do the work too.

You can search through our old posts here by using the search feature. Type in RFA procedures & you should be able to pull up a lot of info on those of us that have done this. We do ask that you not post on those old threads as we like to keep them off of the main page & there is also a very good chance the person that posted is no longer active here at Healing Well. You will get a much better response by asking questions here.

Welcome aboard & take care.
Posted 1/14/2016 2:12 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the forum.

I've had years of injections which eventually stopped working. Then I my pain doc had me on rhizotomies for years, which eventually stopped working also. I'm just on pills now.

It's worthwhile putting off surgery, if your doc says that's the way to go. Surgery is not for everyone. It all depends on what the problem is.

If the injection helped for even a short time my pain doc would do the rhizotomy. If it hadn't worked at all there would be no point.

Rhizotomy is very much like injection. It just takes a little longer to do it. I didn't have significantly more pain in the lumbar areas with this procedure. The local anesthetic is enough, and the doc can inject more if you need it.

I trust my doctors to decide what will help me. Each case is different and your doctor knows you, especially more than we non-doctors on any forum.
Posted 1/17/2016 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
Are rhizotomy and cortisone injections really that similar? I thought that rhizotomy (RFA) works by destroying the nerve so no pain signals get thru, and that injections decrease inflammation. Does not seem they are alike much at all.

Would rhizotomy and cortisone injections be used for the same "type" of pain (nerve pain vs. muscle pain vs. arthritis) or is it all the same? If you (temporarily) "kill" the nerve, would that take care of all types of pain in that area?
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