Re: Back problems/epidural injections

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure yet about the surgery. I've had the back problems a long time.

Sometimes the pain isn't so bad, but other times if I work in the garden or do

whatever, then it hurts a lot.

Sometimes my butt cheek muscle will hurt when I'm sitting

down and I have to keep shifting. Doc wants to try the shots first and if they

don't work, surgery as a last resort.

*Suzi*

> wrote to Suzie:

>Hi! How bad is your pain?

>I went through the shots, but they did nothing for me. I believe that unless

they sedate you, take an x-ray, and inject the cortisone exactly where is needs

to be, cortisone shots rarely help.

[Guest guest]

Suzi,

Read about the epidural shots and realize they are neurotoxins. Spine Universe

on the internet has good information and most agree after three injections if

they do not help, they will not.

Physical therapy, heat, hot tub, topical treatment and other options are

available. A discogram will show specially what is wrong.

Scarring is a problem with the shots and I have sometimes just asked my Doctor

to take the cortisone orally.

My physical therapist does myofasical release of my piriformis muscle (butt

area) which gets in spasm and helps. I also have a home

exercise program I have to do.

Read the fine print on the consent of the side effects of the epidurals and they

sometimes will stir things up and cause pain more than you had before and it

takes weeks to go away. I hate to be Devil's Advocate but I am sharing personal

experience.

With epidurals, they always sedate you and use a fluro machine (x-ray imaging)

to guide the machine to the areas and they can see where the injections are

going as they do it. You wait until you wake up from sedation and go home.

Epidurals are different than topical type cortisone injections that they do in

knees, hips shoulders etc.

Good Luck and good results.