Rhizotomies

[Melissa]

I just wondered if anyone has gone this route for their back pain? My husband had it done with a lot of success and because my Steroid Injections are not lasting as long as they use to, we decided to give it a try. The procedure is basically going in guided by needles to burn the nerves in your back. Mine were done in my lower back on both sides..it was pretty painless. The Dr. gave a mild sedative to relax me and he would test the areas to see if I had a reaction to make sure he was replicating my pain once he had that done he put me out the rest of the way to do the actual procedure. He said I will be sore for a few days but that the initial pain should be gone..its the day after and I am feeling pretty good. The pressure and stabbing I felt before seem to be gone. I thought I would throw this out as a possibility for others who are like me living in constant pain..pills can only do so much and rob you of a lot because you can begin to be dependent and its costly..not to mention constipating. lol The procedure should last 6 mos vs the 2 mos of relief I got with Steroid Injections. My insurance is pretty good and will cover for it to be done twice a year..any more than the Dr. has to get special Authorization. I live in the US btw..so it might not be available based on that and if your insurance won't cover it. I have been under the care of a Pain Specialist for 2 1/2 yrs also. I am praying that my pain relief is real..in a few days I will know for sure.

[Degrassi]

Thank you for posting this. I"ve been curious about steroid injections and pain blocking procedures, that is why I wanted to be sent to a pain clinic. Oral steriods help my headaches/back pain so I wanted to look into injections if they would be easier and provide longer relief.

What type of doctor does these procedures? How did you get into see them?

When they did your steroid injections did they inject the steroid into the spine where the CSF is or into the nerves?

Is your pain very specific to an area? So they knew, yes these exact nerves are the problem.

[Melissa]

I was referred to a Pain Clinic
http://www.michiganpain.com/

The injections do not enter the Spinal fluid ..but rather outside the spinal sac and consist of steroids and pain meds. I got 80% mobility back and at first they last about 2 1/2 mos once we got up to the right amount of med/steroids and in the right area in my lower back. This reduced the pain that radiated into the back of my legs, hips and up in the lower back area. Once the injections began to not work so well we decided to do this..we knew it could work because the injections did just not lasting as long as we would like. I can tell you I am 2 days out and the sharp, stabbing..ache I had in my lower back and legs is gone. I just have some muscle soreness but nothing like he thought I might have. I am stunned!

I did try physical therapy and it made my pain worse..except the heat therapy. The Rhizotomy he does go into the nerves that feed the pain to the brain and he actually burned the tips of those nerves. They do regenerate in 6 mos to a year so its not permanent but it does beat taking tons of pain meds and getting constant steroids pumped into me throughout the year. Poke around the link I gave to give you an idea of what they do..and hopefully it will give you more information to take back to you.

By the time I went to the Pain Clinic I had already done the pain pills (high instance of side effects for me and allergies)..and the physical therapy. My first visit with him I went home with relief via injections..he wasted no time and really listened to me. I had a Dr. before him that told me that my arthritis couldn't cause me that much pain..I nvr saw that Dr. again. The last thing we need is to be made to feel like hypochondriacs when we are the ones living with the pain.