| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| lidge |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 13:54:24
In my effort to distinguish whether neck pain is structural or psychosomatic (or both!) I am looking at my reaction to a cervical spine epidural shot. I know I did not have any significant pain relief at least the first ten days. I know I went back to the pain management dr. about ten days after the injection and told him I didnt feel relief.
However, sometime after that, (can't recall exactly which day) the pain all but disappered for at least several weeks (at least 3 weeks). Of course I had terrible back pain to keep me miserable and focused on my body. Now I feel the neck pain is creeping back.
I know that the pain management dr. seemed to think I should have had some relief by the time I saw him. I also had an epidural in the lumbar spine (two weeks before the cervical one) which I never felt did anything. The pain doc became baffled and told me to go to a physiatrist (who didn't help much either).
Internet info on how epidural shots work seems to vary, but it seems that the shots should
work in 3-5 days (presumably thats why pain doc was baffled). But also read it could be weeks.
I know, I'm focused on the physical. But I'm choosing to believe this is indicative of TMS because plain and simple I'm sick of being a "chronic pain" patient with all the
hopelessness that accompanies it. Until a little more than a year ago, I was not in pain.
Then one thing after another. I haven't been back to pain doc and am hoping to never go back.
Can anyone who has had epidurals share their experience? I'm trying to figure out if
I got true relief or merely the placebo Sarno talks of (which generally lasts a month or so). I know this post just exudes TMS (overanalyzing) but if gathering evidence is a big part of coming to a diagnosis, I'm not quite sure how the pieces fit here.
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| lidge |
Posted - 10/29/2007 : 16:55:27
Anne-
You may be right! Wonder why the brain cells didn't turn on for the lumbar epidural
which never helped? And why did the cervical lumbar epidural stop working? Maybe my unconscious got wind of me "gathering evidence" and decided to pull more tricks? |
| Scottydog |
Posted - 10/29/2007 : 16:22:52
Lidge,
Maybe your brain cells were having a few days off - then when they realised you had had an epidural they jumped into action -
"Hey, this guys had an epidural, if we don't switch his pain off he'll know it's TMS and not structural - quick, turn his pain off....phew! just in time".
Anne |
| lidge |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 14:25:09
Thanks again for your replies - really overwhelming how kind people can be and I do appreciate it.
Vicki- if only that period of no neck pain did not come subsequent to the epidural I would have, without a doubt, my answer about the neck. But given that I had the shot, I do wonder if the cortisone eventually worked but is now wearing off.
Yes, the pain on one side vs the MRI has always baffled me. None of the doctors pays any mind to it- I get general answers like oh the nerves cross etc. Not sure if this "broad based osteophyte" is on one side, but can compress the other side somehow?
I went to a well respected neuro (who is known to be conservative with surgery) and he said the nerves were being pinched.
ACL- I have found the back pain to be an up and down affair- BTW, I am on pain meds pretty much all the time but they never did much before. Now today, I woke up with back pain, then developed neck pain a few hours later. I do notice that I feel the back pain less when the neck pain is there. I recall pain doc saying that when one thing gets better another pain seems worse - while he seemed to think it had to do with the brain not being able to process more than one pain at at time (something like that) I wonder if he is alluding to a mindbody connection that even he is unaware of!
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| vikki |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 14:05:19
I've never had an epidural, but from what I've read, they do not take weeks to work. The fact that your pain suddenly went away for a couple of weeks suggests it's TMS. During that 3-week period, you still had all the structural "issues" the doctors keep telling you about -- yet you weren't in pain!
I took a course of prednisone for my pain, and felt relief for a couple of days then. But then when I thought about it later, really my pain had actually diminished the day *before* I started taking the prednisone -- it made no sense! |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 13:59:41
It's like you're reading my mind, I just posted about evidence in the other thread.
I wonder if they sometimes take weeks to work because they don't work at all until the person gets distracted and forgets about the pain, so the TMS they had stopped? :-)
How's your back pain? Is it still just as bad now that you have the neck pain again?
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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