Last May, my PM suggested that I have the ablation done. I had the medial nerve block first, which worked wonderfully, so we scheduled the ablation. My PM only does one side at a time so that the pain isn't too bad. So I had my right side done, and then one week later I had the left side done.

First, my PM doesn't really believe in any conscious sedation, so my right side was done with just local anesthetic. I've heard people say it was "uncomfortable," but I would say it landed way more towards painful than uncomfortable (and I have a high tolerance to pain). From all the horror stories I had read, I was expecting the pain afterwards to be really bad, as well. Honestly, for me, it was no worse than any ESI I have had - the pain was a non-event. I was a little sore, but that was about it.

He did the left side a week later, and this time his nurse practitioner (who was out the day I had the right side done), said there was no reason to be in pain throughout the procedure, and she told me to request conscious sedation. Best. Decision. Ever. The procedure was still slightly uncomfortable, but nowhere near the pain of having the right side done. Afterwards, again the pain was not a big deal for me at all - a little sore, but tolerable.

As far as effectiveness goes, I only received pain relief fom the ablations for about three weeks - which isn't really very good. I had heard the average was six months to two years . . . so it was not something that was really an option for me to have done a second time.

If it had worked well for me, I'm not sure how I would feel about having it done with my SCS . . . while that may be something they do all the time, I'm not sure I would want to risk messing with one thing while trying to fix another. But that's just me.

Prayers for you as you make the decision that is right for you! Let us know what you decide!

=Becky