Hi Dolfinz,

It's my understanding that a steroid injection is not the same as a nerve block. I've had both done, in two different injections; the steroid injection is to reduce inflammation and irritation of the nerves, whereas the nerve block injects an anesthetic to put the nerve to sleep, or "block" it. My doc did tell me, though, that in the steroid injections they also inject a small amount of a mild, short-acting anesthetic. The transforaminal approach targets a specific nerve root, because the injection is done through the foramen of the vertebra where the nerve root exits the spinal cord, rather than a generalized injection into the epidural space, in between the vertebrae.

I'm not actually sure how mine was done...I'll have to ask my doc when I see him tomorrow. It was under fluoroscopy, with some anesthesia; I requested some anti-nausea meds, too, as anesthesia tends to make me queasy. I was drowsy, but not asleep...I've had several injections in my neck for various things, and with some of them they gave versed and some they didn't. That's the med that makes you forget everything that happened...I definitely liked that better! Mine were all done at a surgery center. I just remember being sore for a few days and very sleepy the day of, which makes it hard because they wanted me to keep a pain diary for that day. It's hard to tell how you react to the injections when you sleep the day away! I didn't have any long-term effect from mine, though, but I know some people do, as Di can attest to.

Here's a link to a brochure about the procedure from a pain management center somewhere...I didn't dig too deep to find out where it's from...

http://www.paindiagnostic.com/Proced...nfoConsent.pdf

Hope this helps, and I hope the injection brings you some relief!

Take care, and enjoy Florida...we're snowed in for the fifth week in a row here in Colorado!

Donna