Hi!
Good to hear from you.

I had one scalene block a couple of months ago that gave me about 50% relief. Its not too bad, they hook you up to EMG and then use ultrasound to locate the scalenes and then inject a few times. I had one side effect where I lost my voice for a couple of minutes (scary!) and my eye started to water, but was gone in a couple of minutes. I got 50% relief from the scalene block which my pain doc said was probably not enough to justify a surgery (not that I want the surgery!)...

He is doing another scalene block study this Friday. Doing both sides this time to see what my relief is.

This is all confusing as I also have neck and shoulder issues so trying to pinpoint the exact cause of my real pain issues could be coming from the neck, TOS or shoulders. I had complete relief with a C5-6 spinal epidural injection for 5 weeks, so we are guessing thatmy cervical spine is the culprit of my "real" pain.

I have neck surgery scheduled for May 6th but am going to use these next 6-7 weeks or so to go back to PT with the hopes of getting enough relief that maybe I won't need the surgery.

Unfortunately, my job of keyboarding as a medical transcriptionist in a high productivity environment is not helping matters, but not working is not an option so I must push on...

I'm also having an ergonomics expert come out and look at my workstation (should have done it a long time ago!) and will most likely invest in a good chair.

I'll post Friday to let you know how the block went!

Diane