What symtoms?? They don't actually guarantee anything. It's a wait and let's see what happens. They know all the meds he has been on in the past. He is on NOTHING now, just the lidocaine cream that he rubs on his feet. He says it helps.

And oddly, I told him the other day "Alan, you know we have no guarantee that this epidural thing will aleviate your neuropathy", and he said; "Oh, I just hope it helps with the back pain".

So the back pain is now worse than the neuropathy pain.

Alan explains it by explaining a bell curve. He says that 8 or so years ago the pain was a suicidal kind of pain and that's when they put him on Fentanyl and Vicodin for the breakthrough pain.

I remember way back then. His pain was horrendous.

He has also tried lyrica, neurontin, etc but it just made him sick.

Actually the chiropractor neurologist did something to his back and then he was able to get off of the fentanyl (actually he had to go to detox to get off the final 25 of the Fentanyl) but they made him leave after one day because no drugs came out in the test they gave him upon admittance.

He walked into the detox place wearing a fentanyl pain patch and they too a test. It was a hard night for him. The very next day he walks in the front door and I stared at him and I said "why are you home, doesn't this take 3 or 4 days? He said "they say I don't qualify because they can't detect the drug in my system". So he had to detox at home. Worse experience he ever had.

He did it though. That's why he refuses to take any kind of pain medication.

So we shall see what happens when he goes on the 25th of May. That's when he gets the first injection.

Please let me know how you are doing. You had one injection right? Do you have any back issues? and if so, were they helped by this injection?

Thanks much for writing.