"Fired", really!? My step mother used to get injections as needed and they worked pretty well for her. (I am not sure if they were trigger or facet) They seemed to have lasted about 3 -4 months each time. Then her doctor passed away and the one that took his place could never get the injections in the same place and they haven't worked since. With that said, I believe it is not only how the patient reacts/accepts the treatments but also how well the doctor can administer them. I hope you have moved on and been able to find you a another doctor. Not all doctors have that "touch" and it is understandable that what may work on one person does not necessarily mean that it will work on another.

As for my latest update that had been delayed thanks to everything I have been involved with after Hurricane Issac. I had to postpone my appointment a week. I finally was able to go in and dicuss with the doctor the "next step" last Thursday. Turns out that he is going to bypass the facet joint injection because after we had talked for a while he feels that the pain and discomfort is more related to a nerve issue because of the disc bulging and herniation at C6 and C7. He said that if the trigger point injections would have provided relief for longer than they did then he would have still been thinking that it was muscle/joint related. Being that the trigger point injections barely lasted a week and then left me back where I was at prior to them, he said that the facet joint injections were probably not going to work or last either and has decided to go with the cervical epidural injection on the left side between C6 and C7 because that seems to be the location where the worst of my pain stems from. He said that by starting at the base of the cervical spine it allows for the medicine to flow upward and hopefully get to the C5, C6, and C7 disc and nerve areas fairly well. He said it should flow up higher as well but his main concern is C5, C6 and C7 right now. If this works and can provide at least 50-60% relief then it is something he would be willing to do again on the right side fairly soon after the first and hopefully provide me with enough lasting relief to keep me away from having to do surgery. Inevitably surgery is probably going to be necessary but I'm all for trying to prolong that as long as possible. This first epidural injection is scheduled for tomorrow 9/20. Lets see how that goes.