It ended up being just a consultation as he didn't feel that doing the pain generator test would be beneficial. I think I mentioned it was to be a nerve block using an anesthetic to see if I got temp. pain relief in neck so they could clarify which nerves are the problem.

He said that there was no point in doing it because even if I did get relief there would be little he could do given the SCS leads in my cervical area. I asked about getting epidural shots and he says he would not give them to me as it's too easy to nick the cervical leads or cause an infection on the cervical leads and he wasn't going to take that chance.

The other option is to do an ablation but he would rather have the dr. who implanted the SCS's resume my care and talk about that possibility with me. I'm rather bummed because I thought epidural shots every few months would be an easy remedy.

This dr. did say that a last resort is to have a fusion where the problem nerves are. I thought a fusion was just for a ruptured/herniated disk but he says they are also done to open up the space around the nerve to give it more room. He suspects the main culprit is C7-T1 (which is what is affecting my arms/hands/upper back) and that the nerves at C3-4 were brought into play when another doctor twisted my head/neck. He says the nerves at C3-4 are what affects the jaw, teeth, face etc. Hopefully those nerves will calm down in time but given the fact that they were so easily irritated may indicate they are problematic and were just waiting to become a problem.

He did think that I have a separate shoulder issue, so will continue getting the steroid shots into my shoulders. So, will keep on trying to figure things out

Thanks for your prayers, Mark

How are things going for you, Pooh?