...Which is not the case with me! Years ago I had ESI's frequently in my lumbar spine, and back then they would do them fully sedated. Then they told me some kind of edict came down from insurance companies that would not allow the sedation...said they weren't needed for that kind of procedure. So where I go they no longer sedate you...not even with Versed, nothing.

I managed to handle the pain of the lumbar injections, and subsequently the sacro injections, though extremely painful...they are nothing compared to having a cervical ESI! That's the most painful injection I have ever had. The assistant who works with the pain management doc said people often faint when they do cervical ESIs. Lovely.

So I wonder...what is the point of the insurance company to not allow some sedation for that! Sheesh!

I'm not clear exactly on the difference between the ESI and facet injections.

(((Jillybean))) what I do know is that I hope you get relief!

What Bobby said. My docs never sedated me for them because I have some weird nerve situation. My left and right arms both seem to have the nerve root coming out of the same side of my neck. There are nerves on both sides, but only one I seem to use. I can only feel it if the needle on the left, so if they sedate me, they can't tell if they're getting the correct nerve. They found that out the first time I had it done.

This may be due to the injury that causes my symptoms, who knows.

So I get 100% impact when I get it. It's painful.


I did have versed for the FJIs, but I didn't notice anything but I was a bit more mellow (like having a valium or something). I doubt that would take awy from the pain of ESI much, but you are supposed to forget later. What good that does I don't know... I didn't forget.



They do not, to my knowledge, do nerve block for cervies - I never had one. I have heard of that for lumbar though. Maybe it depends on why you need any procedure.
Maybe it depends on what symptoms you're having, what spinal issues and so forth.

I was having paralysis and crushing pain in both arms. They went right to the ESIs - 2, 2 weeks apart. It hurt, but it helped. Then I had a vagal repsonse and my doc decided maybe that wasn't such a hot idea to keep doing that, so he tried the FJIs. Didn't work as well, but some. Really, I was supposed to to ACDF back in '03 or so, but I saw how *well* everyone seems to do with that, and figured there probably is a better way to deal....




And maybe the way I've had this done is not standard procedure, but it's how it went for me. I'm not saying I'm normal, or that my docs were always right, you know?

Kind of gets me, when people don't believe it when I say those ESIs hurt. They did, trust me. I would never scare everyone else by saying that if it were not true. I mean, I can honestly say my lumbar puncture was a breeze, so why lie about the ESIs?

I hope that you don't think that I wasn't doubting you. I'm wasn't / am not. I was hopeful that you might relay a bit more info, but don't want to pry, about how your procedure(s) went. I've heard a number of people who experience quite a bit of pain during and following procedures.

The days afterward can be quite discomforting to painful. If the pain doesn't subside within 3-7 days afterward (because there can be a temp. increase in symptoms), it's also something that needs to be brought to the doc's attention.