Marci,

RF's are great! I had one done in my lumbar and will PROBABLY be getting another one shortly. I have never had them done in the cervical spine although I know of people who have. The ONLY reason I opted out is because the doc told me then and there I would need a fusion and that is what I went with. And I HOPE you are talking about the "medial branch nerves" that lie across the facets. Otherwise, the docs would NEVER ablate a motor nerve. But you are right; over the years it seems that any and all injections I get help me to keep the ONE pain med I take to a bare minimum. Sometimes people think I am nuts for preferring injections to meds. But besides being hypersensitive to most meds, I also refuse to take the "big guns". Been there and done that and was sicker than a dog. I just don't want to ever revisit that time period again. The meds just did NOT touch that ON pain. But the injections did! My PM explained it to me once...the bottom line is...oral medications just do not get to the source; the injections target a specific nerve and that's what really gives me relief. Anyway, of course I needed two fusions over this 8 year journey. But I still go to my PM every now and then for injections.

Charliebubs,

I will keep my fingers crossed too. But the over the ear pain is CLASSIC with ON. I had it all the time...they termed it "ram's horn pattern" and that is precisely what it felt like besides a vise like grip across my entire scalp. It is possible the nerves are really ticked off by the injections OR the doc MIGHT have to try another level. I say that because the C3/C4 was my bad boy yet the C2/C3 facets are arthritic and so is just about every level in my cervical spine. So, sometimes it is trial and error just trying to find exactly where it is coming from. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Honestly, if 3 weeks go by and you have no relief, call the doc back and let him know. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to keep a pain diary. I have been doing that since my last set of injections so I can tell him precisely how I felt each day...sometimes I forget to write it down.

Now you guys have reminded me lol, I need to call my own PM today. He was going to do a nerve block at C7 since it was affecting my index and middle fingers so bad. But, for whatever the reason, they are better. So, I want to schedule an RF for the lumbar and need to find out if I can go ahead and do that since the facet injections (2 sets) are proof postive I NEED that RF!