Hi Jakatak, Sorry to say my epidural did nothing at all. It really made me mad because I paid cash, no insurance. Good luck to you, everyones different.

Jack, you could ring a hospital and ask to speak to a doctor about your situation, best to play on the safe side mate.

Jack, when I got my injections, and I had a few of them, I felt really good for about 4 to 6 hours. Then it got worse but eventually it will get better if they got it in the right level where your pain is coming from.

I think the initial feel good effect is from the numbing shots and I also think there is something added to it to give the quick relief. I wish I could remember all of what goes in but of course I can't. Hopefully someone will.

Give it time and continue to take it easy. Also I never stopped taking any of the meds I was on at the time including anti-seizure types so don't stop any of them.

Rest, use ice on the injection site if it helps and you should start to see some relief in a week or so. Mine pain relief lasted a few months so I am hoping you can find the same...Sue

Middle of the night,it bothers me that you are not staying on meds.
on regular basic, you must give them time to work. The numbness
wore off,so feels bad,give it a chance.think positive. i really know that's
hard,but try. Good luck friend. Sue

What I have learned with meds or other issues of concerns you need to be honest and upfront with your doc. Like for example I told my doc how scared I am with the neurontin and she is doing it slow. So maybe they can work out a better mix for example. If you keep going on and off or trying your own mixes you will not know what is working or what is not. I do know stopping or changing doses can have bad side effects. Sometimes docs put us on a combination cause one med works with another. I hope you find out more and sorry for what your going through.

You would think that they would go over some of the possible ways you might react to the shots such as short term relief, followed by a period of discomfort as the numbness wears off, followed by relief again. Its just get the next one in for the next shot so that i can make some more money today.

Jak, I posted on your other thread. But just to know--epidurals take a couple of weeks to really kick in. The day you get it the lidocaine in the shot relieves all the pain, but then it wears off and you're where you started. Over the next 7-14 days the steroid in the injection takes effect, and if the shot works, that's when the pain diminishes.


Again, if laminectomy is what you need, it's NOT a bad procedure. We can talk more about it by pm if you like. Only fusion can be hard, but if your back is stable, you won't need fusion. That's a separate decision.

See other note please.

Jak, I know I'm coming into this late, but last fall I had transforaminal injections in L4, L5, and S1. I was told to rest on injection day...veg out on the couch, no riding in cars except to go home from dr office, couldn't even go out and throw hay to the horses. My instructions also were to continue taking the meds as prescribed (lyrica, elavil, tramadol). It sounds like you had the same procedure I did and hopefully this will help answer your question.

Was this your first injection? Mine were a series of 3, 3 weeks apart. They didn't stop the pain but they did give me some relief that lasted almost six months.

I got relief for the day. But, we went to a concert tonight and I had to sit for almost 2 hours. My back did not feel good after sitting for that long. I have SI dysfunction along with the L4,L5 stenosis.

First I will say I have no idea what I'm talking about but was reading your other post about your posture. Have they thought about or maybe you have a back braise?ALso you said you got away from the back exercise but I think all things work in combo. Were they told to be done buy the doc? I just ask cause you don't want to make it worse but maybe all the pieces will fit with the meds,exercise,and time. Feel better I know your having like me a lot of ups and downs. Try though I know how hard to focus on some positives. What concert by the way?I hope to go to one this summer I was suppose to see gwen/akon last week but was too much pain. I like music its a lifter.