cervical epidural done for severe back pain
 

Hi I have been suffering with alot of back pain for along time.I have tried EVERY pain med under the sun-From Vicodine,Norco,Percocet,oxycodone,Hydromorphone,Fe ntanytl patches,Gabapentin,Lyrica,Amnitryptilin,diazpem(Va lium),Hometense unit,Therapy,Massages,accupuncture,Eastern Medicine.So then I told my Pain Mgmnt Consultant,I am sick and tired of takking ALL this stuff into my body is there anyhting else I cold do.So he suggested an epidural.So I went in and did the epidural with pinch nerve in my my shoulders( I couldnt even lift my hands over or higher then my waist at this time).When they put me on the gurney facedown to do procedure and the robotic arm came out to give me shot,I felt a HIGH VOLT OF ELECTRICITY thru my whole body.I swear I must have jumped 6 inches off the table.After that ,I was left with a parlyzed left arm,ALOT of pain ,ALOT of sleeplessnghts-EVERYNIGHT,AND IT IS TAKING A TOLL ON MY BODY, VERY BAD AND RELATIONSHIP(Thank GOD for a very supportive wife).Now they want to do surgery,Man I am o scared after all this....has ANYONE BEEN THRU ALL THIS?


Signed,
Young Guy In AL:confused:OT Of Pain

Hi ~ Your post said they did a cervical epidural for your BACK? Where is it they want to do surgery? Is it in your back or your neck?

I've had an epidural that left my leg useless for several hours, but it "recovered" and went back to "normal," which for me is extremely painful. lol I've never had an epidural work, and I've had many of them.

Do you have any results of your MRI that you could post? I'm just wondering what they found. If I were you I would want more than one opinion before undergoing surgery. Surgery should be a LAST RESORT, after ALL other conservative methods have been tried. You could still try a Spinal Cord Stimulator, or a Morphine Pump. Both those might work for you. I'd try the Pump, myself. Even tho I've had 2 surgeries, if I had to do it over again, I'd never have let them touch me as now I'm disabled because of it. I became disabled at 44 yrs old, and that's just too young.

Think long and hard about surgery, and do research on your chances of having a good long-term recovery. Many times surgery will cause levels above and below the surgery site to fail, and you're back under the knife again. Best of luck, and God bless. Peace, Lee

Are they sure its in your neck? You could have a impinged shoulder meaning the nerves are pinched either at the suprascapular notch or at the spenoglenoid space. Or it could be pinched under the acromion. Google shoulder impingement, internal impingement and quadrilateral space syndrome.

If its pinched actually in your shoulder and they do a cervical epidural or facet block or nerve root shot it could make it worse because if its pinched in the shoulder it is yanking on thos cervical nerve roots.

Have you had and EMG done? Have they done an MRI of your shoulder?

Using ultrasound to look at the shoulder is a new thing some pysiatrists are doing. Thats how they saw my pinch nerve in the shoulder notch. It was swollen and pinched and irritating my neck. My neck MRI showed only minor damage and its in the shoulder. I had a c6 nerve root block and it totally made things worse.

Hope this helps.

I'm wondering about any other symptoms, and if any MRI & xrays of the area.

What kind of work did, or, do you do?

did they give you any name for your condition or injury, besides a pinched nerve?
Did they say/show where exactly it is pinched?
Pinched by what muscle, bone...?? collar bone, top rib, pec minor, scalenes?? Or any that Shelley mentioned?

If C spine shows as Ok on MRI & Xrays - then I am wondering if you might have Thoracic outlet syndrome {TOS} or something similar to it.

You might want to look thru our TOS forum for more info before considering a surgery.
TOS useful sticky -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

Since you mention nerve pinch I assume you aren't having blood flow or vascular issues in your arms. {swelling , heaviness, clots}
That would be a vascular type of TOS and can be more serious if clots are an issue.