Info needed on nerve block
 

Hi all! Haven't posted for several months and I wanted to know if anyone on the board has had a nerve block done? I had two level acdf surgery in September. This did relieve the horrid "ice pick" in the shoulder pain and the electric shocks and numbness in my left arm. About two months later, I developed pain in the right shoulder blade area. It was different from what I had experienced on my left side. No numbness or tingling, but a deep throb and ache of varying intensity with the pain radiating down to my elbow and up into my head. An MRI revealed that the osteophyte shelf near the C5-6 (they removed C4-5 and C6-7) was significantly larger and the stenosis had gotten worse. My neurosurgeon sent me to a pain specialist for an initial consultation and she recommended doing a nerve block to see if it would relieve the pain. She said I would be sedated for the procedure and that if the block was successful, she would perform ablation to permanently "kill" the nerves. I am just a little nervous and wanted to know if any of you have had any experience with this procedure, good or bad.

Thanks!

hello"beckel".i get those every once in awhile.my Neurosurgeon did the same to me.he sent me to a nerve spec.and i get those shots.they kind of do OK for me.i have what you have(C4-7,pain in left shoulder,elbow,forearm,etc.)my friends and family says "your moving a lot better".but im still on my other meds though.but i still go in everyonce in a while to get those shots again.at least that what my case is:(

It's weird. I've never had ANY luck with these darn things. Seems like others have some, but not me. I must be made of steel or something. :rolleyes: But it just doesn't relieve the pain.

Just keep in mind that these are temporary. They're not going to "take away" the pain. All these injections are "bandaid" procedures and aren't permanent.

As far as nerve ablations, the nerves grow back. They DON'T KILL the nerves. The nerves grow back at the AVERAGE rate of one inch per month, some quicker some slower. So it's not killing them, unfortunately.

Best of luck. Hugs, Lee

[QUOTE=Beckel;963731]Hi all! Haven't posted for several months and I wanted to know if anyone on the board has had a nerve block done? I had two level acdf surgery in September. This did relieve the horrid "ice pick" in the shoulder pain and the electric shocks and numbness in my left arm. About two months later, I developed pain in the right shoulder blade area. It was different from what I had experienced on my left side. No numbness or tingling, but a deep throb and ache of varying intensity with the pain radiating down to my elbow and up into my head. An MRI revealed that the osteophyte shelf near the C5-6 (they removed C4-5 and C6-7) was significantly larger and the stenosis had gotten worse. My neurosurgeon sent me to a pain specialist for an initial consultation and she recommended doing a nerve block to see if it would relieve the pain. She said I would be sedated for the procedure and that if the block was successful, she would perform ablation to permanently "kill" the nerves. I am just a little nervous and wanted to know if any of you have had any experience with this procedure, good or bad.

No i havent had nerve block but I did have acdf c4 thru c7 and i do have pain on right side last fall I had a followp up mri due to pain in right bicep and severe pain in right shoulder the mri showed on c5 level the neural foreman the nerve was being pinched the hole was open--- but barley and pinched c5 nerve on right side--which affects right arm and shoulder. The dr suggested predisone it took awhile 3months on --but it finally helped. Then if i do to much physcially ---I will get nasty flare up and was back on predisone --now they said if i get another flare up I have to wait due to side effects of predisone.

Well. that would probably be my luck! I realize it is only a temporary measure, but at this time I am willing to give it a try. I do not want another surgery for a very long time if at all. But I am losing strength in my right hand very badly. The strangest thing is that right before I started experiencing the horrid pain in my left shoulder last spring, I developed a severe case of tendonitis in my right wrist. I had the maximum number of injections allowed and it finally cleared up. When the pain started on my right shoulder after my surgery, the tendonitis flared up again. The neuro doc said it was all probably related. The pain doc mentioned the lack of strength in my right hand and asked if the neuro doc had talked about surgery. **sigh** I'm gonna go ahead with the nerve block and hope and pray it will give me some relief.

that parts gets me what doctor said"its probably related".my symptoms are the same as your,same damage to my disc as your and the pain travels in the same place just like yours.:mad: