GReater Occipital Nerve Injection Anyone???
 

Hello my name is Frank and I have MS. I never suffered from headaches till the last 6 or 7 yrs now.

My neuro keeps saying these migraines are not related to the MS, yet the spinal lesions he now says can cause severe headaches, any insight on this would be welcomed.

As it is he finally agrees the MS could be the cause, yet at same time wants to send me for this Occipital nerve injection to treat occipital neuralgia, is this the ON's I always hear about? or is this something diff? confused is an understatement,

Each time I get these nasty headaches I also have an MS relapse, so this is what bothers me why stick and poke me if its the MS, even in my cog fog thats a no brainer, or has anyone else gone through the same thing I am going through, and can relate or can shed some light on this for me

It seems to me he is covering both exits just incase, and I'll be honest the thought of this injection does not put a smile on my face, I have had 4 LP and thats pretty much what this amounts to, but in the back of the head, and the steroids have actually helped eased the headaches somewhat this relapse, so I am going to hold off unless it worsens but I would appreciate any info anyone has

again thank you

Hi Frank :)
I have occipital neuralgia & i have nerve blocks every 12 wks these do help the pain but don`t take mine away, although people have different reactions.
don`t know if these are what your Docs are thinking of.
mine is caused by 2 brain tumours pressing on these nerves i also have trigemenial nueralgia but the blocks don`t help this.
hope this is some help to you.
keep smiling sophia :):):)

Ah yes, Occipital Neuralgia, or O.N., I know all about that!:D
I have had the nerve blocks 3 times now, and they have worked well for me, and reduced the pain a lot.
I don't know much about MS, and the problems related to it, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try the nerve block, to see if it will help with your headaches.
I don't think it's like a lumbar puncture (not that I've ever had one!), the needle used in a nerve block, is quite small, and not very painful at all. Well, it wasn't when my Neuro did it...and I hate needles too!
:o
~Jaime~

cool on the needle info that was a problem here that kind of worried me

but so far the steroids seem to have taken an edge off it which leaves me to lean towards this is ths spinal lesion causing it and should pass hopefully soon if not then a block may still be needed

thank you both of you didnt think of posting this down here, am always in the game or ms section

Hi Frank :)
No ! nerve block is not like having "lumber puncture"
not to bad at all
Doreen :):):)

sophia is the name, i`m a girl with many names "or should i say old girl

Need more info on nerve block for occipital neuralgia. What drug is it exactly that they put into you.? My daughter has had shots to the head and the only thing that works (and like Novacaine only temporarlily) is Lanacaine. She had the occ. nerve severed (surgeon said it was shredded) but 2 months later is still in pain. Now she is trying acupuncture but so far (3 visits) no relief. She never had headaches prior to this occipital neur. alices

I'm not sure of the names of the drugs used in my Occipital nerve blocks, but my neuro used Lidocaine as the anesthetic last time (he previously used something else), but not sure of the name of the steroid. But here's a bit of information on what some nerve blocks consist of...

...The injection consists of a local anesthetic (like lidocaine or bupivicaine ). When treating occipital neuralgia or other painful conditions, steroid medication ( triamcinolone-Aristocort, methylprednisolone-Depomedol, or Celestone-betamethasone) is added to the local anesthetic...

~Jaime~

Checking on your outcome!
 

I have had MS for over 20 years and never felt this kind of scalp pain. Did the shot work or did your doctors find another method? I am currently taking Lyrica and hoping it kicks in. Hope you're feeling great now!

Hi Frank - I've just been diagnosed with ON too and am booked in to have the injections next Monday (30th). Mine was caused by a car accident in February and it's taken this long for them to diagnose me :(

I'm not sure if we do things differently in the UK but I'm having a general anaesthetic to have the injections, so I'll be asleep. To be honest, I much prefer this idea :)

I was under the impression that the injections I'm getting are into the nerve, but from what I've read on here - they may be into the surrounding area rather than the nerves themselves. I'm confused too!!!

Hope you're okay now. Let us know how you got on with the injections and if they gave you any relief. :)