Hello to all! I just joined and am in need of some opinions.

Some background - I am 52 years young and was diagnosed in June 2012 with cervical spinal stenosis (yes, a catch-all diagnosis) following an MRI -- after over three years of neck/shoulder/back pain.

Over the last few months, I've had three sets of epidural steroids with not much impact. I also had facet injecions in four discs, which gave amazing pain reduction for a whopping 10 hours. A spur was detected during one of the procedures. Unfortunately, I experienced a lot of face and lower extremity swelling during all of this, plus the pain was still there. Two weeks ago, my pain med doc said we should consider a rhizotomy, but we had to wait for swelling to subside. In the interim, he prescribed a lotion potion containing gabapentin for use in the meantime. It has helped, but not a lot.

I went for a follow up visit this afternoon, and he is recommending we go ahead with the rhizotomy on Wednesday of next week. It will be done under twilight anesthesia...apparently I will need to communicate to him mid-procedure. Ugh! I'd rather be knocked out! He said many patients do not even remember having chatted! He has not made me any promises of fabulous success, since my issues are mechanical (joint/spur) and physiological (nerves). We don't know which is truly causing the pain in my four affected discs.

Anyway, in googling this procedure, I've read some stories that cause me concern. If any of you have had the procedure, I would very much appreciate your sharing the experience -- good or bad!

Thanks so much! Sorry to have been long-winded!

Kate