I'm scheduled to have one next week for a ruptured disc. I'm awfully nervous about it...has anyone ever had one? The dr. said I could expect some weakness and loss of feeling in my legs afterwards...how bad is this? Do I need to plan on taking any time off work? I'm taking half a day to have it done, but was planning on coming back the next day.
I would so much appreciate it if anyone could say a little prayer...if this doesn't work, I will have to have surgery. 
THANK YOU!!!
Hi, my mother has had at least two of these injections for back pain. The first one gave her a good amount of relief, but the most recent one didn't seem to help very much. She is 92, and has had the back pain for a long time.
I'm don't live very near her, and don't know for sure, but don't believe that she had any adverse reactions to the injections.
Just wondering, is the injection intended to delay the surgery, or is it supposed to "fix" the problem?
Maybe you should go ahead and take the day off afterward just to be on the safe side, and give yourself a chance to adjust to any changes you might have.
Hope everything goes well, let us know how you are. Janice
Thank you, Janice. That puts my mind at ease a little. 
We are trying everything we can to avoid surgery. I tried taking oral steroids and they didn't help at all. The Dr. says this *might* take care of the problem permanently, it does for some people. But he says there's no way to know, it just depends on the person. Honestly, he doesn't think it's going to help, but I want to try every option before surgery. BUT I've been living with this for six months, and I'm tired of being in pain. So, if surgery is what it takes, I'll go for it.
My DS had back surgery about 20 years ago for a ruptured disc, and he still says it was the best thing he has ever done for himself.
I'm certainly not a medical person, and I realize you have a little one to care for, but maybe the delaying tactics are just prolonging your pain and in the long run the surgery might be a reasonable choice.
Hope it all works out, and you do get relief from the pain. Janice
I am hesitant to go with the surgery, mostly because it will take me away from my family/work/daily responsibilities for a few weeks. I am very lucky though, my DH can take some vacation time to help me, and my parents and sister both live within 5 minutes and will do whatever they can to help, too.
Thank you for your concern. I will definitely let you know how it turns out!
I had my injection yesterday. The procedure itself was pretty easy, very little discomfort and it was over in no time. I didn't have any side effects, either. So now I just need to be patient for a day or two and see if it is going to provide any relief. If not, I'll be scheduling my surgery soon. The injection had some numbing solution with the steroid, so for about an hour after I had it, my back didn't hurt...it was AWESOME! I had forgotten what it was like to walk without a limp!!
Thanks again for calming my nerves!
Hi shelbur, glad to know you got the injection without any problems and that you had at some relief even for a short period of time. Hopefully once the medicine starts to work, you will be pain free for a long time.
Keep us posted, on how it goes, and take care of yourself. Janice
Hey Melissa! That @#$%% thing didn't work a bit!! Looks like I'm headed for surgery. As much as I dread it, it will be fantastic to FINALLY have my back not hurt anymore.
DH has been a busy little bee this week! Yesterday he cleaned the whole house for V-day and but never fear, I found a couple of things to put on his list for today! LOL
Hi shelbur10 ... I'm sorry to hear that the injection didn't work for you. I had two ruptured discs in my back a year ago, and I had 4 epidural injections (none of them worked) before finally having surgery. I ended up having to have two surgeries, one month apart, but I have to say that it really changed my life. The recovery period is no fun, but the excruciating pain I was living with is no longer there. I do have some permanent nerve damage in my leg and foot (permanent numbness), but that happened before the surgeries. Good luck with everything, and please keep us updated.
One more thing ... I highly recommend going to a neurosurgeon who specializes in back surgery.
Thank you, cakesbyjess! Can I ask, about how long is the recovery period? According to my research, just a couple of weeks? I work a desk job, so I should be able to get back to work pretty quickly, I hope.
I can't even imagine what it will be like to have this pain gone...so I have mixed feelings about surgery. The doctor told me beforehand that he didn't think the injection would work, but we tried it anyway. He is watching for any permanent nerve damage, but doesn't think I have any yet. I'm really impressed with him, he is a neurosurgeon who has an excellent reputation with back surgeries. I had this several years ago and saw an orthopedic doc and all he wanted to do was give me cortisone shots.
I'd say that the recovery process for me was closer to a month, but that may be because I had to have the two surgeries a month apart. Hopefully you'll have a quick recovery. I remember waking up from the second surgery and being so thrilled that the shooting pain in my leg was finally gone!! I hope it's a complete success for you! I'm glad to hear that you don't have any permanent nerve damage ... that's wonderful! I'm also glad that you found a good neurosurgeon ... that's very important, IMO. 
Oh, and another bit of advice ... I don't know if you've ever had surgery before, but if you tend to have trouble with nausea from general anesthesia, ask the pre-op nurse to make sure to give put a scopolamine patch behind your ear before you go into surgery. It's just a little sticky patch that goes behind your ear (it's made for motion sickness), and it's great!! I had one, and I didn't have a bit of nausea when I woke up (post-op nausea can be horrible). Here's a link with info about the patch, in case you're interested: http://www.transdermscop.com/
Keep us posted!
Thanks so much for the information, cakesbyjess! I have been nervous, not so much about the surgery, I have complete faith in my doctor, and he told me the first time he looked at my MRI that he could fix it with surgery. But I'm a complete control freak and the recovery scares me to death...not being able to work or take care of the family. Even a month of recovery after TWO surgeries sounds incredible to me! I'm so glad you had such success. How long ago did you have it done? Have you had any back problems at all since then? I just can't imagine life without back pain... this particular disc has been ruptured for about 6 months, but I have been injuring it over and over again for about 5 years and it keeps healing by itself. This time it just won't heal, it just keeps getting worse. 
I wasn't really nervous about my surgeries, either, since I also had complete faith in my doctor. He also told me as soon as he looked at my MRI that he could fix it with surgery. I had the first surgery at the beginning of January 2006, and the second surgery was at the beginning of February 2006. I've actually been plagued with lower back pain for about 10 years now, and I've had herniated discs in the past that healed on their own. But like you, these two discs just wouldn't heal on their own last year. I had constant pain shooting down my left leg, and complete numbness in my left leg and foot from the knee down. I can't say that my back pain is gone ... it's just back to the same type of pain I've lived with for the last 10 years. But ... the shooting pain in my leg is completely gone, and most of the numbness is gone. So I would call the surgery (the second one, at least) a success. The problem with back pain is that once you have it, it will probably plague you to some degree for the rest of your life, unfortunately. But the surgery should take away your severe pain, and that will be a very good thing. Are you having leg pain/numbness? Has your surgery been scheduled yet?
Like you, I'm having pain in my left leg and foot, and occasional numbness, but the numbness always goes away. I'm seeing the dr. on March 7 for my epidural follow up. He has already told me that if the epidural didn't work I could either decide to live with it or schedule surgery. I just want to get it done ASAP!! Thanks again for your help, you have set my mind at ease quite a bit.
It's funny how similar our situations are. Please keep me updated! I'm wishing for complete success for your surgery!!
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