Bloody early start to be at St John of God hospital by 7.15!!! Things ran behind somewhat and my "Lumbar medial branch block" procedure began around 9.30 and finished around 10. Six needles put in around L3, L4, L5 and anaesthetic injected. .5ml in each of the 6 holes. I felt the first a little and the last one was through scar tissue and he had to work a bit at getting the needle in. Back to get dressed and breakfast. Eril arrived and we came home. Only pain now is shoulder. I have a diary to report pain at regular intervals, and see his nurse tomorrow arvo.
1.00pm I have just walked 300 meters down to Burrumbeet creek, had a couple of minutes rest playing with Android video and camera, then walked back. Pretty buggered by the time I got back and some lower back pain which went as soon as I sat down again.
4.30 still going ok.
6.00 Wow, still no lower back pain, we might finally be on a winner. He tells me he does shoulders too.
8.30 and now have my normal lower back pain, BUT having spent most of the day without lower back pain. I am thankful this procedure has worked.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 6th of June 2018 09:09:46 PM
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 6th of June 2018 09:11:00 PM
I had (still have) the same problem. A few years ago, I went to a pain specialist and because I had so many lumbar joints which could have caused the problem, he injected local anaesethic into one side of a joint at a time and I had to record the effect hour by hour until the local wore off. This was to see which joint was giving the trouble. After about 6 visits, each involving a 250 km round trip, I was at wits end. This particular day, I could not lay still whilst he lined up the injection, but eventually after a lot of cursing on both sides, he gave me a shot. In contrast to the previous injection (local anaesethic), this one didn't do a damned thing for me, and as I walked out I said to my wife "Well that was a waste of time and money". Next day, I noted a slight improvement, the day after even better and the third day I could barely feel my back. So I assumed that he must have abandoned the local and gone straight to the cortisone. He told me early in the piece that the cortisone may work for a day, a week, a month or even a year - he couldn't say for sure which one. Well this last shot lasted me nearly 3 years, and when I went back again, he tried the same but nothing worked that time.
Eventually he offered me an electronic spinal blocking device which would be implanted above the lumbar and then tuned to a level where the pain signals could not get past the blocker. Frankly, whilst I can see that it would work, this scared me to death and I still have not had this done. I endure the pain and try to work my joints so that they open up the gaps in the spinal discs and relieve the compression that way. It works OK for me and I rarely have to take Panadol Osteo, but when I do, Osteo does virtually nothing for me. Right now I have fairly severe sciatic pains hooting down my left leg and I am back on the Panadol again, but I hope to get clear of that soon.
Hopefully, AP, you will get some extended relief from the injections. Sadly there is no guarantee, but there is always hope for some improvement.
G'dat Erad,
Not sure of your exercise regime, but I am trying half push ups with my legs pushed out to left side from hip area. Do three lots of 10, 4- 7 times a day. If your arms cant handle all, then stand at counter with bum against edge and carefully lean back(it is easy to over stress), do the same set of 3 x 10 several times a day or combine the two. This is from my new physio practice.
cheers Craig.
Craig1:
I do exercises - probably nowhere near as often as I should, but then again getting old I forget things a lot. And as soon as your back doesn't hurt, you forget it all until it bites you again down the track. I am limited in what I can do anyway because of my respiratory condition.
Paul: The permanent block interests me. Do you know what this involves (apart from a lot of money, but frankly I don't care about money when my back bites me)? And where do you get this done?
Craig1: I do exercises - probably nowhere near as often as I should, but then again getting old I forget things a lot. And as soon as your back doesn't hurt, you forget it all until it bites you again down the track. I am limited in what I can do anyway because of my respiratory condition.
Paul: The permanent block interests me. Do you know what this involves (apart from a lot of money, but frankly I don't care about money when my back bites me)? And where do you get this done?
Today visited the practise nurse and am now booked in for the second round on the 22nd. If that works they will block by burning the ends of the nerves to give me perhaps 12 months relief. The nerves regrow so may need to be done periodically. The process has rehab etc to have the whole body & mind helping.
Erad, not sure of cost as yet and whether Work Cover will cough up the dollars. They should but that's another battle. Will be enquiring now that the first round is successful. I am having the procedures done in home town Ballarat Victoria.
Paul:
Thanks for the reply. I doubt that this mode of nerve block would apply to me because most of my pain is lower down, but caused by pinched nerves in the lumbar area. Even so I will mention this to the man when/if I ever get to see him again.
Had the second block done last Friday, quite a bit of bruising type pain as with the scar tissue from the skin grafts made it difficult for him. Follow up today and learnt what the next steps are. I am booked in for around 11th Sept for Radiofrequency neurotomy under a general anesthetic
"Radiofrequency neurotomy uses heat generated by radio waves to target specific nerves and temporarily turn off their ability to send pain signals. Needles inserted through your skin near the painful area deliver the radio waves to the targeted nerves."
There are also other procedures if this doesn't work on me, like what Macka17 had done with rods and an electrical device fitted under the skin.
So, one step at a time after 10 years of severe chronic lower back pain and some hope ahead.
Aussie Paul.
-- Edited by aussie_paul on Tuesday 26th of June 2018 08:00:12 PM
Mate in our Cardiac rehabilitation group just had it done - a lot of preparation and a couple of surgeries - but it is seeming to give him first relief after many years of pain - he is still in adjustment stages but to date it's looking good.
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Things ran behind somewhat and my "Lumbar medial branch block" procedure began around 9.30 and finished around 10. Six needles put in around L3, L4, L5 and anaesthetic injected. .5ml in each of the 6 holes. I felt the first a little and the last one was through scar tissue and he had to work a bit at getting the needle in. Back to get dressed and breakfast. Eril arrived and we came home. Only pain now is shoulder. I have a diary to report pain at regular intervals, and see his nurse tomorrow arvo.
Will be enquiring now that the first round is successful. I am having the procedures done in home town Ballarat Victoria.
