Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

HAD EPIDURAL CAUTERZONE INECTION IN L5S1 DISK

HI , I have posted my medical issues some while ago, im sure theyre on still here, I went along with the epidural cauterzone it has been 9 days today. I am in SERIOUSLY much worse pain then I WAS ever in before, once was done before i even got off the cti matchine where they do the procedure I got a serious midgrane where If i stood up i was in serious pain. this lasted for 7 hours, I had a ice pack on my head for that time, the epidural lasted till next day as I was given maximum amount as i wiegh 218 pounds, IS THIS NORMAL TO HAVE  MORE PAIN AFTER THE CAUTERZONE, IT HAS BEEN A REAL ROUGH 9 DAYS CANT SLEEP FROM THE PAIN, when i do finally sleep it is only for 2 to 3 hours, I am still taking oxycotin 20 mg and panideine forte 3 times a day, and at night before i sleep panediene forte with 2 xzanaxes 2 mmg, i have read post on here pain killers and muscle relaxents cant save you, IS THERE STILL HOPE THAT THIS PROCEDURE WILL WORK I AM REALLY SICK OF LIVING LIKE THIS I AM ONLY 30 YEARS OLD A MOTOR BIKE ACCIDENT HAS RUINED MY LIFE, my gp has offered to up the pain killers stronger MG, I REFUSED my whole point of this procedure was normal life no more meds, second opinion doctor is saying surgery i have 2 disk bulging with pinched nerve, i have  beeen told only 35 percent of cauterzone is succeful, i AM seriously starting to doubt it going to work but holding hope it hasnt been 14 days i just dont see in 4 days everything going to be better, i have bruising where the injection was done but that is not the pain i am worried about the pain i originaly had wasnot as bad as this , can i get any one opinion that has gone thru similar procedure, i am really starting to go into depression that i never been im only 30 years old with 2 young kids, im also a serious astmatic so astma attack and anxiety attack are really close symtons

thankyou for your time hope to hear from u soon
5 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
   Hi, I wanted to let you know I just read your post and i had to sign up to share my story with you. I'm 22 years old, I'm not sure what has caused the issues with my l5-s1.
   Since March 2010 (until February 2012), I wasn't able to bend over fully, lifting things was uncomfortable, but that was nothing. When i touched my back running my fingers down spine, I'd get to the small of my back and I couldn't touch my back cause it was so tender. Laying certain ways was uncomfortable, sometimes walking or just random everyday activities just made my back ache and stiff. I knew i had a problem especially with the intensity of the tender spot on my spine when it was touched over time. The pain was noticeable but I always consider it tolerable.
     I was living in WI at the beginning of this yr, unfortunately right aftenew years I lost my job. My back left worse this yr more than the pain from 10 & 11 combined. Since 08 I have had no medical insurance and since losing my job this yr I decided it was time to move home to GA to live with my parents and hopefully get on my dad's medical. I left WI in February, left the place I called home the last 3 1/2 hrs, with the same guy and "our family"(we lived together since 08, 2dogs and 3cats).
    I started to see a spine doctor and got an xray of my lumbar. The xrays came back and the doctor said that my left hip was rotated, which was visible. I however saw the xrays and thought there was a weird looking spot, low and behold that's where the tender spot was. He said it was ok just needed to start physical therapy to strengthen my back and core. I went to my first physical therapy session 3/14/12  it went ok I was a little more sore after then before. Went to Savannah GA for st pattys day with some friends. It was an intense day. Lots of walking, going up and down steps, it was hot and there were so many people. I took a pain killer in the am and made it until 5pm. I could feel it, I was sore but i felt like I got a workout. Had my second P.T. 3/21 she said I looked great compared to a week earlier. The third P.T. session wasn't a good one. She had me doing arm and leg alternating extended lifts. It hurt I could barely do 6. That was the last thing we.did that day. When I was trying to get up I uncomfortable, standing on the other hand and walking was incomprehendable. Instant tears from the pressure I felt in my back. My therapist said walk over to the doctors office on the other half of the building to schedule an mri asap first opening. The mri of my lumbar was done the first week in April, I didn't have my mri results appt until the 11th  because first week in April is spring break for the schools here. The results show my l5-s1 has degenerative disc that's bulging into my siatic never pinching it on the right side. Since my first mri I have seen 9 different doctors for various things. Had mri of the rest of my spine, my head, a 48 eeg because the pain was so severe and it wasn't just in my legs but my arms sometimes a twitching eye, constant unexplainable pain. At night I was moaning so loud while sleeping I would wake my mom.
   On 5/8 I had my first injection, I was so terrified. But i was told with how severe my disc is if i didn't start the shots right away I could need a fusion within 6months. That convinced me to go ahead with them. 2 weeks later was the 2nd, and another 2 weeks was the 3rd. I was at a 9.5 for my pain level before the shots started. After the 1st I was barely able to walk/stand after from weakness..The 2nd shot was even worse I didn't want to move. Since the 3rd which was the first week in June I have had variations in my pain. My average is 6 now which is huge. I'm taking 9 different medications for my pain, cronic pain, nerve pain(feels like electricity moving through my whole body not just my legs) numbness, pins and needles, stiffness, aching, random stabbing pain and more.

I'm a 22 year old female, I'm not allowed to drink, I have days I feel like i shouldn't drive, I haven't worked since January, I have at least one doctors appt a week at this point. It has been a very long year so far. I still have pain everyday, I have no curvature in my lower spine, I still can't stand for more than 10-20 mins at a time from the pain, head aches, sweats, inflammation, and I'm barely sleeping still. Just like you have to deal with this the rest of your life so do I. I know the pain and discomfort you are in. I have some days that are really bad and it seems hopeless. I didn't think at the age of 22 i would feel like my 81 year old grandmother. It's hard to look at life some days because I feel like life/the world are kinda passing me by and I'm having to take a back seat.


(Degenerative disc disease l5-s, causing bulging of the l5-s1 disc into the right side of a pinched siatic nerve , stress conversion disorder, mild depression and anxiety.)  It's hard being 22 looking at how much more I have/want to experience throughout my life and i have this permanent limitation.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
   Hi, I wanted to let you know I just read your post and i had to sign up to share my story with you. I'm 22 years old, I'm not sure what has caused the issues with my l5-s1.
   Since March 2010 (until February 2012), I wasn't able to bend over fully, lifting things was uncomfortable, but that was nothing. When i touched my back running my fingers down spine, I'd get to the small of my back and I couldn't touch my back cause it was so tender. Laying certain ways was uncomfortable, sometimes walking or just random everyday activities just made my back ache and stiff. I knew i had a problem especially with the intensity of the tender spot on my spine when it was touched over time. The pain was noticeable but I always consider it tolerable.
     I was living in WI at the beginning of this yr, unfortunately right aftenew years I lost my job. My back left worse this yr more than the pain from 10 & 11 combined. Since 08 I have had no medical insurance and since losing my job this yr I decided it was time to move home to GA to live with my parents and hopefully get on my dad's medical. I left WI in February, left the place I called home the last 3 1/2 hrs, with the same guy and "our family"(we lived together since 08, 2dogs and 3cats).
    I started to see a spine doctor and got an xray of my lumbar. The xrays came back and the doctor said that my left hip was rotated, which was visible. I however saw the xrays and thought there was a weird looking spot, low and behold that's where the tender spot was. He said it was ok just needed to start physical therapy to strengthen my back and core. I went to my first physical therapy session 3/14/12  it went ok I was a little more sore after then before. Went to Savannah GA for st pattys day with some friends. It was an intense day. Lots of walking, going up and down steps, it was hot and there were so many people. I took a pain killer in the am and made it until 5pm. I could feel it, I was sore but i felt like I got a workout. Had my second P.T. 3/21 she said I looked great compared to a week earlier. The third P.T. session wasn't a good one. She had me doing arm and leg alternating extended lifts. It hurt I could barely do 6. That was the last thing we.did that day. When I was trying to get up I uncomfortable, standing on the other hand and walking was incomprehendable. Instant tears from the pressure I felt in my back. My therapist said walk over to the doctors office on the other half of the building to schedule an mri asap first opening. The mri of my lumbar was done the first week in April, I didn't have my mri results appt until the 11th  because first week in April is spring break for the schools here. The results show my l5-s1 has degenerative disc that's bulging into my siatic never pinching it on the right side. Since my first mri I have seen 9 different doctors for various things. Had mri of the rest of my spine, my head, a 48 eeg because the pain was so severe and it wasn't just in my legs but my arms sometimes a twitching eye, constant unexplainable pain. At night I was moaning so loud while sleeping I would wake my mom.
   On 5/8 I had my first injection, I was so terrified. But i was told with how severe my disc is if i didn't start the shots right away I could need a fusion within 6months. That convinced me to go ahead with them. 2 weeks later was the 2nd, and another 2 weeks was the 3rd. I was at a 9.5 for my pain level before the shots started. After the 1st I was barely able to walk/stand after from weekness.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
   Hi, I wanted to let you know I just read your post and i had to sign up to share my story with you. I'm 22 years old, I'm not sure what has caused the issues with my l5-s1.
   Since March 2010 (until February 2012), I wasn't able to bend over fully, lifting things was uncomfortable, but that was nothing. When i touched my back running my fingers down spine, I'd get to the small of my back and I couldn't touch my back cause it was so tender. Laying certain ways was uncomfortable, sometimes walking or just random everyday activities just made my back ache and stiff. I knew i had a problem especially with the inten
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I'm back sooner than I thought.  I had to cancel an appointment I was going to, I just didn't feel up to going out, it's rather cold where I live right now.  I did a little reading about your injection, and I think what I just told you is accurate.  Normally the literature says you will sometimes get a headache and be in worse pain than you started out, but this should only last for a few days, NOT NINE DAYS like you've been putting up with this.  As for it working, it is supposed to work, sometimes for a few weeks, and my understanding is sometimes a few months, just depends on the situation.

I am reading in this post here (you posted here in Back and Neck, whereas your original post from last year was in Neurology) that you have a second opinion where a doc is wanting to do surgery.  Now, just like the shot has some risks, so too does surgery.  I believe your first doc didn't want to do the surgery because he may have thought, with physical therapy and medicines, it would tend to get better on its own since you are still relatively young.  But when I read how you have two bulging disks and a pinched nerve, I can see why your second opinion doc thought surgery would be best bet.  That situation can be so painful, you can't hardly move around without being in pain.  But I have to emphasize again that surgery, like the shot, has risks, and in fact most docs don't want to do surgery on the spine becuz if you wind up worse, it can be devastating to the point of paralysis.

So, what to do?  I hear you on wanting to get off all the meds, and how it's really not helping, and you also have this very annoying asthma and then you had this episode of shaking that brought you to MedHelp late last year over in Neurology.  But the fact of the matter is, a motor vehicle accident can literally change your life forever overnight.  You know about me, I was in a bad car wreck that fractured my thoracic spine in three places, vaporized disks on impact, I was in exquisite pain and required around-the-clock demoral (morphine) shots for a month, I was in hospital for two months and had to stay flat in bed, then pain drugs for about four more months and had to wear a leather and titanium back brace for six months, and on it went.  BUT I was 20 years old, and my vertebra fused naturally, and while i have lived with pain all my life, it's only recently it's gotten so bad I cannot stand it, and so now I take medicines all the time, and I know surgery is somewhere in my future, and it's all SO frustrating.  But this is the nature of serious accidents on the highway.

So, your first doc who did not want to do surgery, you might ask him how can your spine heal up?  Will it do so naturally?  Will physical therapy eventually make it better?  Is a back brace something you might need until you do heal, if you can?  Is there anything they can affix to your back that will give you pain control without you even having to deal with it?  Those are the things I'd want to know, so you can make a decision between that option and the surgery option.  Then on the surgery thing, the second doc should be frank with you about worst-case scenarios versus complete relief.  I might add there are new disc replacement gizmos that are almost like the real thing and allow for substantially easier movement than the old ones, but I suspect your doc would want get the damaged discs out of there and fuse your vertebrae together, and also address the nerve impingement you have, mainly because of the location and relatively small area to be fixed.

And right now, as I said in my earlier post today, you really have to get this thing looked at as soon as you possibly can, just to make sure nothing really wild has happened to yourself that MUST be fixed forthwith, which I said you should either go to the ER or get in on an emergent basis to see the doc who ordered this shot, you must see him this week or go the ER route.  And whatever pain relief they give you, by golly you take it.  It'll just be a temporary prescription of some kind to get you thru this rough patch.

I AM glad you didn't have any further shaking and so forth from last year, could have been from an ordinary flu or slight infection thing.  I DO think your asthma treatments should be rechecked, an allergy doc ought to do some skin tests to see if they can decide what is causing your attacks, but could be you just have a garden variety asthma and just need better medicines to control it.  The last thing you need right now on top of your back pain trouble is all these asthma attacks just constantly bothering you.

Your regular doc offered you more medicines, and son, I do believe you should take him  up on his offer.  In addition to that, you can ask him if he knows about Lyrica and if he thinks it might offer you some additional relief.  I take it as part of my medicines for my back, and it relieves pain and helps me sleep better.  It has to be increased several times in the first month, it's a powerful drug so docs usually don't give a big dose to start, but it is expected in order to keep relief going that it must be increased until you reach a plateau of comfort.  

Of course at your age you don't want to be fooling with all these pills, being doped up all the time, and of course feeling some of the tug of NEED for some opiates on account of their addictive nature.  I am older, so it's not a big deal for me to be taking several medicines to keep from losing it.  And I don't mind that I will always have to take them.  But if you were a diabetic and had to take insulin shots for the rest of your life, you know this back situation is similar.  You CAN take the route of medicines long-term, as long as it helps you, in addition to the help of a back brace to take the pressure off the back, and perhaps some regular physical therapy exercises that they can teach you to do.  I STILL do some of my exercises even decades after my wreck.

That's about all I got for you.  I hope you will continue to try to work this thing until at least RIGHT NOW you get sufficient deadening of the pain you've been double-dunked with, and then later, again, with the help of one of the surgeons you have spoken to, to obtain more reliable and steady pain relief than you've had to put up with so far.  And I'll remind you again that you can buy Melatonin in capsules at the health food store, it can sometimes help you sleep, it's natural, but do tell your regular doc if you decide to keep some of those around.  Keep us posted in either this forum or the other one, doesn't matter, I'll be here.  But I DO HOPE OTHERS will post for you!!!!  GG  

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hey Sirevl,
I saw your post over in the neurology section where I post, and told you I'd come over here and reply.  I only have a few minutes, so I'll have to take this up a little better tomorrow, but I want to say I am horrified at what has happened to you, and from what I understand, you should have felt relief by now from the shot.  The migraine you receive SUGGESTS, altho does not for sure mean this, that could be some spinal fluid leaked out, it can cause a bad headache like yours, and they can do a "blood patch" to make it better, but I might be wrong and cannot check it right now to be sure as I am running out of time.  I wish I had never told you the shot should work.  It SHOULD have, but it did not, the way I hear it from you, and with that headache that came on, I would either forthwith see the doc who ordered the shot or go on to the ER and explain what is going on.  I mean, I don't think you HAVE to go there, it's just they would be best equipped to immediately resolve this for you now, and also make sure nothing serious went wrong on top of everything else.

One more thing, even tho I know you want to get off pain meds and all that, it's the only game in town right now, so keep up with it, rest your back and put heat on it, and you've GOT to get in to see a doc right away, even if you have already visited your regular family doc.  I'll come back to you tomorrow.  GG
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Back & Neck Community

Top Pain Answerers
Avatar universal
st. louis, MO
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
Could it be something you ate? Lack of sleep? Here are 11 migraine triggers to look out for.
Find out if PRP therapy right for you.
Tips for preventing one of the most common types of knee injury.
Here are 10 ways to stop headaches before they start.
Tips and moves to ease backaches