I recently had a lumbar epidural of L5 vertebrae

The lumbar epidural added a whole new level of nerve pain from my right side waist down to my foot. Just hoping time will heal the nerve root that he hit.

My 2nd epidural was done by a new pain dr. Who did the injection on both left and right side at L4-5. I had the same thing happen, extreme electric jolt, it felt like he reached down to my toes and pulled my spinal cord out in one jerk! I screamed so loud! There was no sedation. He mumbled something about making sure he hit the right nerve.
My first epidural was done by a specialist in Gainesville (no pain at all!) who told me, if this doesn’t help you, don’t let doctors talk you into doing more, it will be a waste of time. He was right. And I never saw that doctor of torture again, my primary referred me to a new one, and I’ve never had another dr. Cause me pain like that!
I don’t think it caused me permanent damage, but who is to say? Wishing you all the best.

Hello @tschurch. Hope my experience with 13 years of treating herniated lumbar disk issues helps a bit. I’ve had many injections administered by various pain docs. Out of the 15 or so I’ve had, I have been in “light sedation” for all but one. I definitely prefer light sedation to the local anesthesia, although it does cost more. I was at a hospital for the one doc who used just the local. I was under X-ray for the procedure (as was for all the others). Doc asked me questions throughout about what I was feeling, was it just pressure or did I feel pain. At one point, I too felt that painful shot of electricity, immediately told the doc and he said he’d back off that area which he did. As with most of my injections, I did not get relief from that one. I have mainly gotten minimal relief from the local numbing which wears off. I did have one fantastic injection that gave me relief from my sciatica nerve pain for a good 2 months. On the other hand I’ve had worse nerve pain within a day or so of the injection. When I called into the office that first time, I was told increased pain could happen as the epidural space is small and there is the possibility that it temporarily caused more pressure on the nerve. Time and an EMG/NCS will show if you have any permanent nerve damage. I would think it unlikely since it was only an injection needle vs being severed or nicked by a scalpel during a surgery. But I am not a doctor and just passing on information I’ve learned throughout my lumbar journey. I highly recommend you call into that doctor’s office and speak to the assistant about your lingering symptoms.
Best of health to you.

Thank you for your response. I feel a lot of anxiety about this and it helps to hear other peoples experiences. Yours sounds especially hard because the dr was doing both sides. As I've read more about this I've learned there's more than one kind of lumbar epidural. I looked on my report and besides the fact it said "patient tolerated procedure well" in spite of the fact I yelled out in pain it also said it was a Transforaminal epidural which I never was told about. Lesson learned. Don't sign consent without reading it all and asking a lot of questions. Also another lesson learned is don't go to a pain management dr - they are anesthesiologists who have gotten a little extra training to give these shots. Physical Medicine doctors are much more qualified, know the anatomy of the whole body and have way more schooling and knowledge. Another lesson learned.

i'm sorry to hear this. i can just barely imagine what you are going through. d🏳️‍🌈

So sorry to hear this. I know people say hang in there. It is rough
Hope the pain subsides