Epidural lower back spine injection recovery time/and side effects

It is hard for me to empathize with so many of you. I have had these injections since about 2008 and I have never had a negative reaction. I have had injections and ablations in my lumbar, thorax and my cervical. I have received pain relief from as little as 3 months to as lengthy as 18 months. I am beginning to wonder how much is dependent on the doctor who is doing the procedure. As far as cost, Medicare and my supplement pays for it; except Medicare will no longer pay for the anesthesia.....it costs $100. I was going to say no to the anesthesia but my pain management doc recommended that I not do that. He said that it would be quite painful and that I would be moving around quite a bit. And that would make it difficult for him to guide the injections.

I have had 2 injections: the first one last 3 months with no pain; the second one worked a little for 3 months. I have my 3rd one coming up this Wednesday; I hope it works like the 1st one.

It most likely will Sue. My prayer right now is that it will. God bless you. brotherchuckles80

Hi Will—
So glad you have a system that works for you. The way things are in the lower 50 are these days, I may be joining you. While basic Medicare is „free“ here, we have a VERY COMPLEX system of supplemental insurance that we have to pay for. But we can pick our Doctors, hospitals etc and don’t wait long periods for healthcare. Thanks for your response- I wish you well!
Archie

I had 3 epidurals with no side effects. You need to let your pain doc know about your reactions. Ultimately, they did not work for me: first was “eh”, second one 3 months later was great- I thought I was cured, but the third shot did nothing. I ended up having MIS-TLIF 2 months later. I’m 12 days post op and can walk again!

Hi weinssh,
Thanks for that post. The good/no-good routine sounds familiar to me.
Do you mind my asking, what is "MIS-TLIF 2"?
WT

Greetings Archie,
Healthcate is getting more complicsted. I sympathize with your having to navigate very complex bureaucracy.
Because there is so much dis-information amongst Americans about our CanadianI universal healthcare system, in self defense and to clarify things, I feel compelled to add that Canadians can go to any doctor in any province in the country - no conditions or paperwork, no restrictions - without paying. Our two big problems are : 1) long waits in most Emerg departments. They triage incoming patients, of course, but unless you're bleeding out or not breathing at all we have to sit and wait for many hours. When, finally, you do get a doc, however, the care is excellent and 2) we have too many specialists and too few general practitioners. If we move to a new location, good luck finding an avaiable family doc. It's not impossible, we just have to search thoroughly ! Universal dental care just came on a couple years ago, and one party in parliament has been pushing hard for universal prescription coverage. As it is, the provinces already subsidize our senior prescription meds by around 30%. Disabled people get a deeper drug discount.
And so it goes
...in the famous words of Fernando Lamaz as sent up on SNL by Billy Crystal :
" Dahlings, remember, it's always better to look good than to feel good."

I try, but it's a major daily battle. I'm only 24 in my head, so why do I look so worn and torn in the mirror?
WT

Minimally Invasive Surgery- Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion. Then 2 means I had it two months after the last epidural. Fusion at L5-S 1 . Ruptured disk, spondylosthesis (not sure on spelling but it’s a common issue), arthritis, scoliosis, yada yada. I tried everything for 18 months but when the mid April shot didn’t work and, more importantly, I couldn’t walk :-), I had surgery. Honestly, no where near as bad an experience as I thought— and appears to have worked, still sore from surgery but I’m walking normally ,

Thanks!

Hi— Archie here—
LOL!!! Please— no self-defense necessary. We go with “what we got.” With the supplemental coverage I pay $300/mo for, I too go to any doctor, take any test, get MRIs or whatever in a very timely manner, and I can pick my hospital — Mayo for this, local for that. I’ve been fortunate to have strong bonds with my providers and good RX coverage as well. Some Drs in the USA have gone to a “Concierge” concept, where you can pay say $25,000/ year but that’s a bit extreme for me. More common in big cities. The other help for me is that I trained as a physician before I became disabled at age 33. It helps understand the language and process. I don’t know, the Canadian system is sounding very appealing. Good luck and thanks for writing.
Best, Archie