I have severe constant (chronic) bilateral Occipital Neuralgia. I have been receiving Nerve Blocks for 20+ years. I was unable to work anymore
I was approved for long term disability after 22 years with my BCBS company I worked for & then approved right away for Social Security Disability. Note, I could barely walk any more. My whole existence was reduced to no life. Before that I was told I had migraines but tried everything & migraine pills every day with pain getting worse over years. Who knew that what I thought was my worse at level 10 would get worse & worse over years. How in the world do you describe pain level when it is worse then the last time which you thought was level 10. Them finally tons Pain Treatment Center Dr. Two Nerve blocks over 10 years was still not helping. Until 1 Pain Dr said I'm sending you to who trained me. Then I was getting 4-6 in back of head. Top of my head got worse even with back of head better but still pain with some relief for a few months. Then this Dr contacted other Drs in USA. She started giving me 6-8 on scalp where I would point to areas which were the most excruciating. Finally I got some relief but still excruciating. I had RFA done on all levels of my neck/cervical spine. It was worse for months then wow, better. However, I can't afford to do that all the time. So I have been continuing nerve blocks on back & top of head for over 10 yrs now. However, the last 3x the new Chief/head of Pain Treatment Center started prescribing me the steroid Medrol Dose Pack. What a huge huge difference in relief & the relief lasts much longer like 6 months. I have to explain though that I still have pain on top & back of head. The difference is in the severity/level of pain. I explain the difference as being where my head feels like I have been beaten with a baseball bat, or something heavy multiple times and left to die, where I can't function, think or do anything because I feel I'm going to die from this trauma to my head with absolutely NO QUALITY OF LIFE LEFT compared to being able to I can actually walk with my dog, do some chores and talk to a friend because the pain has decreased enough where I don't constantly feel like dying because of excruciating pain. I still have pain though. I also have other pain conditions. I have tried & been on tons of different meds. I'm still on Morphine ER, Tramadol in AM only, Flexeril at bedtime or if needed during daytime, Diclofenac ER, Propranolol, Escitalopram, Enbrel Auto Injector, Levothyroxine and a few others.