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@marcd2k
I have an almost identical situation as you on my left. Years of appointments, images and treatments and no clear answers. Through my own research I’m now thinking my issue is coming from the Thoracolumbar junction (T12-L1) area and associated nerve roots. I’m presenting this hypothesis to my pain Dr next week. Did you get any relief from your T-12/L-1, and T-11/T-12 injections? Why do they think the next injection at L1 will be different than the first ones you had? I believe my condition could be broadly referred to as Thoracolumbar Junction Syndrome (also called Maigne Syndrome). Also my MRIs are clear, which is a typical situation with this syndrome and why the average Dr will miss it.
Replies to "@marcd2k I have an almost identical situation as you on my left. Years of appointments, images..."
@georgewater Are you seeing a spine surgeon?
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@georgewater Good morning, George, thank you for replying. Unfortunately, the three epidurals I have had did not do any good. The two at T12-L1 did not relieve any pain at all. They did not make things worse, either, there was no difference at all after these two epidurals. The third epidural, which I had back in February, is the one that has caused more pain than before getting the epidural. There was intense pain during the epidural, which I did not have with the first two, and (48) hours afterwards, my pain and cramping were worse than before.
The T12-L1 injections were based on two different MRI's of my spine, done at two different hospitals. The first was at Keck of USC, the second was at UCLA Health. The Keck epidural was done by an Orthopedic Spine Specialist, and the UCLA one was done by a Nerve Specialist. This UCLA nerve doctor also did Nerve Conductivity testing and found that I have Denervation at the T12-L1 area of my spine / back. So, both doctors had their suspicions based on what they found with this testing / imaging.
The T11-T12 epidural was done by a Cedars-Sinai pain management doctor based on a seated MRI I had done. This doctor said from what he saw in the MRI, we could try the epidural at this T11-T12 junction due to a possibility of the nerve being compressed there. As soon as he said we can "try" the epidural, I should have asked for a more positive answer than that, which was like throwing darts and see what happens. As I stated previously, this T11-T12 epidural was very painful during the injection, which neither of the other two were. The first two also did not result in more pain afterwards, but this third epidural caused more pain and cramping that has never calmed down to this day.
This latest pain management doctor that I saw on August 26th was very sure where she thought the pain was originating from after I described the pain as starting above my right hip, then moving forward in a downward, diagonal direction towards my naval. It doesn't reach all the way to my naval, but it heads in that direction along my Oblique muscles. The doctor immediately said, "That's at L1", and she is the first person to say this. She went over the options for treating the pain, from the epidural, to trigger point injections, to topicals (CBD), to medications. When asked which one she thought has the best chance of relieving the pain, she said the epidural without hesitating.
So, I now have an appointment for another epidural this coming Wednesday, Sep 9th. I will update my situation here as I move forward, hopefully I can help others as well as myself, because I know how horrible this whole situation is.