@ktgirl I wanted to give you some feedback about epidural injections. They are not approved by the FDA, and it is true that there can be serious complications. I had a bad reaction to an epidural and it caused a stabbing electric shock pain in my hand and any time I moved, it stabbed me again. I was convulsing in pain right after the injection. I had to lay down and prop my arm on a pillow and not move. It took a couple months for the pains to stop. There was no improvement for the first week, and then the stabbing pains started getting farther apart. It happened because the injected fluid had nowhere to go and just increased the pressure. This was in my dominant hand and I didn't have pain there before. I refused to do anymore. The injections don't fix anything, they just lessen the inflammation from the problem. They do interfere with getting good MRI imaging, and I had to wait 6 weeks after the injection to get a new MRI. They may also interfere with healing. Healing a fusion and bone growth depends on inflammation to start the process which is why after spine surgery, doctors tell patients not to use anti-inflammatories.