I wonder why they were painful. I have never had a painful epidural. Is a<br />
spinal and a epidural the same thing I guess not. Were they really worth<br />
it. You said you wanted them when in pain right. Did they work for a while.<br />

The shot in the spine did hurt me, for some time one doctor gave his patients a sedative that sort of knocked you out for a few minutes while you get the injection so I tried it longer then. It was hard to say how much it helped since I was not able to get in for the injection at the same time as I was having the pain. It may have helped delay the pain more than I realized. The shots I got were for sciatic pain and my sciatic pain is intermittent. If I had it on a regular basis such as daily I do not think I would still be here as it is extremely painful to me. Then a neurologist I was seeing for another condition, reviewed my MRIs of my spine and said to use muscle relaxants, and I did and it helped. I know my back or spine is bad with bulging disks and other problems, but everyone I have talked to about back surgery has said that it can be risky as far as improving the pain so I have avoided it.<br />
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I have not tried a spine stimulator, but I did use a TEMs unit on my back and it did not help me that much. Still I think it is good to try everything you can to see what might help. 19lin<br />
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I have had several blocks, epidurals and other nerve blocks. None of mine have hurt with the exception of the steroid flare pain a couple days post injection. And like someone else had posted I find that the relief depends on who did the injections and if the actual spot was hit dead on. They are not meant to last forever. I was told they are a temporary relief to a permanent problem. I'm sorry you don't get to get in fast enough. Like you I have sciatic pain and it can be some of the worst pain I have ever felt. I go to a fantastic pain mgmt group that I can call and get a same day appt to be evaluated for an injection that day. They have a surgery center down stairs from their offices and I can go right down and get an injection if the Dr says I can. It's been a life saver.