Cervical facet joint nerve RFA

Are you on gabapentin? May be worth a try. It’s for neuropathic pain.

Has anyone else has this outcome? I am soon getting a second trial lidocaine injection in C3,4,5,6 with ablation later if the second injection helps even briefly. The first trial injection did help for about an hour but then I had worse pain. A dexamethasone pack helped relieve the worse pain.
What are others’ experiences with cervical RFA?
Gabapentin does not work for me and gave me blurred vision.

So sorry you are experiencing this level of pain. This is not going to encourage you and I’m sorry but I want to be honest. I had my upper cervical nerves burned 3 1/2 weeks ago, and I am miserable. Pain off the chart.. I already take high doses of pain medication and it does not help at all with the new pain , I also tried gabapentin again with no help and blurred vision. The burning deep, numbness and throbbing 24/7 is really hard to tolerate. In my case I cannot use ice anymore as it burns to put it on my neck, before I had my nerves burned I used ice 2-3 hours a day. At this point I am very concerned they burned some of the soft tissue around the nerves wondering if this is going to stay this way or improve over time. I too am interested if anyone else has answers to this.

I already had a C5-6-7 fusion a couple years ago that didn't help my pain and then they told me about doing this RFA ablation and because I've had one on my heart I thought it would be no big deal but this is beyond any pain ... it's just unbelievable. I wouldn't do this again. And then my husband came down with something I don't know if it's covid or the flu or what but I got it last night and I've been up all night in absolute headache hell from that and can't breathe on top of everything else so no I'm just I am so done. Wednesday they did a blood patch in case I have a CSF leak but I can't even tell if it helped at all because I'm in so much pain from this rfa.

So sorry for all of you. Wish I could take your pain away. My thoughts & prayers are with you all. 🙏

I'm currently going through the exact same thing except left side. Did it ever get any better? I can't brush my hair. It hurts to take a shower. The doctor doesn't believe me

It's been 2 years and finally I can brush my hair without pain and it's not as numb on my scalp but I still feel like someone's burning me with a curling iron on my forehead all the time. A blood patch for a CSF leak seem to help immensely because the horrific pressure at the base of my skull is gone. But the RFA just made everything else worse and I've had all these other problems from it for 2 years now but they're just not quite as severe and sharp and I can actually put them out of my mind now except for the incessant burning on my forehead. Even that is worse on some days than others. I still can't bend down to get something off the floor though without feeling like I'm being crushed in the back of my head but as long as I stay upright I'm and lay down gently I am able to get through the day without occipital pain. So to summarize my cervical fusion stopped the severe pain in my left arm and numbness in my hand and the RFA caused a whole bunch of new symptoms and didn't help with anything and then the blood patch helped immensely with the severe crushing pain in the base of my skull and then I also had them finally give me injections just behind my ears where my tendons attached from my neck and that stopped all of my side neck pain which was such a relief. I think the fusion causes a lot of neck strain and the muscles because of the rigidity.

Thank you so much for replying. It's a constant burning, but sometimes I feel like I'm being stung by bees at the base of my skull. I don't know how you have put up with the pain for so long. I also can't bend down to pick up anything. I'm praying the pain gets better

It's a horrible pain and I'm so sorry you're going through this. It is hard to find doctors that actually know what to do you need a good neurologist and a good neurosurgeon if you end up needing actual surgery. A regular doctor will have no clue. I finally went to a neurologist after the neurosurgeon did my surgery to stabilize my neck and get the pressure off my spinal cord but it still didn't help the occipital neuralgia. The neurologist actually suggested on his own what I had suspected all along which was a cerebral spinal fluid leak. Getting the blood patch stopped the leak. It was painful but it was worth it and the pain only lasted while they were injecting the blood in along my spinal column. Having my neck fused really caused a great deal of pain on the sides of my neck which just left me always sore, and getting the injections just behind the bottom of my ears where the tendons attached totally eliminated that. Now I just have to be really careful I don't bend over very often and I'm very careful about not jerking my neck or anything, but I've been a year now without severe pain and I can manage the problem... it isn't cured but I can manage it and keep it from happening. If cortisone shots in your occipital area by a license pain clinic MD doesn't stop the pain at the base of your skull then I would seek out a neurologist that is familiar with CSF leaks and one who realizes you can get a CSF leak anywhere along the spinal column not just up by your brain. A CSF leak by your brain will cause you to have a thin watery nasal discharge all the time but if it's down lower in your neck like mine was from my neck surgery or farther down from herniated discs etc in your back somewhere, then you would have no idea until you get a myelogram.

I had this happen 5 years ago after cervical rhizotomy at C4,5,6. The pain lasted for 6 weeks after which it resolved on its own but left a numb spot on the back of my neck on the left side. I spent those 6 weeks lying on the couch all day because it hurt too much to hold my head up. I have since had it done yearly and have not had this problem again. Hopefully yours will resolve after a period of time too.