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Cervical facet joint nerve RFA

Posted by summerstar @summerstar, Aug 27, 2023

Two weeks ago I had upper cervical RFA to destroy the nerves in my upper facet joints and now I am in so much pain in the back of my head. The right side of the back of my head is numb, it stings constantly, and if I put any pressure or touch the back of my head there's a big sore spot. Brushing my hair is torture. They never told me I'd have this kind of reaction when I okayed to do it and when I called them about it, the doctor's office said pretty much to suck it up for the next few weeks. Pain meds aren't doing anything for this pain. Anyone else have this happen to them and how did you fix it?

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dishpain | @dishpain | Aug 28, 2023

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

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docb99 | @docb99 | Aug 28, 2023

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.

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1 reply
jnd2023 | @jnd2023 | Aug 28, 2023

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.

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summerstar | @summerstar | Aug 28, 2023
In reply to @docb99 "Has anyone else has this outcome? I am soon getting a second trial lidocaine injection in..." + (show)
@docb99

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.

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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.

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dishpain | @dishpain | Aug 28, 2023

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

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