Facet injections for degenerative disc disease

Following. I have mild arthritis and more locked spasm pain lower down along S1-L-4 and out to side glutes, but spine doctor wanted me to try guided epidural into facet joints. I didn't and there is no pain all of the time just on certain movements. I thought these were basically corticosteroid injections into facet joints.

Thanks for responding to my query. That is exactly what this treatment is. At first, my doctor said that I might benefit from facet joint injections, but when I recently saw him he said that since I have the symptoms of nerve compression between L-5 and S-1, this might not help me. So, he is scheduling me for an epidural injection instead.

I have spinal stenosis & degenerative scoliosis for many years & had pain in my right butt & some numbness & tightness in my right leg & foot. But when I stopped running (after 59 years of running), I had big improvement & I have been able to control my problems with gabapentin & no cortesone injections or pain blocks. Recently, I had more pain making walking & swimming difficult but upped gabapentin & had meloxicam & my situation is improved tho still have some mild symptoms so I may have injections/pain blocks but I am wondering if they in the long run weaken my spine and should I wait until it is really painful to have them?

I have the same symptoms but on my left side! My physician said there is a limit to the frequency of injections (I think he said only three per year max.) and the total number of injections he will administer. This is to prevent further damage to the spine. I may be in the minority, but I would rather try injections than take a lot more medications than I am on already.

How can I find a doctor in Santa Rosa CA to treat my Osteoporosis?

Thanks for your insights.

I appreciate them.

Bruce

Hi. I am a nurse also and have arthritis in my low back. I've had facet joint injections and also radiofrequency ablations. I was told the injections are considered diagnostic as well as treatment. After getting two treatments, if effective, they may recommend the RFA which lasts much longer. The injections were not painful; I just felt pressure. After the RFA you may have pain for a day or so just from the procedure, but then one day you realize, "Wow, there is no more pain!" Having had them done, I highly recommend them to any of my patients that are considering it as pain management. (I worked in geriatrics) Good luck!

Thanks so much for your feedback! Good to hear you were really helped by this intervention. I'm going in Monday and the physician said that he's going to take a look at the fluoroscopy and decide whether to go with the facet injections or the epidural. I just hope that whatever is done, I can get some improvement. Thanks again, and good luck to you as well.

I am about to go back for another. I have done injections for 25 years. I have degenerative disc disease. I don’t do them all the time. The facet joint ones were amazing. The first ones lasted 15 years then they didn’t last so much and then it was time for surgery. That’s how I know when I’m always ready for surgery is when the epidural and the facet joint injections, the RFA/RFI’s no longer work. Please try to stretch them out. I’m sure your pain management doctor will advise you on that. They are terrible for your bones if they are done too much. But like someone else said here when it stops the compression on your nerve roots, you can get back to exercising without nerve pain, so it is really amazing. I totally recommend it and whether they do an epidural or a facet joint or into the sacral joint itself should be explored. Not everybody has the same reaction because they don’t have the same sets of eyes and experience looking at them so be sure you are with Dr. you trust. I just went back to the surgeon last week to investigate the next fusion below L3 L4 L5. He said I could go for an injection. I said I don’t want to. He said OK just come back when you’re ready for the surgery. But then I thought about it and I’m gonna go get another injection and see if that helps alleviate the pain that is constant now. I am on low-dose opioids for 25 years for various tailbone pain, which is not been alleviated. I just rolled with the punches. I’m with good doctors now and we just are on this journey together. I live by myself and that’s always a concern. I need to have my independence whatever it takes. I am also on the bone medication‘s at 69 so I am quite aware that the steroids and Cortizone injections are not good for our bones, but I’ve been advised that it takes way more than I receive. I do the minimal dose to be therapeutic, which is 1/2 of what the normal dose is so you can also ask them about reducingyour dose.

@loriesco
Thanks for a lot of good information. I appreciate your time and effort. I will certainly ask my physician about the lower dosage.