Has anyone had a Nerve Root Block Injection

I'm worrying myself daily and wonder if anyone can help out there. Has anyone had a nerve root block injection for nerve impingement. I've had a dreadful year of health this year. I took on a new contract as a Medical Secretary in February and after a short time started to get pins and needles in my left hand. I finished the assignment at the end of March four days before I had a total knee replacement, which was successful. However after a month when I went off the 8 painkillers a day after the operation the pins and needles in my arm got much worse, and here I am in August still with them. I'm unable to continue to work, (I am 69 now anyway) as typing is painful and can't swim at all and this pain is with me all the day. Apparently the procedure is not always successful and can have some really bad outcomes, which I won't go into now. It should just block the pain although the nerve will still be trapped, but I'm not keen at the moment to go into surgery. The NHS can't do the procedure until the end of January, so I'm considering going privately, as I'm worried the nerve will get very damaged by then and I will have had the pins and needles then for 11 months! I've rung several times the NHS people who deal with this but no-one has returned my call, nor as yet have the private part of the same hospital. Can anyone tell me their experience of having this injection? I'd be really grateful.

Not sure this is the same rosina
DD had injection in both hands for carpel tunnel syndrome (trapped nerve in wrist).
The pain at night was excruciating.
The injections did help.

I have nerve problems in my small toe and in my shoulder.
I am prescribed Pregablin at the moment.

Hope you get sorted soon

PS because DD had new born baby I paid for a private consultation which resulted in her having the injections on NHS.
Lobby your doctor in case you are lost in the system.

No knowledge of the procedure I'm afraid, but my only concern is that [and I don't know if I'm right about this] if you have it done privately and the problem continues, will you then have to pay more to be seen privately? Would the NHS then take over ?Whereas, once you've had it done on the NHS you are 'in the system' and any further problems will be sorted out by them. I'm only going by a vague memory I had of a conversation I had with someone that had had work done privately.

If you are having problems getting information from your NHS hospital, contact their PALS department who are usually very good at sorting these issues.
My husband had denervation of the lumbar spine and the procedure was uncomfortable but he was painfree afterwards for a long time. Equally, patients where I used to work often had facet joint injections and these were usually very successful.

GrandmaMoira,

So grateful, I've been worrying too much and for too long. Too much time on my own. Thank you.

Rozina

Please keep us up to speed with what you decide to do rozina. Very reassuring words from GrandmaMoira .

I suffered from a very painful shoulder for 9 months then had a cortisone injection at my local surgery. The effect was instant. Don't know if this helps.

Rosina , I have had this done on many occasions , I had no ill effects whatsoever . My problems were in m y neck causing hand and arm pain and low back affecting my legs . My consultant used mild sedation as he wanted me very still ! I would ask for this as if you don`t you may not be offered it . I was private because we were covered by my Husbands company so I don`t have any info about treatment on the NHS . I think it is a fairly simple procedure and was not warned about any bad outcomes so not sure what you mean . ?? The injection was put into the outer covering of the spinal cord around the nerve root and I seem to remember it lasted about 12 weeks Good luck xx

f77ms Thank you. I'm hoping though that the injection will prove I'm pain free for longer than 12 weeks. I will have a local anaesthetic, yes.

Glenfinnan, you don't know how much your comments help in reassuring me. Unfortunately I can't get an injection on the NHS until January 2018, by then I will have had the pins and needles for 11 months unfortunately.

Tegan2 Yes, I will keep you updated, I think I'm going ahead and having it done. Not sure whether to have it done privately now, as you say, if there are problems, it might be difficult, though not impossible to get back into the NHS system. Thank you so much for your comments.

Hi Cherrytree59
I don't seem to be lost in the system, thank Goodness, but have to wait until January 2018 for the injection! It seems to be a trapped nerve, but my GP put on a note that it was carpal tunnel syndrome. I'm not sure but maybe there are two ways to treat carpal tunnel syndrome, either by an operation or by an injection, I'm still not sure.

I had 3 in my spine to help with the sciatic pain I had whilst waiting for surgery. They weren't at all painful as they're administered with a local anaesthetic.

Thanks LadyGracie. You didn't mention any side effects so hopefully there weren't any.

I had 2 nerve root injections for sciatica, but neither helped me, nor did a lumbar epidural. Facet joint injections did help, followed by many years of Lyrica medication. I eventually weaned myself off the Lyrica and started doing physio-led Pilates, which is wonderful. My back feels stronger than it has for decades. I still have some leg pain at times, but it is less severe and usually recovers faster.
I do hope the Nerve Root injection works for you. I know that it can be very successful, so good luck. By the way, I had no side effects from the injections.

I had no side effects at all, the first one helped for a while, the second and third unfortunately had no effect. I hope they work for you.

Hi Rozina, I initially had injections which helped for a few weeks only for my sacroiliac joint and 3 facets . However this enabled the Consultant to see that he was working on the right area. I then had radiofrequency denervation, as explained below. This was wonderful and I became pain free - apart from arthritis in other areas! It's been 18 months since. I understand that eventually there is the possibility that it will need to be done again but my Doctor says that won't be a problem. Not sure if this helps your situation.

Facet joint radiofrequency denervation is a procedure in which nerve fibres supplying the painful
facet joints are selectively destroyed by heat produced by radio waves and delivered through a
needle.
The treatment is usually performed after an injection of local anaesthetic close to the affected
joints has helped to reduce feeling and pain.

I had nerve root block and facet joint injection at same time - two years ago for sciatica and it worked very well. No side effects just amazing improvement. I had surgery on my cervical spine for arm pain and neck pain. I was told by Consultant at Walton that injections were not safe for this and surgery my only option. This too worked well for the arm but not so good for the neck pain. If you have such a long wait you could ask for referral to a neuro hospital if you haven't yet been to one, just to get second opinion. Hope you get some relief soon.

Yes I started in 2008 with my painful left facet joints which I think were damaged when I fell downstairs and landed heavily on the leg.
They worked well to start with.
I had them roughly every year with a few breaks. The last one this spring did not work so well and It is obvious that the wear and tear on that joint has become much more generally painful.
It gets really painful now after not very much walking.
I am due to see the guy in a couple of weeks to review. It does hurt when they are frying the nerve endings but the pain goes over fairly quickly.

I've not been offered that procedure but can empatheise as I have nueropathy I take Lyrica but I feel this treats the symptoms but does nothing about the cause. I also have severe Diverticulosis and strangely the nerve pain I experience in that area seems to impact on other areas of my body e.g. my feet. Recently I've developed areas of numbness in my feet which get very achey. I can no longer go on the Health Walks I used to enjoy. My Dr has now retired and when I asked the new doctor if I could be referred back to the hospital to investigate the possibility of having a colon reduction op she became quite defensive and said it wasn't necessary and gave me another prescription for more Lyrical. I don't want to take so much Lyrics that my head feels like cotton wool and feel there should be a way to alleviate the cause of the pain & numbness. I'm 60 and hope I've got a lot more living to do yet. I'd be grateful for any advice. I'm sorry if I've piggy backed on your thread I've just joined Gransnet today so not of the etiquette as I'm rather a technophobe.