Welcome back to the board, but sorry you are having some problems again.

It really depends how you respond to the ESI. I have had some where I felt fine afterward, and one other where I could hardly get off the couch for a week.

I recently switched pain management doctors. This one insists that his patients stay off their feet for at least 48 hours, and preferably 72 hours after an injection. This allows the medication to have the maximum impact. If, after the injection, the patient resumes normal activity, the heart pumps harder, and the blood flows faster, making the medication dissipate more quickly.

If you could take the days off, you would give the steroid the best chance of impacting the troublesome area.

I had two ESI's last spring and had no pain or discomfort to speak of, just a little soreness at the injection site. Mine were cervical, though, so that may make a big difference, I don't know. The injections did nothing for my nerve pain, but that wasn't the point of your question. I hope the injection helps your symptoms.

I just had my ESI at the beginning of the month and oddly, I was fine for the 2 days following the injection and THEN started having problems/side effects that pretty much wiped me out for the next 3 days.

I think the real answer to the question is that nobody knows. Things can vary so much from person to person and from time to time.

Good luck though and I hope it helps!

based on my MRI pics the MD decided to try to do the injection at L5-S1 in order to treat both L4-L5 & L5-S1 (with the hope of maybe treating L3-L4 as well). Well the foramen wasn't cooperating..not at all! After some tears & teeth clenching she decided it wasn't gonna happen. So she injected me again at L4-L5. Doing OK...slept at my mom's house this afternoon and drove home about an hour ago. Just feeling tired, a little sore and a bit of a headache.

I talked to her about activity restrictions and she took me off work for my shifts this weekend. My boss isn't too happy with me, but what else can I do?

I just had my third one done Monday and I'm still in so much pain its hard for me to even walk. This is my third ESI and I got it done at L5 S1 and this may be my last one.

For me they always put me out for the first week and then start taking effect, but I have never had this much pain with one. Hopefully this means that they got the right spot and will be getting relief soon??? Hope all is well with you and good luck.

Just a crazy thought, but have you tried acupuncture at all? Our spines are very vascular and can develop plaque and other "blockages" that can lead to an increase in pain and a decrease in the effectiveness of other treatments (like ESI's). Acupuncture works to restore the body's natural flow of energy and can target specific areas. To give you an idea of how useful it is in restoring good circulation, it is very effective in the treatment of menstrual cramps and back pain from them. If it is available in the hospital you work at, it would be a great way to "duck out on lunch break" and get a quick fix.

Hope it doesn't sound too dorky, because it really does work!

"C"

I would be curious to see what she has to say. Please keep us posted!

"C"

I had my appointment with my pain doc today. Since my epidural almost 2 weeks ago, I've been on a little bit of a roller coaster. Days 1-3 post injection were pretty good, then on days 4-7 I was in a bit more pain but it was definitely toerable. Days 8-10 were better again then days 11-12 (today) I noticed increasing sciatica pain again! My lower back ache and stiffness is better by 90% but it seems like my sciatica pain comes and goes as it pleases. I've also been having a lot of left lower leg pain where my muscles next to my outer shin are very sore and painful to touch.

She did three trigger points with accupuncture needles to my lower leg muscles. Then She had me flip on my tummy and I had three trigger points to my left thigh and hip, and two more in my back. It was great for about an hour but we had to do a little shopping and I noticed my lower leg started to hurt the same as before but my sciatic pain was OK. I took a nap for the afternoon and woke up with some really nasty sciatica again.

I went ahead and scheduled another ESI, so I go back next Wednesday! I did inquire about a more effective med for the sciatic pain (especially because I have to go off NSAIDS in preparation for the ESI's) so she gave me a script for Elavil. I'm starting at 25mg/day and will work my way up to 75mg/day over the next two weeks.

I can say that this ESI seems to have been much more effective than the only one I had previously in '07.