SPINAL INJECTIONS

[mutterley1]

I commiserate with all back pain sufferers and those- like myself- who are 'hooked' on tablets

Came home from Yemen for some holiday and Sciatica hit me out of nowhere.Luckily then, but not now, I had private medical because of where I lived & worked as poor Yemeni's had litle to nothing for any ailments. Surgeon did the MRI, bulging disc, decompression, 12 days in posh bedroom and left with no pain BUT I was told the operation would see me safely through 10 years after which........?. He was quite correct and since 2002 until last week I have had 9 procedures including, in 2017, when I ended up in the LGI in Leeds (there for my mums funeral) with no recollection but my wife said I scream in pain half way through putting my tie on, became unconscious and woke if in ICU with 4 fused L1-L4 vertabrae. As a result of that the fusion caused a 'bend' in the lower spine so coupled with a below left knee paralysis with useless foot I now walk like a T..T and lean over looking like the foot comment. In between all the problems over the last 30 years, my left leg destroyed due to botched surgery etc I have NEVER been taken/reduced morphine, oramorph, diazapam, gabapentin & amatriptyline hence no one knows including myself which does what if anything so I am cutting down myself without getting the 'crawley skin' feeling.

My spinal injections were carried out by a female doctor who made it clear that such things were quite new, some guesswork in placement............I believe she tried her very best to get results for me and a wider audience but it was not to be.

End of 2022 went,via the NHS to a private surgeon who illuminated me by stating that any more invasive surgery such as I already had would probably end badly, with me worse off ! He suggested I see another surgeon who had 'mastered, to a degree' the use of spinal injections.

On the slab 2 weeks later getting ready for the 'general' when the surgeon popped in and drew some circles on my spine with a green pen. Called in an X-ray/mri team and asked for photos of the marked area. Minutes later he had them on a table by his side and using them inserted 6 injections down the lower left and the same for the lower right- L4-L1. The pain I suffered, as we do in different places, in the area of the b...ll......d 'fusion' was a 24 hour nagging ache but it has gone within 72 hours. I am possibly a very sceptical patient after so much surgery and so many tablets BUT this has worked and the pain in that region has gone and will be kept gone with twice yearly injections at a huge saving to the NHS and no big general anaesthetics, 7 days in a hospital bed etc. These spinal jabs were 6 wees ago and I am still as good now s then. I know they were placed around the FACET joints but my MRI highlights other areas to try the jabs BEFORE surgery. I lost my father in law during a routine hernia operation, complications and he died. I do believe as many journals do that the body can only manage so much anaesthesia before they cause problems of their own. Equally invasive surgery or those jobs that 'key hole' cannot do is also walking a tightrope the more you have done & the older you get so the possibility of a disaster looms large- I was only 42 in 2010 when I lost the left lower leg and it impacts 90% of basic day to day tasks like walking my dog BUT walking him by the river and flood plains for 2 miles is now JUST possible but I will keep going as it is so easy to just let my wife do the dog walking & I will watch the TV. Now, post spinal injections my determination to make progress however small is possible post the injections. The spine can give us lots of painful & life damaging problems and we have little choice on much of it. BUT if the now 'advanced' injections COULD or WOULD help a bit or a lot I opt for these as my way forward whenever the need arises and the injections are on option on the table. They are not invasive, the capability is much advanced and its should still be OPTION #1 and if it fails then we have to decide our own ways forward but I am glad I didn't turn injections down and if they DON'T DO the job the surgical option remains. Hope this view of very recent injections might help people as I believe, if its an option subject to the problem don't HESITATE- take the option as its quick, non invasive and might accomplish the desired outcome