Kathleen
Cupcake
How long do the injections last, Andy?Kathleen, I'm glad you found some respite from your pain. SO has been dealing with vertebrae issues and associated pain for years. She gets periodic injections to help deal with the pain.
How long do the injections last, Andy?Kathleen, I'm glad you found some respite from your pain. SO has been dealing with vertebrae issues and associated pain for years. She gets periodic injections to help deal with the pain.
How long do the injections last, Andy?
It varies. She has been able to go over a year on an injection or just a few months.How long do the injections last, Andy?
It varies. She has been able to go over a year on an injection or just a few months.
Kathleen, imagine how a vertebrae is held in place by flexible cartilage. As the cartilage stiffens with age, there comes a point where it pinches on the nerve. That causes the pain, which is why it can come on suddenly.
When I tell people that I have neuropathy in my feet, they often say, oh, so they're numb. Not in my case. Nerve pain isn't a switch that is on or off (feeling or not). A nerve can be damaged so that it doesn't communicate feelings properly, like it will transmit sensations interpreted as tingling or burning or cold, rather than none at all.
Yeah, I don't know her exact diagnosis, either. I meant the description to illustrate how symptoms can come on suddenly when a condition has been developing for a while - even years.I don't know Kathleen's actual diagnosis, but I know mine is Degenerative Disk Disorder. I have two disks that are shrinking. They are still in line, but just not filling the gap completely. I also have mild stenosis, which is the canal the spinal cord runs through getting smaller.
The shrinking disks are what causes the sudden pain episodes often reared to as "my back going out on me." It can also pinch my sciatic nerve, sending pain through my right hip, and down my right leg.
The stenosis is the primary cause of the mild, but annoying pain I have all the time.
I haven't had any of those shots, yet, but I will definitely do that long before I even think about surgery. I'd recommend Kathleen or anyone with spine-related back pain to look into it. Like I mentioned before, it has worked well for my mom for several years.
CD
This is SO true. Most of these issues stem from a car wreck that happened a long time ago. I walked away from it and had some stress fractures that was addressed with a couple of "soft casts."The body is a weird and wonderful thing.
I now have some arthritis in my vertebrae. Two of my vertebrae (l4 and L5) are out of alignment. The misalignment is creating stress on the muscles, one which is now creating some serious stenosis. Prior to the injections, I could barely stand at times. Now it is mainly an annoyingly miffiness that is pretty persistent. I continue to have the sciatica running down my left leg. (This all came on suddenly in late November. Prior I had some stiffness and achiness which I chalked up to age.)
+1 on what Kathleen said.I can relate, CD. Nerve pain redefines the word "pain."
I'm so sorry to hear that. My husband has colon cancer that has spread to his liver, so we're in a similar situation.My husband has stage 4 colon cancer. That is why there are days between my post because I am busy taking care of him. I need some advice. He has begun to say strange things, speak out of his head. I don't know if the cancer has spread to his brain of if he has chemo brain fog. Do ya'll have any advice.
I'm so sorry to hear that. My husband has colon cancer that has spread to his liver, so we're in a similar situation.
It could be either of those things. I would make sure his doctor knows about this, so they can order any necessary testing to determine the cause. I go to all my husband's appointments with him, to be sure we both know the doctor and his staff, and we both understand the plans and his progress. Best wishes to both of you.