Hey! That sucker looks pretty big. Are you going to stick that into me?!?Uh, Yeah! Duh...
The procedure is called an Epidural Steroid Injection and it means that medicine and pain reliever go into me near the nerves that are sending the pain signals. The idea is to reduce the swelling that is causing the nerves to get pinched and to turn off the signal sending nerves for a while to give them some rest.
Once the anti-swelling medicine (cortisone, usually) has stopped working and the pain reliever has stopped relieving, the hope is that the body has taken over and eliminated the cause of the swelling by healing and there is no more pain that needs relieving.
Well, that is the hope.
Tomorrow I go in for a treatment by Dr L and we'll expect the best results possible. Big Needle And All.
I had cortisone injections done for some back issues I was having in 2007 but it didn't really help. The doc said surgery was my only option! The pain was annoying but not unbearable yet so I just took it easy and within 6-8 months I was back to 100%. Actually if I turn my head a certain way I can still feel some shooting pain in my left arm so I guess that isn't a true 100% but I just don't turn my head that way anymore :-)
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