Next Idea to Help my Neck: Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

General
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Everyone will probably be glad to know that after my bad experience with cervical traction I have not done it again. Thank you all for the swift kick in the pants about taking care of my neck. It has been 2 1/2 weeks since the incident, and I am finally getting rid of the dizziness it caused. My NS agreed the dizziness was a bad sign and told me to stop right away (even if he didn't say that, I would have).

The next step for me from my NS is cervical steroid injections. As of yet I am not sure of the type or placement. I'm trying to coordinate the shots with my NL, as the NL is in town and my NS is not. This, of course, makes me want to pull my hair out. My NL also wants me to try trigger point injections in my lower neck/shoulder muscles. Since I am in line for cervical ESIs, the trigger point injections would be just lidocane, without any additional steroids.

Has anyone had cervical ESIs or trigger point injections?

I've had lumbar ESIs, but they are easier and lower risk, so I'm more worried about the cervical ones.

Apparently I am getting closer to the end of my NSs list of treatments and I found out that if nothing works he would consider me for surgery (exact type was not mentioned in his notes). That freaks me out and I am going to do everything I can not to let it get to that point. I really don't need three surgeries for one problem. Ug.

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I have not had the cervical injections...just the lumbar for my SI joint. Hopefully someone who has had them will chime in. I just wanted to wish you luck in avoiding surgery #3. You've had a rough go of it! Prayers to you!

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First off, thank you to everyone for your support. It means so much to me!

Emmaline - I did get a soft cervical collar. I tried wearing it more frequently, but it irritated the nerves in the back of my head/neck. At this point, I'm just wearing it when I'm a passenger in a car, which i think is helpful. The stopping motion is the most painful part of a car ride for me, and other drivers are not as cautious as I am.

Beeba - You really haven't missed much. I still haven't actually learned why I'm in the pain I'm in (about all I know is that it is coming from my neck, not my head). I did hear second-hand from a nurse that my NS does not think it is a craniocervical instability problem, but I'm not sure that he has enough information to rule that out. I have not had any new imaging done since before my second decompression. I feel the same way as you do - I wonder if these shots are just bandaids. While I think they probably are, if they will help I would be up to trying them and getting a little pain relief. No matter what happens, I still want to know what the real problem is.