Has anybody had a epidural for sciatica?

What do you mean when you say you had the nerves burnt??

It's called nerve ablation I think, it was a long time ago and the idea is to cut out the nerve supply so they are not so live and active but obviously not enough so you can still walk but it just made them more live and my pain was more intense ever since. It was my biggest regret. Stick with the epidural If you do decide to have anything done as that is more successful. It didn't work for me but it didn't make it worse.

Oh yea, I'm talking about the shot you get in the spine, not any sort of cutting or burning. Scared me for a second!

Good to hear!! Was the relief immediate?

They usually inject cortisone together with anesthetic. The anesthetic acts quickly, whereas the cortisone can take a few days to kick in. I usually start to feel the benefits of the cortisone after 24hrs from the epidural

That's still better than continuing to suffer? What symptoms were you having before you went in for the shot? I cannot walk in the morning as the pain is so intense and burning. Sleeping is horrible for me. However after 600 mg of ibuprofen it takes the pain from a 12/10 to a 9/10. I was on Prednisone steroids for 6 days and they did absolutely nothing.

I couldn't stand or walk for more than a few minutes, couldn't push a cart at the supermarket, couldn't iron, cook, my social life was deeply affected. No pain if I was sitting or in bed. For sure you should try an epidural, in the worst case you'll be as before, but I doubt. It's not painful at all, takes just a few minutes and then they keep you about 1 hour to check everything is OK

An MRI can tell the Doctor was us causing the nerve pain. Most likely collapse of discs. There is so much to do to get relief but not always so spinal disc surgery would be the next step.

I disagree with over the last 6 years I've had 4 mri's L5/S1 discectomy + revisional one 12 months later.I have had cortisone injections, Facit injections and epidurals.Now after various neurosurgeons opinions and pain clinics etc.I have had enough. They say I have ddd and another one said it's scar tissue. Last second opinion was a professor /nuerosurgeon who said in his opinion any more operations would leave me in a wheelchair so which one is right? 1 am on 200g of gabbapentin which eases the pain some but I think there is a nerve damaged or trapped as my back gets swollen the more I go out.Even on my mobility scooter but especially when I put pressure on my left leg.I spend most of my time ombusman my bed.I also take 400mgs tramadol,150 mgs diclofenac and 400mgs of zomorph. They say there is nothing more they can do and have sent me to a psycologist.So basically I'm doomed unless I had money to go private and they can fit prosthetic disc for about £20,000 or something like that.Sorry for the long winded rant but when you've worked for 30 years and then get thrown on the scrapheap in agony everyday and sometimes take diazapam to get through the day.I suppose it's just getting it off my chest with people in similar boat as me.Dean.

Sorry predictive text.That should be 9 x 300mg of gabbapentin. Dean.

Dean.....I am so sorry you are going through that. I can't get answers, and at this point I feel like I would benefit greatly from diazepam because the pain makes me INSANE. I've gained weight because I have not been able to be active, I'm miserable mentally and physically. I don't understand why it's so hard to figure out what's wrong?!?! I've only been dealing with this for about 3 months but I fear I'm creating nerve damage (I've lost feeling in parts of my leg and toes) and I just don't know what to do anymore. I give up.

I had sciatic type nerve pain running down to my little toe for several years. I had 6 epidural pain injections which did not work at all. My surgeon was reluctant to do any operation because he was not sure where the problem stemmed from . I agreed with his decision but was angry that no one had an answer. I was then diagnosed ,following an MRI, with stenosis and still get symptoms of that but the main leg pain has been virtually cured by visiting an Osteopath who found that my Psoas muscle was extremely tight and pulling on the vertebrae which in turn caused the pain . After only one session of deep tissue massage, with him I was pain free for a week. I now see him regularly and do simple exercises inbetween and have been able to wean myself off of the 9x300 Gabapentin capsules I was taking daily. I still have a 25mg fentanyl patch but hope to reduce that soon.