Its just a soda. You seem to have deep emotional scarring over some memory you have of me drinking a soda 13 years ago. You're psycho.
I have an consultation/evaluation today with an orthopedic spine specialist for the pain management caused by the herniated discs. The refering therapist informed me that they may want to perform an epidural steroid injection into the herniated discs to reduce the swelling in the the disc. Did you have the ESI before needing the laminectomy? I've researched the procedure and it looks pretty straightforward, but I am a little hesitant about having a needle jammed into my spinal column.
no, they didn't recommend an ESI at the time (went straight to surgery) although now with my arthritis at that location ESI is how they recommend dealing with the pain now. If you're not having signs of the nerve damage going down your leg or foot, then maybe that's why they're opting for the steroid/cortisone now. If you have pain I would go for it. When I originally had the L4L5 herniation, what pain I had in my back subsided after a couple of days, it was more about loss of feeling in my foot. I wouldn't think twice about the ESI though for pain. Next time I throw my back out that's what I'm planning on doing right away.
Thanks for that advice. Luckily, i only have problems when I'm in certain positions. My foot falls asleep on long drives when I'm using cruise control and my left foot is immobile. Also, sitting at my desk creates a pressure down my leg, and oddly enough, last night, I was tossing and turning all night with leg discomfort.
good luck with it. I had cortisone for my knee a couple of years ago, worked like magic. pain and swelling both went away. Hopefully it will work for you as well.
Thanks. Me too. I've been pretty nervous about seeing pain management because of the injection, but if I understood correctly, today is just a consultation.
Just got a call from my attorney's office and after i got off the line, I realized I had not given any updates or closure to this thread. I got the Epidural steroid injection way back before summer and it did help. Two weeks after the injection, my rehab and pain management was ruled complete and we could start working on a settlement. Total of medical expenses was $26,000. The attorney office submitted a demand of 5x medical, which is what they told me standard practice is in negotiations. I was like, cool....I watch pawn stars, so I know a little about negotiations. I expected a low ball offer and in the end, we would meet in the middle and put some money in my pocket. I figured the adjusters starting point would at least be the medical costs, but NOPE! Their counter offer was $20k. I was a little surprised that they didn't even meet the medical cost. Attorney dropped down 20k in my demand of course, the adjuster filed for extensions, and had "emergencies" in which he further delayed any counter offers. It seemed like for every 20k drop in the demand, they would come up 5k. The most they came up was to 30k which still would not cover medical AND attorney fees. My attorney finally threatened litigation and they offered 50k before taking it to court. I accepted and I'm happy to have enough to cover attorney and medical, since it was starting to affect my credit. I also did some math and figured I'd put a little over $6k in my pocket. Sounds like a win to me. They are going to call me back with the specific numbers once they get all the numbers finalized.
Glad to hear it worked out for you! I had a quick question and not to high jack thread here... , when you got the ESI was that in your L4/L5? I am currently dealing with slight herniation in c3-6... Doing PT and getting 2nd ESI, it seems to be working out well so far... Pain is getting more isolated and no longer down to left finger tips (fortunately everything's been isolated to the left trap/arm), but when you got the ESI and after doing PT, would you say now you're back to normal or do you still have flare ups? And do you still do the exercises they taught you? I'm very familiar with neuro but wanted to see what you thought on your results, I mean that injury was awful you had!! And definitely understand that everyone's different with healing, so I won't hold you to something crazy. And per your posts before, definitely can see what you were saying on some of it regarding desk work... My low back is messed up, but working on that too with PT, fortunately it's isolated, so nothing as bad as you had with your hamstring/leg. I've still been active on weekends with car/home projects etc, but neck thing definitely has started to bother me hence finally getting it addressed correctly..
I've actually been pretty good, although I haven't quite gotten up the courage to start working out again. My lower back does bother me sometimes, but no flare up of the problems like before. I think its just the time span of not working out and my age. I won't hesitate to go back for another ESI if needed though, but I know too much can cause degeneration. I hope all goes well for you.
Thanks man, glad to hear things are going a lot better, and definitely understandable on waiting to workout. Just take your time and ease into it I think, obviously start light (I'm sure you know all that etc.), but yeah definitely feel what you're saying on being hesitant, herniated discs suck to say the least... And I'm definitely hoping to get on a decent workout schedule eventually too.
