CONFUSED PLEASE HELP

CONFUSED PLEASE HELP

Q:

Age: 49 Sex: M Concern: Chronic pain

I received 2 Lumbar Epidural injections . My physician stated that if I have surgery it will depend on my response to these shots . Could you please inform me as to what depicts if surgery is indicated . The first injection worked for 7-10 days but the sciatica then came back with vengeance .The 2nd injection did also help but only for a day or two and now it's back to where it was prior to the injections . Thank you for your anticipated reply .

-- LECERVLUMBAR

A:

there is no literature on the outcome of surgery based on the success of epidural. In general, the epidural can be diagnostic, ie, it helps localize the discs or nerves that are involved. The fact that you got 10 days of relief means that the nerves and discs at the location where the injections were done are probably the culprit for your pain. However, no one can predict how well you would do with surgery.

-- Sherman Nam Tran, M. D.

to ask Dr. Tran.