An Introduction -- Upcoming Facet Injections and Discogram

**RonM** · 01-07-2012, 03:33 PM

My name is Ron. I am not as bad off as most of the situations that I have read on here. I do not have severe pain. My pain is of the constant, relentless variety. I can control it somewhat by severely limiting my activities. I can do nothing athletic and I have to limit any standing to less than five minutes. On any flare ups I have to take multiple pills, which I hate doing, to get things somewhat under control.

I found this forum after volunteering for a clinical trial(biostat). I have to travel monday to get a discogram and facet injections. I have to admit I am a little concerned these two procedures on the same day may push me over the cliff. I would like to extend a thanks to you guys after reading what some of you are having to deal with it has helped me face what is in store for me.

Like many others out here I am holding out hope that a cure is on the horizon even if it may be a false hope. I do want to avoid surgery if possible.

**Kimberly** · 01-08-2012, 10:47 AM

Welcome to the forum Ron. I'm glad you found us.

Good luck with your discogram and injections tomorow. Let us know how they go.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Kimberly

**Justin** · 01-08-2012, 04:01 PM

Hi Ron,

Welcome to the Spine Patient Society.

Pain is pain, however you cut it. Some of us can tolerate it better than others, but at the end of the day, it can change one's life in significant ways.

Here's a link to an article with illustrations on Facet Injections found in the Patient Education section of the SPS website: A Patient's Guide to Pain Management: Facet Joint Injections

Good luck with your discogram and injections.

Let us know how things go.

**RonM** · 01-10-2012, 04:43 PM

Thanks for the welcome!

Just completed the four hour drive home. I had facet injections on three levels. Nobody seemed to think these would help. I am holding out hope.

Immediately after the facet injections they did the discogram. This test showed "substantial damage" to the L4-5 disc with very little pain. It showed "slight damage" to the L3-4 disc and I had substantial pain. Overall It was not the horrible experience that I had expected. If anyone is reading this and unsure from my point of view the pain level was there but not over the top and the most severe parts were temporary in nature. I would say try not to fear this test. I had watched it on youtube and had built up some concern. I was fairly surprised that the least damaged area was giving me the most pain but there was no doubt that it was the same type and severity that I had been experiencing.

The best news to come out of my two day trek was that if these injections do not help with the pain I am a candidate for the biostat clinical trial. Seems like a win for me. At the very least I see a glimmer of hope although the placebo possibility exists with a clinical trial.