Facet Joint Injections 5/12/16

Many of you know that I have been suffering from occipital neuralgia for several years, and have tried everything from physical therapy to acupuncture (you can read more about my acupuncture journey here) to trigger point injections to facet joint injections.

The next step is a procedure called a radiofrequency nerve ablation (here is a medical link that explains the procedure). Basically this means that I will get the nerves in my neck burned off...it sounds way worse than it actually is, at least according to my doctor. Here's the catch, in order for medical insurance to pay for the radiofrequency nerve ablation, I first need to have two identical, successful facet joint procedures done.

I had my first set of injections done in Nov 2013 (which I documented here, here, and here), and another done just a few weeks ago. The first time I had facet joint injections, the procedure almost gave me a panic attack, I was pretty sore for many days after, and they didn't give me the lasting pain relief that I had hoped for. I did not want to try them again, even though my doctor wanted me to give them another shot (pun intended!).

The problem is that the facet injections I had done a few weeks ago were done at different points in my neck in hopes that I would get better results. And the results were better this time around, but the pain relief only lasted about a week. Doc says that as long as I got relief, even for a short amount of time, that the chances of the radiofrequency nerve ablation neck procedure working are much better. That really is a mouthful.

So, today I go for my second (even though it's really my third overall) round of facet joint injections, in the adjusted spots. Wish me luck! I'll try to document these and report back. The really short version of the procedure from a few weeks ago...I was sore for a few days, but overall it was a much easier procedure (less painful) and quicker recovery. My doc prescribed valium for my anxiety, which helped a lot, and I have another prescription for today's visit :) Let's hope the relative ease of last time wasn't a fluke and I get similar results this time!

Update-Facet Joint Injections Day 3

Just a quick update... (for some background click here)

I can no longer start a bonfire with my face...happy day!

Morning

When I woke up, my face was no longer hot to the touch and I slept better too...no insomnia! I did notice that my knees hurt...this also happened the last time I had a steroid shot. Last time the knee pain lasted approximately 2 days, so I made a *note to self* to have my acupuncturist address this later on.

Mid-Morning Acupuncture

My acupuncturist did normal needle acupuncture and some bloodletting on each cheek, on my left jaw, and on my third eye area, in hopes of relieving the neck pain and face pain caused by laying on my stomach during treatment. I felt immediate relief after the bloodletting in my jaw. After my treatment, my knees felt better and my cheeks were flushed again and warm to the touch. This went away after a few hours.

Evening

My left cheek still felt warm to me...but not to the touch. My neck was still tender from where the injections were, and I felt like I had more energy this afternoon...but that could be from the acupuncture.

The best part of the whole day was the random act of kindness that was gifted upon me...you can read about it here.

Update--Facet Joint Injections Day 2

Yesterday was the day after I had the facet joint injections on the left side of my neck at the C1, C2, and C3 levels.  Read about the injections here.  My neck was pretty sore, as well as the left side of my face a bit. On a pain scale, it was probably a 4-5 by the end of the day.

At least my body is predictable, as I suffer the same side effects whenever I get any type of steroid injection.  This is the third type I've had...the others being: occipital nerve blocks, an epidural steroid injection, and now the facet joint injections.  The three worst side effects I suffered yesterday are:

• Insomnia
• Neck soreness
• Flushed cheeks

I stayed in bed all day yesterday because the night of the injections I suffered from insomnia, probably due to a combination of the neck pain and the steroid.  I was hoping to nap during the day, but my body wasn't too keen on that idea.  Oh, and I felt guilty that I kept my hubby up all night long...and not in a good way.

The neck pain was the worst in the morning and by the evening it turned into more of a soreness...like if you sleep on your neck all wrong and it gets kinked up...except a little worse.  I could move my head right, but when I tried to move it left it hurt.  The site of the injections were tender but not black and blue.

My cheeks were flushed when I woke up and my left cheek got really hot by the afternoon (approximately 24 hours after the shot).  I tried putting a cold washcloth on it, but it didn't help much. It was on fire I tell ya!  I thought my face was going to spontaneously combust it was so hot.  I took my temperature because I wanted to check and make sure I didn't have a fever.  Weirdly, my temperature was 97.4...even though my cheek temperature was probably a million.

Overall, I took it easy but was pretty uncomfortable all day.  The best part of yesterday was that I didn't wear a bra and stayed in my pj's all day.  So that was my "bright side" :)  Hoping today will be better.

Facet Joint Injections and Why I Have Neck Problems

So, I've been having issues with my neck and back for a few years now.  Basically, I have arthritis in my neck joints, and muscle and nerve related problems in my neck due to a cervical fusion I had when I was younger.

Why did I have cervical fusion?  Well, when I was first diagnosed with SED at 15, the doctors took x-rays of my entire body and concentrated on my neck and spine since it's common to have spine related problems caused by my disease.  And I was a winner (go me!) with a little bone chip that was floating in my spinal column high up in the C1-C2 area.  Looking back, there were some signs that we should have recognized.  I remember as a child going on bumper cars and getting bumped a certain way and having my entire body go numb.  Not good.  I also did a gymnastics class once and was doing somersaults and had my body go numb there as well.

The doctors told me that I was very lucky (I would say it's a miracle) that I hadn't been paralyzed (they said I would have been paralyzed to the extent that Christopher Reeve was) and sent me home in a cervical collar and I had surgery scheduled for 3 weeks later.  I had a halo put on about a week before my fusion and was in that for over four months.  I missed half of my sophomore year in high school.

Skip to 20 years later and my fusion has “settled”...like how a new house will settle after a few years.  Mine has settled and gone crooked.  If you know anything about how bones and muscles work together, than you know that your muscles try to protect your bones...and mine were getting very angry with my neck bones being crooked!  I constantly get knots in my neck and suffer from tension headaches.   It had gotten so bad that about 7 years ago I went to a neuro doc to see what was wrong.  It was him that told me that it was very common to see these fusions settle and get crooked, and the best thing for me to do was try to keep the muscles loose.  He recommended physical therapy and acupuncture (it was only years later that I finally started acupuncture).  I went to physical therapy for a few months and was able to get the muscles to a calm enough level and continued on with therapeutic massage after that about every 6 weeks (would have went longer, except that's a total out of pocket cost). 

This kept things at bay until about 2 years ago when my symptoms worsened and I was now also having constant burning down the side of my neck that would radiate to the entire side of my head into my ear and side of my face.  I went to a whole slew of new doctors and was really terrified that they were going to tell me that I needed to have my fusion redone.  Thank God that wasn't the case (seriously--THANK YOU GOD. Thank you, thank you, thank you!).  I was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia and started getting injections into my greater and lesser occipital nerves.  After my ankle surgery 5 months ago, my neck was flaring up again.  The doc who was doing my injections moved away and the new doc who replaced him wanted to try some new things that would hopefully last longer than the occipital injections.  I tried an epidural shot about 3 weeks ago that was supposed to help my neck and my back pain (yeah, I have some back issues too).   Not only did that not help, it was pretty painful for a few days.

And that brings me to today.  I called my doctors office to beg them to see me earlier than the appointment that I had already lined up for the end of November...I didn't want anything to interfere with my ankle surgery coming up.  They said they could see me this afternoon.  Woot!  The procedure I had done is called facet joint injections.  It was a bit painful at times and lasted about 10-15 minutes.  Most of the time the pain was about a 3 out of 10, with the worst of the procedure being about a 6-7.  They said that I should be mostly numb for about 2-3 hours and then I should ice it.  Well, it's been about 1.5 hours and I'm starting to feel sore and I have a very slight eyeball headache.

I was nervous about the procedure, having the epidural shot only weeks before, but I held it together pretty well.  I had a friend drive me (thanks Joan!) and I was glad that she was there in the room with me because after the procedure was over, I felt very anxious and thought I may have a panic attack.  I don't like needles in my neck!!  After a few tears, and a strawberry kiwi juice box (I guess that's what they give their nervous patients), I did my 15 minute wait in the office before I was okay'd to be released into the wild.

Now it's a wait and see if this works.  Fingers crossed...good vibes and prayers welcomed!

Anyone else ever had these procedures done?  Have they worked for you?  If so, how long did you find relief for?