amanda_lodden

I had the third of three epidurals today. I hurt, but I'm not sure I hurt enough.

Every step forward in back pain relief has come right after a spike in pain. This is true of the injections as well-- the day of the first one, I hurt so bad that I called Nurse Liz and asked what the absolute maximum amount of chemicals I could put into my body without causing organ damage was. Then I took that, and cried for a bit because drugs don't kick in the second you swallow them. The next day, however, the pain in my back was substantially less than it was before the injection, and continued to get better for a couple of days. After a week, I had only minor aches, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't need the second injection.

Then I overdid it, and the pain in my back shot back up to nearly pre-injection levels, this time accompanied by tingling and numbness. I got the second injection. I warned everyone to stay away from me, that I would likely be in massive pain and thus terribly bitchy. Instead, I had nearly the same pain post-injection as I did pre-injection, with just the tiniest increase. The day after, I had just the tiniest decrease in numbness, and no decrease at all in pain. Things did finally calm down in my back eventually, but they never got back to where they were after the first injection, and I went into the third injection with more pain that I really ought to have had by this point.

So, I'm concerned. There was a bit more pain today, but not a lot. I can't tell if it's because I started the morning with less pain than before the previous two injections (at a "4" instead of at the "2" that I was at before the hot tub cleaning project and the "7" I was at before the first injection), or if it's going to be another slow and dreary recovery.