Facet Rhizotomy on Friday

[Asteria]

I'm having rhizotomy (lasering the nerves around my lower spine) my lower spine the day after tomorrow and after months of avoiding looking it up I'm now in full on panic mode! Has anyone out there had the procedure and how was it - honest is best, I'd like to know if it is shit so I can prepare myself!

I'm interested as I think I might be offered this at some point. Unfortunately i don't know much about it. hope it goes well for you

Thank you denialandpanic. I have hear that it can be a miracle cure for some and a nightmare for others. I don't know anything about the recovery though and have a funeral 6 hours drive away next week.

have heard

Shameless bump!

second bump

yikes it's tomorrow.hope it goes well

Thank you - will post back and let you know what to expect!

Hi there, good luck and please report back, as I've also heard about this from my doc.

In a word - brutal! I was wide awake and only had local anaesthetic injected into the area, which was pretty ineffectual when they hit the nerves. Had to stay awake so I could tell the surgeon when he was touching the nerves - which he pulsed with a little electric current and then basically cooked (probe heats to 90 degrees). It felt like drill bits going into my back so I cried and swore a LOT! On top of this I had a massive freak out panic sweat as I had thought I would be knocked out for the procedure until I got into theatre.
Not feeling too bad at the moment, bit sick and a full ache (6 hours later). But the lady in the bed next to me had the same done last year and 48 hours after the op she was in crippling agony that lasted about a month. After that she had only 3 months of being pain free before the nerves grew back. Not great results - it is supposed to be 6-24 months of reduced pain. Happy to report back over next week or so if you want me to denial and toothless?

And a dull ache (not sure what a full ache is - blardy auto correct!!)

Oh my word, no GA?

Please report back - hopefully that you're pain free!

Have some for a speedy recovery.

Thank you toothless. Everything crossed - have a stash of opiates just in case! Will keep posted

oh asteria sounds stressful.I hope it's worth it. it would be great if you could report back please as I'm fairly certain this procedure is in my future. keep up with that pain relief!!

Ok so it really really hurts now.

I got knocked out for mine. would hate to go through it awake.
It did make things worse for a while. Gentle movements and keep on top of the pain relief.

Day 2 and the pain levels are substantially higher than pre-op (which was pretty high anyway). I am not sure that I would have the op again going on how it has been so far.

Do you have any of the "nerve" drugs? amitriptyline /gabapentin etc? I'm guessing your going to get nerve pain from ablation and codeine isn't meant to be very good for that.

I've only had steroid injections in that area and it was worse for a couple of days but not unbearable.

I hope it calms down soon.

I had the steroid injections before this - they were also horrid. Sadly all the joyous drugs are off limits - I'm super sensitive to most and allergic to some. I can just about tolerate morphine and get by with Ibruprofen and paracetamol (600mg + 1g).

Hi Asteria, I realise this is an old post but I was wondering if in the long term you rhizotomy worked - if so, when did it kick in ? is it still working ? If not, would you have another one ? I am considering having one (for back problem that give me pain all the way to my foot) and was curious as to how yours turned out. Hope you are feeling better now . xx