Hi steevo and brian!
The discogram is where there is suspect damage within the disc, so needles are pushed into the disk where a dye is injected. Then you are sent for a catscan for cross section pics of the discs, and the dye will fill in any cracks/fissures. But your pain must be duplicated!
You are not sedated because the doc needs to find which disc is causing the pain, if it is.
In my case prior, I had the epidural cortisone shots for bulging discs (that the mri revealed) but those did me no good.
My symptoms (cannot stand up straight nor arch back (ooof! :shock: )) then pointed to facet problem. So my ns (pain specialist) changed my last shot to a series for facet pain. The xrays and dye traces did indeed revel some nasty facets, but the dang shots did no good. So facets are not cause of my pain.
So, the next step was to get a look at the center of the disc; and here is where a discogram is done.
(steevo, do you have the link for "spine and beyond" forum? I think you came over there recently...I'm not on my laptop and can't find the link :cry: ) anyway, there is where you should go for some wonderful info on everything back/spine related!
And yes, my pain was duplicated, and yes it hurt like the fires of hades! But i've tolerated this problem for 2 yrs (sciatica 15 yrs) and just toughed it out until I could no longer make it thru a flight day. So this was no big deal, just the same as what I put up with on a daily basis, and even when the pain was so bad I have to resort to slithering across the floor to get around! And I don't take pain meds unless I am contemplating a bullet for the pain (once a week maybe). I am blessed with high pain tolerance.
My ns shot 4 discs total, and 3 did not cause any pain, just pressure. But when he hit "the one"...It was obvious, wooohoooo yeowch%#@$!. I let him go as long as I could stand it.
Also, if you cannot lie on your stomach (which I cannot either), talk to your team, let them know what you can and cannot (will not) do. My team knew me from all of the previous shots. You can stack pillows under your belly/hips, and not use one for your head. I also had one under my feet. I was also allowed to hike a leg up a bit to help keep pressure off my "kink" in my back.
If you have a team who tries to make you do otherwise, be nice (they have sharp needles!) and just ask to talk to your doctor. You should have no problem!
I had a different team on my second shot, and they tried to tell me I can't do this and that, but we remedied this quickly when I climbed onto the table and positioned myself and declared 'come hell or high water, I ain't moving!'...It worked fine :d
i am now...Into my end of 4th day after discogram....It was easier than any of my epidurals! I have some electricity down my left leg, but that is from the dye pressure in the discs. My pain is still as it was, since this is only a diagnostic, not a treatment.
My disco did not duplicate the sciatica though. That may need to be addressed by a myelogram.
I hope this helps clarify things!
Best of luck, hang in there, and wear out every diagnostic option before any surgery!
Hugs, :wink:
ashley
ofp
