Cost of Epidural Injection Private

timsnewbridge

Hi everyone,


I am considering trying an epidural injection to potentially release me (to some degree) from the intense nerve pain I've been suffering with caused by inflammation from a torn disc for half a year now.
I'm wondering if anyone has had these, specifically I'll be seeing Camillus Power in Tallaght for a consultation. However, I can potentially get this done in Poland or Spain for cheaper.
If anybody has had these could they shed light on the cost?


Thank you very much,


David


Anyone interested in further information:
I've been on bed rest for 5 months now. Not by choice, I simply can not walk very far, nor can I sit at all. Still to this day a walk greater than 20 mins causes my back to get very heavy and the nerve pain to shoot up. The nerve pain for me is basically everywhere in both legs. In the beggining it was very intense burning, constant tingling, wet sensations, intense stabby feelings, other sensations I can't describe. It hopped around where it was the worst; the knees, the thigh, the glutes, the toes. At night in specific my toes and heal were like hot pokers. I also had (still have) some light rhythmic spasming in my heal and near my knee. Anyway, I now have what I've described but to a lesser degree. Honestly though, if this was the pain I was in after the injury I could still imagine describing it as 10/10, but since I know worse pain it's more like a 5/10 at most, sometimes down to a 3/10. I tried a few different meds. All the oral NSAIDs really messed up my stomach and eventually made it harder to sleep than the nerve pain so I had to replace them with etoflam gel. I tried 75mg of venlafaxine, I don't think it did much. I also was on 300mg of gabapentin, but I also don't think it did much.
I'm fairly miserable. I just want to be free of the nerve pain. I don't (for the moment) care about how little I can walk and how sore my back is. I don't care about getting back to anything, I just want the pain reduced!
From what I've read these injections basically work for 1 in 2 people and even then don't necessarily give total pain relief.
At this stage I'm willing to try.
As for other things: I don't smoke or drink alcohol. I am slim and am still strong despite the 5 months rest from exercise. I eat very healthy, lots of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains and all I drink is water, herbal teas and a cup of black tea in the morning. I'm young (27 on the 18th actually). I make sure to walk every day for 15-20 mins. I bought a firm mattress at the start of injury.

byhookorbycrook

Being honest, that amount of gabapentin is very little, so I'd consider seeing if you need to up that before you consider an epidural. Have you had an MRI recently? I have had 3 epidurals down the years, the 1st didn't do much so I had a second shortly after. Had another in October and that seems to have done the trick from the off.
I know I was kept overnight after each epi and wasn't allowed to drive for a few days, how would that work overseas?
"Strong" doesn't really mean much for back pain, unless you have good core strength and also posture. Hope you get sorted.

timsnewbridge

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Being honest, that amount of gabapentin is very little, so I'd consider seeing if you need to up that before you consider an epidural. Have you had an MRI recently? I have had 3 epidurals down the years, the 1st didn't do much so I had a second shortly after. Had another in October and that seems to have done the trick from the off.
I know I was kept overnight after each epi and wasn't allowed to drive for a few days, how would that work overseas?
"Strong" doesn't really mean much for back pain, unless you have good core strength and also posture. Hope you get sorted.

So, I asked about upping gabapentin but my GP said no.


I have had an MRI in March about 5 weeks after the injury. Would I need a newer one?


As for strong, yes I focused a lot on core strength in the last 7-8 months before the pain got really bad and I had to leave work. I did a lot of stabilisations, especially using medicine balls, weights and therapy bands (planks, side planks, superman, glute bridge...you name it!). I also turned all other exercises into ones that would engage the core, eg. instead of doing seated shoulder press, I would do it standing so it involved stabilisation. Even though I haven't exercised my core properly for 5 months, I can still hold a very good form plank for a decent time and I visibly have a lot of muscle on my back, abs, bum etc. Same with posture, I worked hard to get it realy good.


I'm glad they worked out for you in the end. Would you mind sharing where you got them and how much they cost?

Telly

With that type of server pain would an op not be your best option?

timsnewbridge

Telly wrote: »

With that type of server pain would an op not be your best option?

If I can't get better I will not even have to consider surgery, I'll just have to do it, since living like this would not be worth it. As I understand it though, since my problem disc is not bulging, nor herniated, the recommended operations are fusion / disc replacement, which I don't want at 26 due to them being high risk, adjaecent segment disease associated with both and a non negligible percentage of patients that get failure and/or revision procedures. If injections don't help I would get a few opinions from a few different surgeons though, of course!
Thanks!

Telly

It’s just that I had the op and they removed the disc and didn’t replace or fuse it. I was in and out in a day and a bit with 6 weeks down time. I didn’t have a choice tho as my disc had popped out and was never going to pop back in. It’s just how you described your pain is what I went through. Hope you get sorted with something soon cause that’s no life right now. All the best

Gremlinertia

Telly wrote: »

With that type of server pain would an op not be your best option?

What op are you thinking?.

timsnewbridge

Telly wrote: »

It’s just that I had the op and they removed the disc and didn’t replace or fuse it. I was in and out in a day and a bit with 6 weeks down time. I didn’t have a choice tho as my disc had popped out and was never going to pop back in. It’s just how you described your pain is what I went through. Hope you get sorted with something soon cause that’s no life right now. All the best

Thanks for your replies!! It sounds like you had a discectomy. I just don't really qualify for that surgery because there's no bulging/herniated (slipped/popped) disc :-( and I really don't want the fusion or replacement, as I said, unless as a last resort.
Thanks again!

byhookorbycrook

timsnewbridge wrote: »

So, I asked about upping gabapentin but my GP said no.


I have had an MRI in March about 5 weeks after the injury. Would I need a newer one?


I'm glad they worked out for you in the end. Would you mind sharing where you got them and how much they cost?

Mine were done in a private hospital under VHI.