Mayo says

Searching the web is both a blessing and a curse, I decided, as I read about spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and the treatment protocol recommended for my particular medical condition. As humans age, these conditions are fairly common, and it's when there is other involvement of the body, including (believe it or not) bladder or bowel involvement, that actual treatment is recommended.

What I've been doing, taking Aleve, using a brace when I have to use my left hand, alternating ice and moist heat, as well as massage, are indicated when the medical side-effects interfere with quality of life in a minor way. Changes in bladder or bowel habits, however, require immediate medical intervention -- but who would know that or connect a pinched nerve to sudden urges to pee or leaking urine, especially if that person has diabetes? The bottom line is that I've been coping because I've not had options: I started this journey last May and still have no resolution.

What Mayo tells me is that the epidural injections of cortisone go into the spinal fluid, a small detail glossed over when I asked about the procedure and the risks. Now I understand why the procedure requires me to be sedated, lie still, and "take it easy" for 24 hours following the x-ray guided injection! Mayo also cautions that these injections should not exceed a total of 3 in any given year ... because the side-effects can be worse than the condition being treated.

What's missing here is a sense of comfort that my decision to have the injections is in my best interest. Sure, I can't use my left hand often or well, but I'm right-handed. Sure, it hurts like hell part of the time, but not all of the time, and I've found ways to make the pain bearable when it almost isn't.

I'm going to take a few days to consider this before I fully commit to the appointment already on the books. I may decide to have one injection and see how it goes before arranging for the rest of the series, especially since they are recommending 3 over the course of the next 6 weeks, not over the course of an entire year!

I know I don't have a medical degree, but there is simply something about this entire situation that sits wrong with me, from the enormous swelling in my upper arm in May that sent me to the doctor but which has never been addressed. It appeared to me to involve circulation directly related to the pinpoint location of the pain in my wrist, where the swelling and throbbing are, indeed, localized. I'm just feeling that we're holistically attacking what seems to be a localized problem, rather than starting with the point of pain and working to a whole- body response only if that is warranted.