Hi! Well, tomorrow I am having my discogram and I am starting to feel a bit nervous. I have heard about how painful it is, but I really DO want to know for sure where my pain is coming from. My doctor is pretty sure it is the degerated/torn disc L5-S1, but he will test the disc above it as well. Did the excrutiating pain last just a few minutes, as they injected the dye in, or longer? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks, Kera

A bit of both Im afraid. It hurts while they are doing it, but it does linger, cuz the dye is still in your system. You spine is very pressurized for a while. It's like very severe bloating only all through your lower spine.

It lightens up shortly after the initial ouchy, but it still hurts quite awhile afterwords. BUT, I would do it again in a sec!

You will do fine.. a few secs of pain for a lifetime of relief! Post when you can. :wave:

Hey Kera! My discogram was awful. The best advice I can give is when they say it is ok to scream or yell out loud-DO IT! I did and tried to apologize after the first sensitive level. The nurse by my head said squeeze his hand hard and be as loud as I needed. Whatever helped me was all that mattered. My doc didn't use anything for pain beforehand to get the most accurate reading so two levels hurt. The third didn't-just felt pressure. I hurt like crazy the first two days but it gradually got better. Ice packs, painkillers, take out food, Judging Amy at lunchtime(our pain is nothing compared to the angst in that woman's life:jester: ), and sleep as much as you can.
I am praying to hear from you soon after.
Blessings,
Michelle

Kera, I had the discogram done last Tuesday, I was expecting much worse than it was. My doctor did do some twilight sedation on me and when I came to from the test I was crying. I have the same problem you have my l5 s1 I have a tear in my l5 and l5 is deteriated too, the doctor tested my l3 and l4 my pain there was a 5 but my pain on the l5 was a 10 I do not know what my doctors plan of action is yet but will find out next week. I have been sore since the test but it is easing up some now. The day after the test was the worst, just drink plenty of water to get the dye out of your system, I got that advice from the nice people on this board and it has helped me so much! Don't be nervous about the test I can honestly say that it is not as bad as I had expected. Good luck I will be thinking about you. Let us know how it goes for you.
Michelle :)

From what I have read PRAY your doctor uses some sort of sedation!!!! Mine did and I think that's why it was not as bad for me:confused:

The amount of pain is going to be different for everybody, it all depends on the degree of problems with the disc. Had mine done years ago with no medication and still remember it vividly. The pain did not let up like it was suppose to so I was a drooling moaning mess. Normally the pain should let up quickly. Hopefully your doctor will at least provide some kind of twilight medication. Remember if you don't have a problem with a disc you will have no pain only mild pressure. The doctor's use your pain level as a gauge to judge which disc is giving you the problem. I believe this test is usually only done when surgery has already been decided. My test was done after I was admitted to hospital for scheduled back surgery.

I wish I could say it isn't painful. but if you have a bad disc it is very very painful. For me even with some sedation it was. The techs know it is so they are really nice and understand the tears, screaming or whatever you need. The major pain does only last a short time. For me I still had a lot of pain, but nothing like when they hit the bad disc. They gave me pain meds, which helped some. Plan on several down days cause it can be painful for a few day to a week after.
The good news is, that it is an excellent diagnostic tool for the docs. So the pain is worth it. (I think haha) If you have no bad discs it only feels like pressure.
Good luck let us know how it goes.
Barb

Hi everyone! Thank you for all your advice! Well, the discogram was certainly a surprise! My doctor explained that he would test L4-L5 first, then L5-S1 (the one that looked so bad on the MRI-torn/degerated, and L3-L4 only if the other 2 were bad). Well, L4/L5-no pain, and the L5-S1-NO PAIN! Needless to say, my doctor and I were very surprised. He had been pretty sure that this disc had been causing my back/tailbone/pelvic floor pain. In the past I have been treated with facet injections/rhizotomy which has controlled my facet joint pain higher up. So, I asked my doctor where could this other pain be coming from, if not the disc? He said we would talk next week, but perhaps it is coming from the sacro-iliac joint. I do have a form of inflammatory arthritis, so it may be acting in this area as well as the facet joints. I don't know if this is good or bad news, but I am kind of discouraged that we still don't know exa ctly where the pain is coming from. And I still cannot sit for more that 20 minutes at a time. Oh well, I guess we will keep working on figuring it out. By the way I did get light sedation with the discogram, although in this case it didn't matter. Thanks for all your help...Kera

Great to find out that your discs are not the culprit. One thing about discograms they sure find out mistaken diagnosis. My friend has SI problems and so do other posters on here. The sacroiliac joint can cause a lot of pain and mimic degenerated disc. I do hope that they can get to the bottom of it. Well one good thing is you didn't go through the ceiling with the discogram pain.....lol Hope they manage to find out exactly what is wrong and you feel better.

Hi Kera,
I am glad that your discogram wasn't bad and I truly hope that your doctor will find the exact cause of your pain and will be able to help you. I have a question. Did your MRI show problems with any of the discs tested? I have a bulging disc with protrusion and sacroilliac and piriformis problems.I had several epidurals that gave me major relief,but the pain is still there. Also a week ago I had radiofrequency for the SI joints, but I don't feel any difference yet. I was supposed to do a discogram, but since I am doing better I "chickened out." I am terrified that the discogram will bring my worst pain back to stay. Please let me know about your previous MRI and what your doctor says during the next visit. Hope you have a pain free day:wave:
Alex

Alex, My MRI showed a bulging/torn degenerated disc at L5-S1, which had showed up 2 years ago on an MRI. This MRI it looked worse, so that is what led to the discogram. I have had shots in my SI joint a couple years ago, which helped some-so maybe that is where my pain is now coming from. I know the disc and SI joint pain can mimic each other, and it is hard to tell where it is coming from. I guess it is a process of elimination. My doctor appointment is this Friday, so I will let you know what he says. Take care, Kera

Hi Kera, Thank you for responding. I will be looking for yor message by the end of the week. Good luck, I hope they have some answers for you.:wave:
Alex

Hi everyone! Thank you once again for your kind words and advice as I went through the discogram! I met with my doctor yesterday, and he definitely thinks my pain is coming from the sacro-iliac joints. Since I didn't feel pain when he tested my bad disc, he ruled out that as the source of my pain. I have a form of inflammatory arthritis called spondylitis, which primarily attacks the spine. So, I guess the bad news is, that my arthritis is active and is not only in the facet joints, but the SI joints as well. I am trying a different anti-inflammatory medicine, and if that does not work he will inject my SI joints with cortisone.

Alex, did you have cortisone injected in your SI joints before you had radio-frequency lesioning there? Did your doctor have to do the lidocaine test first? I remember going through a testing process on my facet joints before my doctor burned the pain nerves. I just wondered if you went through that with the SI joints. Personally, I felt the RF lesioning has provided much more lasting relief than the cortisone shots.

Thanks everyone, I will let you know how things go...Kera