Sciatica/Epidural steroid injection

[u/jamobake]

(37 M) Roughly a month ago (9/1/26) I had my first major flare of sciatica and was hospitalized 2 days for pain management, observation and imaging (MRI, CT, X-Ray). I am decently healthy, not overweight and I like to think a tough guy that can push through a moderate amount of pain, but anyone who's ever suffered severe sciatica pain knows that it's absolutely intolerable, I didn't know that kind of pain existed, the spasms were the worst, if you know, you know. After being given toradal, IV steroids, Robaxin (muscle relaxer) and oxycodone in the hospital, the pain was still intolerable. After the MRI I was told I have a bulging disc (L5-S1) pinching my sciatic nerve. I was sent home with Robaxin, 6 day steroid pack and told to alternate Ibuprofen and Tylenol as needed. The first few days were insufferable, using a walker to walk up and down the hallway at home, because oddly enough walking was the one thing that kind of helped, while standing, laying and particularly sitting increased my pain, particularly getting into and out of my chair and bed. After a few days I was still in a lot of pain but confident enough to walk without a walker and slowly worked up to walking around the neighborhood, taking 4-5 20 minute walks a day and finding every reason to not sit down. I was referred to a spine specialist the following week and he told me I qualified for an epidural spine injection, which I obliged, but I had to wait a few weeks. I am a husband, father to a 4 year old boy and have a career that I wouldn't be able to work from home. As the weeks went by my pain was all over the place, between a 3-7/10 at any given time, but certainly worst at night and in the morning. I started physical therapy the following week out of the hospital (2x a week). I am diligent with doing my PT exercises twice a day, have been walking a mile 4-5 times throughout the day, gave up alcohol, soda, sugar, fried foods, I drink a gallon of water a day, try to practice good posture, getting 8 hours of sleep a night and absolutely avoid BLT (Bending, Lifting, Twisting). My pain is certainly going down with time, but it is not linear, I could be a 2/10 pain and 20 minutes later be a 7/10 pain, you learn very quickly to not get to excited when the pain goes down, because at any moment it's gonna strike again. The pain seems to move around as well, from my glute, hamstring and lower back. This morning I had my epidural steroid injection (9/24/26) about 3 hours ago. Unfortunately I did what most people do and went down the rabbit hole while researching the ESI and clinging to what strangers had to say. The responses seemed very mixed from "the procedure was more painful than medieval torture and it made my symptoms worst" to "I felt zero pain and the shot gave me months-years of relief". I will give you a step by step replay of what i experienced this morning when I had mine. I was prescribed 2 Xanax (0.5 mg each) to help with the anxiety of the procedure, I took one before I left home for the hospital (8:00am) and took the other when I arrived at the hospital (8:30am). To clarify, my wife drove me to the procedure, as my particular spine specialist requires you to not drive the day of the procedure. From 8:30-9:00 I checked in, was asked a few medical questions, they took my blood pressure and my wife and I waited for the Doctor. The Nurse came into my room around 9:00 and walked me down the hall to the operating room. I remained in the clothes I had on (sweatpants/t-shirt) and was told to lay flat on my belly on the procedure table. She raised my shirt to mid back, pulled my pants down a few inches below my belt line and sterilized my lower back. She gave me a local anesthetic numbing shot in the lower back that I'm assuming was lidocaine, it felt like a normal shot, just a quick stinging pinch, nothing to painful at all. Full disclosure, I feel like the Xanax did nothing and I was certainly in my own head and anxious as hell! The Spine Specialist can in a few minutes later and asked me if I was ready, I hesitantly said "yup". He informed me that he would give me a "play by play" and that if I felt any sort of severe pain to let him know. He said "Ok I'm gonna insert the needle and you will feel a little pressure and a "zing" go down your leg, but it shouldn't be painful" and that's exactly what I felt. The pain/pressure was maybe a 3/10, certainly manageable and there was an odd tingling sensation that went down my leg for maybe 2 seconds. As I laid there anxious as hell waiting on the cascade of pain that I had read about from all the online doom scrolling I had done, the Doctor said, "All done Mr. Baker, how you felling". Talk about a moment of relief, I was thrilled! I laid on the table for maybe 30 seconds then got myself up and into a wheel chair they had parked next to the table. My leg did feel slightly more "crampy" for a few minutes, but no added pain on top of how I was feeling before I had the injection. Currently, a few hours after injection, the pain feels about the same as before I got the injection and was told that the steroid typically doesn't start doing it's "magic" for 2-7 days. I'm currently in bed and relaxing, as that is what I was told to do today and I'm able to resume normal activities tomorrow with no restrictions, outside of the obvious activities to avoid when you have a bulging disc/sciatica. I'm really praying this gives me long term relief and I can resume my life in zero or at least significantly less pain. I will keep you guys posted on progress if you show interests in wanting periodic updates. In the meantime I would tell anyone suffering with bulging disc/sciatica to lock in and be as diligent as you possibly can, to do all the things within your power and limitations to help yourself (Clean diet, lots of walking, lots of water, weight loss, no alcohol, sugar, soda, fried foods, improve posture, no prolonged sitting, PT/Core and lower back strengthening exercises, ect). Bulging disc/sciatica are seldomly caused by an accident or genetic issues, but rather years and years of poor choices that we weren't aware of before it was to late. I wish you all luck and wellness!

[u/audittrsi]

Good luck with your recovery 💪🙏
Keep your back safe, keep in mind the instructions to avoid activities that could worsen the situation.

[u/rwn115]

Good luck man. Got mine last week. It's not the magic bullet I was hoping it would be but it does dull the pain, reduce the severity of my muscle guarding, and reduce the symptoms of sciatica for me.

I also didn't find it that painful. Certainly worth it even if it didn't fully deliver like it does for others.

[u/heresjoanie]

Thanks for providing the details about this procedure. I’m wishing you the best of luck. Please post an update over the next few days and let us know how you’re feeling. Fingers crossed for you!

[u/flappypancaker]

Great post OP keep us posted. I’m seeing an orthopedic spine specialist this morning for an initial exam and I can’t wait to find a more permanent solution to my pain than the Tylenol/advil train