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Nerve Blockers for Gastro Disorders (Crohns/Colitis)

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Posted 10/21/2011 11:00 AM (GMT -6)
I put a post under the Crohns forum but got no feedback, so I figured i would try here.  Has anyone here done nerve block injections for either Crohns or Colitis?  I am went to a new PM clinic and they are pushing me to do it to relieve my intense pain.

Any feedback would be helpful.  Thanks!!

Posted 10/21/2011 12:10 PM (GMT -6)
Hi Sean,

My PM suggested one as well. I was not really interested in it. I wanted to do more research before I had that done. He didn't push it so I just kinda dismissed it. I would love to hear from someone who has had it done. Wonder if it "really" works. Along with the Crohns comes some anal pain, as I am sure you know, and he also suggested a nerve block for that area. But he admitted he had never treated a patient with that himself. He just studied it.

Hope you find some answers!
Posted 10/21/2011 12:30 PM (GMT -6)

Thanks for the response, amazingly its exactly what my PM doctor said as well.  She said she has not had any Crohns/Colitis patients but it has helped some of her patients with a lot of abdominal scar tissue from multiple surgeries.  The disconnect is i doubt my pain is coming from scar tissue.  Plus i have reservations that she hasn't done it on anyone with my symptoms or my disease.

Also she did mention that she would have to do another injection for my anal/lower colon pain.  The two injections would have to be spread apart, about a week's difference.  Then the maintenance injections wuold hav to be done every 2-4 weeks.  Seems like a lot of maintenance when I miss so much time from work already for just being sick and for my remicade infusions. No proven results from gastro disorders makes me skeptical.

Posted 10/21/2011 12:42 PM (GMT -6)
Yeah, I get nervous about all that stuff. I have been poked and prodded enough. If I hear about someone having success from it then I might reconsider it...until then ill pass.
Posted 10/21/2011 1:46 PM (GMT -6)
It would be interesting to know if these work as technically the bowel does not have nerves in it (that's what I have always been told) so how nerve block would work on that pain I am not so sure. Also I presume these would be in the spine and as I have damage from an epidural many years ago am reluctant to have anything else go near or into my spine again.
Posted 10/26/2011 9:43 PM (GMT -6)
i have crohns and did 2 ciliac plexus blocks- they did nothing. my ins did not cover sedation so i had to do on xanax only for pain...1st time wasn't so bad- 2nd time hurt like hell...neither offered any relief. i'm on oxycodone for the pain.
Posted 10/27/2011 11:35 AM (GMT -6)
I have crohns and ulcerative colitis with very bad chronic pain and have never been offered a nerve blocker.  I have, as others, been given everything including the kitchen sink and I've come to the end of my rope.  Unless someone can show me some significant data that any treatment works I am not experimenting any more.

Posted 10/27/2011 5:03 PM (GMT -6)
I got 3 injections, nerve ablations at the spine, for painful slipping ribs, all at the same time. It worked very well for nearly a year, and now I have gotten used to what pain is left.

I don't understand why there would be "maintenance" injections. If they can ablate my rib nerves, why not other parts?

I had injections at the ribs in the front, where the ribs were slipping, and they didn't work at all. They may have been called something other than "ablations." Maybe that's what some of your docs were thinking of - injections in the belly. After my experience with my ribs, I wouldn't go for that, but if they do them at the spine it seems like they should work.
Posted 10/27/2011 10:59 PM (GMT -6)
definitely wasn't worth it for me, but who knows- may work for you...
Posted 12/19/2011 2:01 AM (GMT -6)
Hi,

I have crohns and just got one last Wed. I started flaring in mid Oct and then wound up in the ER on Nov 2 and 3. Since I was diagnosed with Crohns I have had side pain (normally 4/10 to 5/10 but for some reason this one was different. It didn't clear up when they put me on pred and actually there were times when it was worse. From 11/3 to last Wed I had been taking at least 1 oxycontin a day because it was at 10/10 all the time. They ran tests and said that my crohns was finally controlled so that is when they referred me to the pain management people. The area where it hurts is right by a scar from when i got my appendix out when I was 19 kind of my my belly button to the right and 2 inches down. They said my crohns is by the cecum whatever that is. Mind u I am now 39 so I think that is BS because wouldn't I have had the pain from the scar much much earlier? but I have been so miserable and they won't run anymore tests that I agreed to go through it.

My other option was the fentanyl patch and i was afraid of becoming addicted to the pain meds so i said i would try this first. The pain block thing probably reduced the pain back down to the "normal" 4/10 and I made the mistake of going to the gym today to walk on the treadmill. It really hurt on Wed but by Thurs there were breaks where i could actually think straight. (I have been on pred since oct 13 so I look like jabba the hutt and just wanted to walk on level 1 or 2 just to feel like I could walk) WRONG THING TO DO! I now have 10/10 pain and it is radiating from my normal pain site around my back and by my ribs. The block they gave me was called a TAP (transverse abdominal plane block) I have no idea what they did as my GI set up everything and when I was in the room with the pain doctor, he didn't really talk to me. My next appointment with them is on Jan 11th but i am going to ask them what exactly did they put in me and what is it for.

They told me i would be able to tell results by 5 days. They also told me that it could also be worse than before the injection. i have been reading on this site that these block shots aren't permanent and that people have had to do them again.

We shall see what this does. It's bad enough I have crohns so when I go in the ER they think i'm a drug seeker because the labwork doesn't always show inflammation right away but now, this pain?
Posted 12/20/2011 12:54 PM (GMT -6)
The pain could be caused by the old scar as your latest set of inflammation could have 'attached' itself to the scar tissue and this could be causing the pain. Interesting to see what happens with your pain and whether it get better. I'm lucky in that since I had colon removed in 1991 and had an ileostomy any pain I get from a flaree is not too bad. The pain I have now is from joint areas due to getting Lupus from the Humira I had earlier this year.
Posted 12/20/2011 2:10 PM (GMT -6)
thanks for the info stripey. Much appreciated. I'm sorry that humira did that to you. HUGS
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