occipital block

[Jill]

Has anyone had an occipital block?  If so, can you tell me what to expect?  How many blocks did you have?  Who (what type of doctor) did the block?  I have been receiving conflicting opinions from the medical community and wanted to reach out to those that have had the procedure.  I would appreciate any experiences, good or bad.

Jill 

[cin605]

I recieved one from my neurologist/headache specialist....did not see any difference......Ins got dropped never went for another.
At the same appoinment switched medications.....headaches/migrains went away.

[yardtick]

I've had two so far.  It isn't pleasant have the nerve injected, but you will get through it.  I was really sore for a few days and than I could actually touch the area and there was no pain.  Now the down side for me, was the duration of time the nerve block lasted for.  I had a good two week period of being comfortable and wham, the pain was back like it never left me.  I'm seeing the neurologist on Friday.  I'm interested to hear her take.

Good luck,
Anne Marie

[staypoz]

I had two different doctors administer them -- a pain specialist and a neurologist.  They didn't help me with my headaches or head pain.  But maybe they'll help you.  Good luck!

staypoz

[TriMan]

I just had my first occipital block a few days ago. It was administered by surgeons in an outpatient clinic, which is a small part of a pain management center for a large hospital (don't know if we can name names here). It was a combination of an anesthesia and steroid.  This link (which is not where I had it) describes my experience exactly   http://www.medcentral.org/body.cfm?id=351
I've been suffering 24/7 for the past 18 months with pain at the back of my head and a head-pressure issue (might be one in the same). The procedure was no more painful than a shot in the arm.  Initially, my head was numb in the area and it really loosened up my neck. Within about 4-5 hours, my head issues were back to normal, although still numb as heck.  The following 3 days now are considerably better for head pain. I can easily go past my 'medication time window' before I take it. The steroid starts working later (the second day for me), but I don't know for how long. Either I haven't reached the end of the steroid effect or it has actually done something permanently. I don't see my doctor for another couple of weeks, so I don't know what's next. I understand this might be done a few more times, but it certainly gives me hope that we're narrowing in on what the problem is. From here, they can map out a new course. This was meant to be a diagnostic test, not a conclusive procedure.