Have any of you tried this for your pain? I’m trying them in lumbar, thoracic, and possibly SI joints for pain in December. The doctor said they burn the nerves wherever they think they are based on general landmarks. That scares me a bit because what if my nerves are in a different spot than most people’s? I have some kyphosis, but pretty good on not having fusion since I’ve been on biological from almost day one. Have a bone spur and a couple neck discs stacked funny. I’m a female and have been on Cosentyx for quite a while.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

I think that accurate mapping of your nerve pathways would be key for the proposed treatment to be helpful.

Will you have an appointment where they numb your nerves first to tell if you’re a candidate for ablation? I just had mine numbed last week and I got zero relief. I’m assuming this means they didn’t hit the nerves that cause my pain. My grandfather just had his first actual ablation and he has been miserable since, his pain has actually increased dramatically. I’m hoping that it’s just related to the steroids they injected into the joints at the same time. I’m very, very nervous to have the actual ablation dome now though. Let me know how yours goes and good luck!

I have a co-worker who just had an ablation done Tuesday (for different spinal issues, not AS), and she told me that her doctor said her pain would be worse for the first few days.

Is this a common treatment with decent success rate for those with AS?

I must say I've never heard of it but Id be interested to know how well it deals with the pain caused by spondylosis. Would be interested to know if any other members have had this and what their experiences are.

Yes, I’ve had several of those injections and they have helped greatly. I’m still really nervous for the ablation though. I’ve heard the recovery is hard. But my pain therapist and pain doctor have seen great results with them so it’s worth it to try. I wonder why we don’t just keep doing the injections though.

Thanks for your help! I’ll let you know how it goes.

I would take my Grandmother in for her ablations on her L4/L5. She had sciatica burning, tingling pain from her hip area down to her foot. The Dr would numb the area first and while awake she would insert a "probe" and touch her nerves which were shown on a large visual screen. When she would say "ouch" the Dr knew where and what nerve was the issue. Then, she was put into a twilight sleep and the nerve was burned and she was given a steroid injection as well. As her health declined, the Dr. did it without the twilight sleep. It was a bit more traumatic on her but the process simpler to do without doing the whole outpatient surgery process. She always felt good the first 3 days due to the steroid injection. After that, if the nerve was missed or the wrong nerve burned, her pain would slowly come back. When the right nerve was burned, she would have pain relief for about 9-12 months. She did this for about 10 years and the results, if the right nerve was burned lasted 6x longer than just an steroid injection alone. For her, it was a life changer! Hope this helps.