Experience With SI Joint Injections?

Anyone have experience with SI joint injections?

I have been dealing with pain (from nagging to disabling) for almost a year. A year ago, the pain slowly progressed to the point that any position was uncomfortable...sitting, standing, walking, sleeping was impossible (for some reason the pain seems worst at night). At that point, I called my spine surgeon (had a lumbar burst fracture 5 years ago so already had a doctor ), but the first available appointment was a month out...I scheduled the appointment and went to the ER after not sleeping any more than an hour or two for several weeks in a row due to pain. They gave me a Toradol injection, muscle relaxers, and Vicodin. I went home thinking that I would finally sleep...WRONG! All those drugs did nothing to stop the pain! I struggled through the next few weeks until my appointment. My doctor's first guess was a disc problem due to my history; however, MRI showed healthy discs and fracture site looking as good as a burst fracture can After a few more tests, he diagnosed me with an SI joint problem and put me on Relafen for 6 weeks to control inflammation. After 3 weeks, I did see improvement...The pain returned to the "annoying" level. Since that time, the pain has been up and down...Always there, not always awful, but sometimes miserable for weeks at a time. I had a foot/ankle reconstruction in November and had a HUGE flair up after that...I realized that I really had an issue when my back pain was keeping me awake at night, not the heel bone that had been sawed into three chunks! I was hoping this problem would just disappear as mysteriously as it began; but, unfortunately, it looks like it's here to stay. My doctor has recommended an SI joint injection as the next step.

Has anyone had success with SI joint injections? My typical symptoms are left side lower back, hip, and thigh pain from just annoying to feeling like my bones are disintegrating...that's the best description I can come up with I also have a lot of muscle soreness in those areas.

How was the "injection experience?" I've had cortisone injections in my foot before, and they were not pleasant...So, I'm definitely not excited about this. I have a high pain tolerance and have dealt with a lot of medical procedures, but something about someone sticking a big needle in my back doesn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Did you have increased pain for a few days following the injection? After the ones in my foot, I had fairly severe pain for several days...I think they called it a cortisone flair.