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Southern Ocean County Hospital would like to thank everyone who e-mailed questions for this edition of Ask-The-Expert and would like to especially thank Dr. Michael Yu for taking part in the program.

December : Pain Management

Dr. Yu's answers are informational only and should not be used as a diagnosis or for treatment. Please talk to your physician about official diagnosis of your condition and treatment.

Question 1
I am 25 and I am having frequent waist pain ,the left side and it feels like muscle pulls. What can be the cause and how can I get rid of it? I am not over weight. I way less than 60kg

This waist pain is very vague and can come from the pelvis, the kidneys or even the hip joints. At this time I think she needs a workup to isolate her cause of pain and then tackle the problem from there. Sometimes if there is no identifiable cause, it maybe muscle tear from over activity. This is a very tricky problem, but I would certainly start with my Primary care doctor to try to isolate the cause. Sorry, for the lack of specificity.

Question 2
Approx. 12 yrs. ago I had two epidurals for the pain I experienced with a herniated bulging disc and pinched sciatic nerve. It is giving me pain again - if it becomes excruciating, could I be a candidate for an epidural with Dr. Yu??? Are there other approaches I could try?? Thank you for your response.

Sounds like she is an excellent candidate for epidurals. We do have other treatments including facet injections and also spinal cord stimulation. At SOCH because we have the benefit of excellent neurosurgeons, she may even benefit from a consult with one of our spine surgeons.