[annapurna]

Few thoughts: Do you know why you weren't a candidate for RF neurotomy, often called rhizotomy or rhizo on this site? It's a good way to buy time to come up with a permanent fix. If your doc understood that you didn't regard the procedure as a permanent solution and would pursue somethign further as soon as you could recover enough to get all of yoru diagnostic work done, they might be willing try something like that.

Laura was diagnosed with fibromyalgia early into her recovery from lumbar ADR when her SI joint and L45/L5S1 facets were still very painful. It's vanished through the years when those pain sources became controllable without the need for even weekly pain meds. That makes me really believe your implication that your fibromyalgia might be less severe than you thought and some of your problem might be chronic pain from other sources.

Have you tried prolotherapy for the SI joint? I'd bet more on rhizo to buy you a little time but prolotherapy might work in much the same fashion. I'd really spend the time discussing your reaction to the botox as that might mean that prolotherapy isn't a good idea for you.

I don't really have that much to offer unfortunately. You're probably right that the collection of problems you already have precludes one more insult to your system from a discogram. You could see about getting the discogram and just planning on a needing a week or so of care and bedrest. I don't know if you have someone who could help you to that degree but you seem to be in the position of having symptoms from problem A preventing you from solving problem B which prevents you from solving problem C....