Re: First post need advice/Jan

[Guest guest]

Hello Caroline,

Yes, i have thought alot about that myself, my pain doctor knows that i have a

severe issue with being able to tolerate alot of different kinds of meds....i

was even rushed to the hospital in an ambulance with nortriptyline...my throat

was closing up....so, i have thought about that alot and wondered why he would

have done the injection knowing that fact, but, i thought he would know that i

would be fine....do you think that may be my case???? Thank you for that

info....i have no hives, but, most definately have the headace, body aches,

nauseau, weakness and extremely over tired....if so, what do you think i should

do????? Janine

Caroline Pollak wrote:

Hi Jan,

With your symptoms & worse pain, could be you're allergic to the medication in

the injections.

[Guest guest]

Hi Caroline and Jan,

I have a lot of chemical sensitivity myself, too. I went to a pain

clinic once where I told the doctor I have had a lot of problems with

the pill form of the steroid medication methylprednisone - steroid

pills I was given for pain after my 2nd bad car accident. He wanted

to give me an injection in my neck. I asked if it was likely I would

have a reaction to the steroid he was going to inject in my neck. He

said no. I asked what he was going to inject in my neck and I wrote

it down - he said Depo-Medrol.

After the injection, I had horrible pain, and in addition, I had all

kinds of problems like I had from the pill steroid. I looked up Depo-

Medrol on the web and found out it is the same medication as

methylprednisone (also known as methylprednisolone or a methylpred

pack), it just has a different name because it is the injectible

form. I was so mad. The doctor should have told me they were the

same medicine. I never would have had the injection then.

I had written down my symptoms/side effects and then looked at the

web. All the weird things I was feeling were symptoms people can

have from that steroid (injection or tablets) although they

supposedly are not very common side effects. I went to either the ER

or Urgent care the next day because the side effects were worse and I

was also having hand tremors for the first time of my life and a very

hard time breathing among other things. The doctor there claimed I

was having an anxiety attack, even though I wasn't and I knew all my

symptoms were legitimate reactions to the injection. It really

irritates me when the doctors dismiss me or say I have something else

just because I am a young woman or because they haven't done their

own homework.

Then within about 2 months later, I was at a different doctor about

my 2 shoulders and knee pain. He wanted to give me an injection of a

different steroid in my right shoulder and right knee. He assured me

it was extremely unlikely I would have any side effects like with the

Depo-Medrol and very likely my shoulder and knee would feel better.

He also assured me there should be no problem having all these

injections so close together. I seem to recall having a little

relief from the injections, but it didn't last long and then my pain

was even worse than before.

I also had side effects. Right about the same time, I started having

problems reacting to eating sugar - 1-2 hours after eating a meal and

dessert or something with sugar, I would feel really weird and

sometimes fall asleep sitting up watching TV in the middle of the day

(I have never been a person to fall asleep sitting up ever before so

this was really weird). At first doctors did not take me seriously

about this problem, but I have since had it diagnosed as Impaired

Glucose Tolerance, a precursor to diabetes. After the steroid

injections, I read information that if you are diabetic, you have to

be very careful with steroids and may need to adjust insulin or

whatever, because the steroids affect your blood sugars. I also read

that steroids affect your estrogen if you are a woman - steroids

increase your estrogen, but for example with pills, if you stop

taking them, then your estrogen drops - I get a lot of

symptoms/problems when my estrogen drops suddenly.

I knew before the steroid injections that I have a predisposition to

possibly get diabetes because of being overweight and sedentary and

my grandma had it (she was much older when she got it), but no one

ever asked me about those things or if I was on estrogen supplements

or am sensitive to medications/chemicals or anything else before

really pushing those injections on me. They seemed so determined to

talk me into those injections, and I regret letting them talk me into

it before I could do my own research. They also dismissed me when I

said I had had really bad problems (I thought I was going to die from

the side effects) from taking the steroid pills 10-12 months before

and acted like I wouldn't have anything similar from steroid

injections. It really upsets me because here I am, an educated

patient asking the right kinds of questions, and they still don't

give me appropriate information. Makes me wonder how they treat the

people that don't even know the questions to ask or the related

medical conditions or related medications they are taking to point

out to the doctors.

If I could go back and do everything all over again, I would NEVER

have had any of the steroid injections. I only ever experienced

minimal improvement and it was nothing compared to the MAJOR side

effects and problems.

I would also like to say here, if you ever have a discogram or spinal

surgery, and they don't tell you this, it might really help

afterwards to use those blue gel ice packs you can buy at drug stores

or places like Target, Walmart, Kmart. My first discogram left me in

so much unbearable pain. My second discogram they told me about

icing and it made a huge difference reducing my pain faster after my

2nd and 3rd discograms.

These are just my opinions from my own experience. I'm not a doctor,

so you may want to check things out first. Maybe a lot of other

people have had better experiences with injections, I don't know, but

mine have been bad and I don't want any more injections.

Mara

> Hi Jan,

> With your symptoms & worse pain, could be you're allergic to the

medication in the injections. I have a lot of chemical sensitivity

myself & cannot take many medications because of the those kinds of

side fx, i.e., nausea, headache, rash, internal heat like fire,

hives, internal swelling/inflammation, shortness of breath, anxiety

attacks, mania, jitters, etc. Just my two cents. Also another reason

I won't have epidurals. Steroids are the worst offenders.

> Caroline

[Guest guest]

Text Altered, Kerning, White Spaces added for better readability by some

members.

Dear Mara,

I am sorry these docs put you thru so much with steroids and injections....i

have to say, that, at this point, i dont have much faith anymore in most medical

people...yes, you would think that, if they know about our sensitivities to meds

and even allergic reactions to some, that they would think twice before

injection God only know what into our systems...you see, i was not aware, that

this visit i just had, was the visist for the injection, i was under the

assumption i was going to talk about my mri results and my options..as i had

only had one initial consult, and we really never made a definate decision at

that point, so, i was not aware this visit would be the injection...but, cannont

look back now....but, i do know one thing, i too did not read up on the epi

prior to mine, as, i did not want to scare myself, if indeed it would help

me....now, i have read alot, and after this experience, and how the pain doc

does not seem to care about the effects i am having nor does he seem to care

that my pain has increased...i will never have another one.....NEVER!!!!!

From what i can see, in the way i have been treated that, this is a needle

factory, and i am the pin cushion....i dont like the way this doc has ignored my

side effects....when i called him about the numbness and weakness and headache,

sick to stomach, burning and stinging, and the severity of my pain....alls he

said was.... " Well i guess it has not started working yet!!! " " I got so angry and

said " Not working yet, it has made me much worse...!!! He just wanted me off

the phone....I really cannot stand anymore of this crap from docs....I have

reached a point now, that i have no trust anymore...only my pc.....thank god for

him....my pc and pain doc were supposed to talk about my side effects and pain

two days ago, still have not heard back from either...i am sure it is because

the pain doc is not calling my pc, because he is always on top of

things....another strange thing here.

When i saw my pc on monday, my reflexes in my forearms are gone as well as,

some in my right knee...what does that mean...he checked them two or three

times....this is the first time this has happened, i had a neurologist for over

a year...and she always checked my reflexes and they were always good....my pc,

kinda just left it alone when i asked, so i did not persue it.....oh well, it is

what it is at this point....i will go to the er soon if i am still sick.....i

keep thinking that i will wake up feeling somewhat better...well, i must go rest

my neck and arms, as the pain is way to high to continue to type......thanks for

responding....janine