Treatment plan for my back
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
September 28, 2012 10:52pm CST
I met with the orthopedist on Wednesday and he has determined that the first thing that he wants to try in order to get this pain in my back to ease up is to try some injections in my sacroiliac joint. He seems to think that one or two of these injections is going to make a lot of difference and at this point I am game for them to try anything that they want to make me feel better.
However, I also have to admit that I'm a little bit scared because there are some risks that are involved with this. I do know that I am going to have to have someone with me to drive me after the injection, so I'm going to be taking my best friend with me for to be my driver.
3 people like this
11 responses
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
30 Sep 12
Have you researched this and made sure that this is the Best thing for you? Or considered a second opinion? What have they deemed your Health problems causing this, and do they have a solution for what might help the most for you? I know when you have a lot of pain it is not Fun and usually quite hard to deal with, but making sure what you have done will help relieve some of it that is an issue as well. Wishing you the Best.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
The cause of the pain that I'm having is a combination of a herniated L5-S1 joint and also sacroilitis. From the research that I've done on this, it does appear that steroid injections are one of the least invasive ways of treating it. So, I figure I'll go for that because I certainly don't want to end up having to have surgery for it.
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@much2say (53958)
• Los Angeles, California
29 Sep 12
Best of luck with the plan! I hope the injections ease up your pain. Is that something you will have to do ongoing? Are the injections to help heal up the joint or is it just for pain relief? I don't blame you, I'd be nervous too . . . but like I said in the your other discussion, everyone has to find out what works for them. And I hope this helps you - alot!! 
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@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
The injection is a steroid injection with the goal being to give the body a boost in its healing. So, it should help with healing and with pain relief as well. The way that the doctor described it to me, it will be from one injection to a total of three injections. It just depends on how my body responds to the injections.
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@shaggin (71666)
• United States
29 Sep 12
You said there are risks but didnt mention what they were. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks and I think that this is the case with you if you are in extreme pain as I think you are from you saying you would try anything to make you feel better. I feel so bad for people in chronic pain like that I cant even imagine how hard it would be. I hope the shots work well for you and arent to painful.
@shaggin (71666)
• United States
2 Oct 12
Things like that worry me as well. I didnt want an epidural either because of the risks. Everyone is always like oh you have to get an epidural when your in labor but no way did I want that. I dealt with the pain and luckily my labors were short 8 1/2 hours and 5 1/4 hours.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Oct 12
You are lucky that you did have short labors. Mine were short like yours as well. With my daughter, my water broke at 8 in the morning and she was born at 1:30 in the afternoon. With my son, I was induced at 7 in the morning and he was born at 2:15 in the afternoon.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
The main risk is that there is a chance of paralysis if the injection goes into the wrong part of the body. This is a rare risk, but I've always been a person that is very protective of my back. In fact, I didn't even have epidural pain relief when my children were born because I was scared of the risks associated with epidural pain relief during child labor.
1 person likes this
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
29 Sep 12
Chronic back pain is terrible. It takes me an hour or so when I first get up in the mornings to move around and get even a minimum of relief. I had a slight scoliosis when I was born and as I've aged it has become worse. I had some injections like you're talking about over the course of a year or so. They seemed to help for a while but I couldn't afford them anymore. So now I have to exercise and take medication.
I think you'll find some relief from the injections. Good luck with it.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
I certainly do hope that I am able to get some relief from the injections. It is just sad to me to think that I've lost a couple months of my life as a result of this accident.
I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on my worst enemy, that is how bad that it has been for me.
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@allknowing (130064)
• India
29 Sep 12
You are perfectly justified in becoming nervous as there are risks when it involves the back. Have you thought of physical therapy. It does wonders.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
I've actually been going through physical therapy from just a few days after I was in the accident. I've been doing it for two and a half months now and though the whiplash that I had in my neck has resolved, the problems with my lower back are persistant.
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@allknowing (130064)
• India
2 Oct 12
I too was introduced to physical therapy after I met with a road accident and seeing its wonders, I have been recommending it to even those who are healthy. Our bodily movements depending on what we do daily, are not enough to keep it fit and physical therapy takes care of that.
Now it is six years since my accident but I still do some exercises that my physio therapist recommended. They are very simple. I am sure there will be pertinent exercises for your condition too. I had L1 and L3 vetebrae fractures. I do wear a belt when I am travelling but not otherwise.
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@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Oct 12
I do think that the physical therapy that I've been going through is something that is really going to benefit me in the future. I am paying a lot more attention to my body now than I did before the accident and that has definitely resulted in my engaging my core a lot more. I find that a lot of people are very weak in their core muscle groups and this is something that I am definitely changing about myself.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
8 Oct 12
hi dear dorannmwin, did you start with that treatment already? These things were what I told you about in my answer to your other post about mentioning your back pain. If you havent had them yet please be aware of the fact that your leg will go numb so you need someone to accompany you home from the hospital when you got that injection. I had approx. 10 minutes time to get home from the moment the last injection was done till the numbness set in so that was just enough to get home and get up one flight of stairs.
That numbness will stay for about one hour or two and should be gone by then.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
10 Oct 12
I did have the first injection last week and I have to say that it might have been one of the strangest things that I've ever experienced in my life. You are right that my leg did go numb and I'm glad that I had someone with me, not only to drive me, but to also make sure that I was okay.
I'm also happy to say that it does seem to be making some difference. For me, that is the greatest part of it all.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
16 Oct 12
Oh no, I really didn't need to read that since I'll be going in on Wednesday for my second injection. I certainly hope that doesn't happen to me. I do already know that I won't be able to drive for the rest of the day and I also won't really feel comfortable with it the following day. But I can't just sit here and be an invalid.
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
13 Oct 12
I am really glad to read that these injections seem to be of help for you. They didnt work for me. The strangest was after the second injection.
First there was no numbness kicking in so when I was home I decided to get online. Only to crash to the floor two hours later cause the leg was numbed then and not being able to get into my bed. Its a captains bed with two big drawers under it so its higher than the ordinary bed.
The whole thing ended with my husband putting the foldable guest mattress into my room and me pulling down the bedding from the bed and cuddling up there. It was a total nightmare to get to the toilet that evening......
@lanieky (47)
• United States
8 Nov 12
Let me tell you a story I went to the chriropractor several years ago and they told me I had deteriating bones in my back and then I went to my doctor all they wanted to do is give me pain medicine and I wanted to try different things first now I have been to physical therapy and then they did some masages on my back after that my back was better til I went to the pain management clinic and they said it would help if I lost weight they also want to do the injections on my back I am scared but they want to do it once every three months.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
12 Nov 12
Honestly, the injections in your back really aren't all that bad. I have had two of them and I don't know yet if I will get the third one (I see the doctor on Friday and he is going to decide at that time what to do). Aside from the fact that I will feel strange for a while after the injections, they don't take long and are fairly easy to get over. And yes, they do help (at least in my situation).
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
Thank you so much for your support. Most of my family has been very supportive of me through all of this, but my little brother has decided that this is the time to tell me that I'm a baby and I just can't handle pain. This isn't the truth at all, but he just doesn't understand it.
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
29 Sep 12
That terrible nagging pain in your back and legs sure makes life a lot harder. I wish you well, just remember that most pain in the backmeans weakness in the body's core so you need to start to work on that. Blessings
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
Oh, I've definitely been working on my core strength as much as possible. Though I don't have a stability ball here at my house, I will always sit on one when I am at my mother's house because I know that is good for the core and I have also started to make a really conscious effort to always try to keep my core engaged. It doesn't seem to really be helping my back, but I can tell you that my abs are starting to look ripped.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215441)
• Chile
29 Sep 12
I hope those injections help, friend. I have a friend who was injected corticoids for pain in her knees and it did wonders. But I don`t know if what you say is the same. Are you also going to have exercises as therapy?
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
I have been having physical therapy since about a week after the accident happened. That has helped a lot with the whiplash that I had in my cervical spine, I actually don't have any pain there now. These injections are to help the lumbar and sacral pain that I've been having. I just hope that I might be feeling some degree of relief by the time that Thursday rolls around.
1 person likes this
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
29 Sep 12
Hi friend, good to know you are taking treatment for your back pain, wish you to get a speedy recovery to this treatment. Don't worry about the risks, be positive and hop you will get success with this treatment. All the best
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
2 Oct 12
I am trying to stay positive. I hope that I will be able to come on here on Thursday and I will be able to say that I'm feeling a lot better because the injections are helping to give me the relief that I can literally say that I've been waiting months for.
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