I met with the pain doctor and his physician’s assistant on Thursday and thankfully they were able to squeeze me into a packed schedule for a steroid injection into my spine between the L3 - L4 area. This was done via an epidural...yes, an epidural like you get while you’re in labor.
The steroid injection is supposed to reduce the swelling of the nerve. I’ve been told it takes anywhere from 7 to 10 to 14 days to fully kick in. This afternoon will make day 6, and I’m really hoping to be one of the lucky ones who gets relief on day 7.
At that visit last Thursday I was prescribed a different pain medication because the other two I was taking were making me so nauseated, plus they really weren’t helping with the pain. Well, that medication did take my pain level down from a 10 to about an 8, but holy cow did I get super nauseated. Basically all I could do was lie down with my eyes closed. It’s a 12 hour drug and after spending Saturday in misery, I decided to not take my next dose. So, the nausea went away but the pain shot back up.
I called the physician's assistant on Monday morning and got a prescription for an anti-nausea drug. I didn’t want to try and switch pain meds at that point because everything seems to make me sick, plus our insurance required a written authorization for that prescription, which would take about a week to get, so we just paid for it ourselves...and we paid a lot. My PA also gave me a prescription for something that specifically targets nerve pain. I take it at night and this is something that takes weeks to fully kick in...why does everything take so long to work?
The good news is now that I’ve had a few doses of the expensive pain medication, my pain has lessened a bit. I can’t stand very long or walk across my house without my leg hurting immensely, and I still cannot sit in a chair because that 90 degree angle compresses the nerve too much. But I’m not groaning in pain and unable to find any comfortable position to lie in, so that’s a plus.
The bad news is that the anti-nausea medication is only helping a little. I get a few decent hours and then I’m back to feeling barfy. As you might guess, I’m writing this during one of my few decent hours stage.
I don’t know when I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule, but I will be back one of these days. In the meantime I’ll leave you with some pictures of my constant companion.
Laying on me didn’t last too long as it hurt.
Laying behind me...better, but every time I’d move to adjust to the pain it disturbed him and then it took an annoyingly long time to get him settled again.
Yesterday morning he stayed in his bed. I think we were both more comfortable this way.
from My Journey to Fit http://bit.ly/2Vh5LOA
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