Severe Pain 8 weeks after Cortisone Injection

[crispin85]

Hi all,

New to this forum and was brought here with similar threaRAB about this issue but just wanted some advice myself.

I had a cortisone injection on my private insurance in the beginning of august in my lower back, one each side. Sorry I can't be more specific than that. This was for broad back pain I've been experiencing for many years now.

For the first couple of weeks it was ok but over the last 6 weeks or so I've developed agonising pain from what feels like the location of where I had the injections. I've also developed pain running down my leg, a throbbing but sharp pain which if it catches me off guard can be a definite 9 on the pain scale, especially if I walk or I'm sitting upright.

Now the original pain was nothing like this. This is a far worse nerve type, stabbing pain that is just unbearable.

I went back to the professor who gave me the injection who then referred me to have an MRI.

The MRI came back clean, no herniated disc and nothing else he could see. So now he's referred me to a physiotherapist.

I think he's underestimating the severity of the pain i'm experiencing. I'm finding it more and more difficult to walk. I now have a permanent limp, worried about taking time off work, and haven't had any doctors write me off work at all, and I'm just completely miserable. I've been taking tramadol 100s but have recently moved down to 50s in fear of dependence/addiction but I'm just not sure I can hack this anymore.

I've read other people with similar problems but they all seem to occur immediately after the injection and seem to ease with time. This doesn't seem to be going away and after 8 weeks surely I should be seeing some sign of improvement?

I'm really worried there has been some permanent damage done by the injection, but I doubt the doctor I saw would tell me if there was.

I need some advice on this, what should I do? Just hang tight and hope for the best? Go back to the NHS for a second opinion? Are there any tests that can show damage done by these types of injections? Has anyone else had similar issues with this?

Thank you, and any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks.
Chris

 

[seekonk]

It is possible that they damaged the nerve root during the injection. However, if that were the case, I think you would have felt it happen during the injection - in other worRAB you would have felt like you were struck by lightning when the needle went in. That's what happened to me.

However, about 3 months after my injection, I suppose when the injection wore off, I got extremely intense pain, probably a 9 or a 10, for at least a couple of weeks, so much so that I could not sleep for days because I could not lie down. I had to kneel on the passenger seat of the car, face backwarRAB, while someone drove me to the doctor. This pain was worse than anything I had ever experienced until then. I got an MRI and, like you, there was no visible new damage - in fact the MRI looked better than before. Go figure.

Just take the Tramadol as needed. Unless you are specifically prone to addictions, it is not very addictive, you can come off relatively easily once you feel better by ramping down over a couple of weeks or so.

 

[Caligirl]

My story is probably not what you want to hear, but, here goes. I had SI joint injections on both sides. This was a diagnostic nerve block w/both Lidocaine and cortisone in it. After the injections I felt good. At about day 30, when the cortisone wore off, I experienced pain unlike any pain I had ever had before. It was so intense, so unbearable. When I told my pain-management doc about it, he attributed this to damaged nerves as a result of 37 years of type I diabetes. But still to this day I wonder if he screwed up the injections. The pain would not calm down and I ended up having RFA (radio-frequency nerve ablation) at a major teaching hospital. This procedure essentially gave me my life back. It worked. I hope that you do not have to go this route but please know that, if push comes to shove, there is a last-resort solution. They can ablate the nerves affected by the nerve block you had. Best wishes to you.

 

[seekonk]

It is also possible that, during the time the injection keeps the pain away, you are moving in ways that the pain would otherwise have prevented you from moving, and maybe irritating or damaging some tissues in the process. As terrible as pain is, up to a point it does serve a protective function by limiting your activities so that tissues can heal. Once the injection wears off, you feel this damage.