Fibromyalgia Community

Hello....I am sure Nana B can share with you about the injections....she has been getting them for years now....and she gets multiple injections at one time...she still works as a nurse and I think the injections help her to be able to do her work...I do not understand why doctors are so different....not informing patients about things that might work for them...it is good when we can just do our own research about health issues...and of course if you happen to mention this to the doctors they act like patients should not do this....but some seem to forget that this is how people can learn these days..

The internet is actually the way we can keep up with a lot of things...sometimes more than what we even care to know.

Have you tried the Stopain Spray for your back pain? I also have low back pain and I use the spray after I shower.....it is good stuff...

Have you tried to wear elbow braces at night to help with your pain? You might try those as well....I also had elbow problems which eventually lead to having surgery on the right one years ago...it took over 2 years for it to finally get healed...but I have not had too many problems since then...if I feel something not quite right I wear the brace for a few nights and it helps whatever is causing the pain....

I hope you find something that will help your pain.

Take care.


MiMi

Funny that I just read your post......I was at my Dr. yesterday who did lidocaine injections in some trigger points in the mid back and lower neck. (I wrote under daily post.)

Today the numbness in the hands and forearms is gone and I can type! She wants me to follow up with my chiro and alternate weeks with him and shots to see if we can get them calmed down. She only recommended three times for now.

I will let you know later on how it is doing.

laurab

Hello laurab....MiMi in NC....I just wanted to comment on your post....when I was having all sorts of hand/wrist/elbow and arm issues....with lots of shoulder pain....the neurosurgeon told me that when I had the cervical surgery....there was a chance that the surgery would help all of my other issues...he also said that we have a place where they can all cross and this just might cause a lot of problems with the hands and arms as well...

Once he did the cervical surgery I did get *instant relief* from the shoulder....and was hoping that with time the rest would also get better...but the elbow and hands did not respond like I had hoped and he ended up months later doing elbow surgery as well...he told me that he had never seen one such as mine....the elbow inside was very red and swollen and had lots of inflammation...he also told me that he thought it would take at least 2 years for it to heal...it actually took about 3 to 4 months longer than the 2 year mark for it to completely heal...

I do hope that you will be able to *get your issues calmed down*....

Take care and good luck...


MiMi

I had TP injections on my lower back that didn't do anything for me at all. I did get an injection in my shoulder though that helped for about a month. It was a blissful month though with no pain. It did come right back after the month.

Very interesting.....I have arthritis in the neck caused from may tail enders. Don't run into me I can't take again and who knows what I will do.

I am just getting started to see if medically for the first time in years if there is anything to be done. I and my Dr. are conservative on this issue as it has been a life long problem. I will keep up with her on this as now I am ready if they have to do anything invasive


Thanks again for your imput and wisdome.

lauab

Hi, I am sorry I haven't been on in a bit. BUT.

I have received Trigger Point injections for the last 13 years and i receive them every 2 weeks as they don't all last. Not all areas are treated each session. I would say i am about 20 -30 injections now where I needed 60 in the begining. O U C H.

I love to hate them, the response of "range of motion" and mobility, less pain over all and increased function is a Y E S...

I am hopeful to continue for as long as it is offered. There was a presentation in Canada (me involved as the patient) where they discussed tissue fibrosis from repetative traumatic injecting and the use of Lidocaine. The result was a negative.
This was not found in patients studied.

I did do the Botox injection run when I first started and I wish I hadn't, somehow I think that really wasn't smart. My neurology book had the physiology of why to do it, but now I wonder if the spinalis muscles would be better if they hadn't been injected there..??

The key to this is a good practitioner that has ample experience with the needle. I have had the neuro fellows try me* (ha) and I know exactly who's hands have the syringe. Just sticking someone doesn't release the muscle you MUST hit the ischemic (trigger) zone to get a twitch and release response.

I own Travelle and Simons the physiology book of this myofascial disease. It is dry reading but was great to get a handle on it. The handbook of FM and Chronic Myofascial pain by Dr Devin Starlanyl is good for some understanding and self help ideas to patch yourself up.

Please look in the TOOLBOX under resources to see what all the fmily does to be better. It is under caprice as a link.

I hope this helped. I am always around on Saturday morning to check in.

Any questionis a good question...............Hugs, Nancy B

Thank you. I appreciate your reply. I don't know what to do about this. I have had a nerve block injection in the past for myofascial pain. This did not help me in the area treated and then other pain started below it. Are they the same?
I have also noticed recently that I am very congested and often have a headache in the morning. Quite suddenly I have a very sharp, stabbing pain on one side of my head. I read that these are known as "ice pick" headaches, which last only a few seconds. Does anyone have those? In addition, there is sometimes a feeling of having some fluttering in my ear. My dr. checked this out, no inflammation. Are all these issues related to fibro.? Almost all my pain is on my right side but lately the rib pain at the back and going around to the side is particularly bad. If feels as if there is a clamp on there that is being squeezed tight. I am beginning to wonder if every pain I feel has something to do with having fibro. and that there could be a problem that I am not addressing because it's all down to that.I have nothing else for the pain now so the injection is a last resort. All other drugs have made me feel incredibly ill and I couldn't withstand all the assault of side effects to my system. I have a lot of sensitivity to food and various additives and other chemicals. I barely know what to eat and I am losing weight. (105 lbs) I feel every bone in my body when I lie down. I have heard other people say that their elbows are painful too. Many of you also talk about neurology. Should I be seeing a neurologist? No one has suggested this.
Thank you to all of you wonderful friends here, Mimi, Jan, Foreversore and so many others for your thoughts and advice and support.

Thank you Mimi. You are always so ready to reply to everyone and answer questions. Your information is very helpful. My elbows look swollen but they are not. My arms are very thin and I guess the bone looks very big. My back is the worst and that's what bothers me the most because I can't stand for long periods although I can walk fine and my legs and feet are (usually) OK.
Take care

All roads lead to rome as they say....I am right dominanat so I have to say alot of my issue is on my left. I hold things on the left to use the right hand so the left neck is weaker and is stressed more when used.

Took me a bit to understand that. Once one muscle starts it seems eventually it talks to the others and then I am festered in a zone....

When the scalene muscles are up and in need of injections I have a choking sensation or fullness to the throat/neck area....I get fullness in the ear when I lay down and the muscle squeezing also gives me the ability to hear my pulse...I know this is neck as it goes away when I get my shots and I am in tune.

I can't answer some of the questions....a nerve block that didn't work? Well they may not have been where they belonged to get the nerve speaking. Look into that book about Myofascial pain. The referred areas of pain for people with trigger point syndrome is a fascinating learning curve.

The site for injection is my chest and anterior arm pit...the pain site is my elbow to last three finger numbness. The Ulnar nerve in entraped in the arm pit area.....The thumb pain I get is
from the forearm muscle (from B/P's taken over and over in the office.)

I have learned this over the years...I can massage them too and not get injected, it takes longer but can be done. There is trigger point massage as well, painful road and not a quick to turn me around.

I started with a rice pak the the neck in a recliner, sitting on my hands to straighten the muscles. Maybe start here and see if it helps. That was the treatment for the headaches...a muscle relaxant and nap. If not...then I moved on to a shower and washed my hair to massage the scalp and neck muscles in the shower.

Now I have a long heating pad that cover all....and I treat the whole when I sit.

I wish you luck in figuring this out. It is a tough curve to figuring out what works and how to build a toolbox for yourself.

Nancy B

Thank you Nancy. You are very knowledgeable and wonderful about answering. The nerve block injections were supposed to be administered in a series of 10, once a week. I didn't have any relief after the first 3. As I left the office following the 4th appt., I was backing my car out of a space and suddenly I felt as if I had no control over the movement of my head. I continued on carefully but it kept happening so I pulled over and got out of my car. I had a severe panic attack and there was no one around so I was just lying on the ground until it went away. This effect lasted for some time afterward. I called the dr's office to tell them and they said, "this isn't an emergency service". I wanted to report what had happened and find out what I should do. After that I was simply too frightened to go back. The injections by pain management specialist were extremely painful but I would have been OK with that if the whole thing had happened. I didn't go back. I made an appt. with the rheum. to try the trigger point. I was hoping it would be enough to get me through Christmas.
Best wishes.

Ok so now I will say, it was a BAD shot they gave you and hit a branch to support the head. BAD stuff to block not only sensory but hit the motor neurons as well.....

Sorry you were so scared. It has happened with Botox people and doing the neck muscles. My doc was very sparing in the neck area....

Now I want to say. A real session of trigger point injections in the beginning is PAINFUL and disruptive to the normal tightness you have now. be prepared to rest afterwards...I took motrin for the pain and warmed the muscles when i got home to the point of a nap.

The muscles were more awake and not tight, I would down right say spastic! I went back to the office in a few days complaining of snakes in my back and spinal pooping with all the releasing I had. So many years of lifting patients and thenliberated all that fusion. It was amazing, I went to make a right turn with the car and went to look left to pull out and my head (released for the first time in years....) spun around to the back seat! Like in the exorcist!! I knew I was on to something when that happened.

But I again have to say...it is going to be sore and kinda tough in the beginning. I say this therapy is not for the faint of heart. BUT it is MY therapy. I need it, use it and love to hate it....

I wish you luck and so much more, that it works for you and is as good an answer as I have found. I do not consider myself so much FM as I do CMP. As I have taut bands of muscles with so many trigger points. I am broken but use all the tools I can find to have a life.

Good luck and remember...motrin after, maybe a thermacare in the car immediate. You may be dizzy after too, so someone should drive you. I received 200mg of Lidocaine my first few sessions...that is alot and you absorb it and it can make you quite dizzy. I statred driving myself and would stay in the building in my office before driving...I still do that.

OK, good luck..Nancy B