Trigger point injections

Hi badheartdude,

I'm sorry things are not going well for you.

I had an epidural injection into my spine a few years ago and had trigger point injections done about five months ago. The former had no effect, good or bad. But the latter did help me.

Nevertheless, for the first two or three days afterwards, my back was definitely more tender and I even had trouble lying down. I found that ice helped a lot and the pain was likely due to irritation caused by the injections.

Most of the injection sites didn't help, but a few did quite a bit. Of maybe 20 different locations, one helped massively, and then three our four mildly. So, the procedure is really hit-or-miss.

The spot that had been most painful for me, feeling like a burning spear most days, was helped the most. The doctor mentioned that she felt the inflammation in the tissues as she moved the needle through. By contrast, my upper trapizeus which is often in a rock-hard spasm didn't improve at all.

To help the doctor, the night before my appointments, I had my wife make marks on my back as I pointed to each spot that was painful. Of course, some areas are just diffusely in pain, but there were a few "burning spear" locations and it was those that the injections helped the most.

So, maybe your doctor didn't hit the right spots, or maybe your pain didn't have the classic "trigger point" characteristics but is instead more diffuse. If you do have some clear points of pain, maybe give the injections another try.

As for the Cleveland clinic and stims, hopefully someone else can offer you some input. All I can say is that whatever your insurance doesn't cover, including travel for medical purposes, can be used as a tax deduction (assuming you have medical expenses >7.5% of your AGI):

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc502.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink1000179026

Another option to consider is to see if there are any facilities in Canada that can help. For instance, there is a pain center at the Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto. When my mother had a hernia operation last year, about half the people on her floor were from the U.S., who chose to have their surgery in Canada because it was far less expensive. Here's a thread I came across that you might find interesting. In includes costs of various procedures:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/775660.html

Hey Dude,

I have had both the RFA's and the trigger point injections.  I have to admit that it takes me three solid weeks for any relief from the RFA and that it is MUCH worse for those three weeks...then MUCH better for a long time (from six months to a year).  Of course, this is for me and everyone is different.

As far as the trigger point injections....first, I thought they did some good, then perhaps not for a few days, then I realized they had indeed made some drastic changes in the muscle spasms I was experiencing.  It was kind of strange because it seemed the initial med worked for the first few days.....then there were the few days of higher pain than normal...then the pain and muscle tensions diminished and have not been the same since.  That was a couple of months ago and I do plan to have more, but I can only have them four times per year.  I have another RFA scheduled on the 27th and want to do that first, but I will schedule the trigger point injections for as soon as possible thereafter. 

I'm also going to discuss a long acting med instead of the ones I am taking now, or perhaps in addition to the ones I am taking now.  My pain levels are insane, but I can honestly say that I know I have responded well to the procedures you were discussing.  It's just that my overall condition is deteriorating (as expected) and my overall pain is much higher on the scale than I can handle anymore.

I hope you will find some relief after a little more time.  The internal soreness from any procedure takes a toll on you because it adds to what you already have to deal with.

All my best!

sure hope you get to feeling better soon

keep us posted

Suzane