Had a cervical block today and it went bad, anyone else have this problem

I will never have any type of spinal injection, block, or needle biopsy every again! I can't remember exactly what type of spinal injection/blocks I had (they were THAT bad, that I guess I just totally blocked them out of my memory bank! lol). But seriously, I had tremendous swelling, huge increase in pain, nausea, increased BP, dizziness, and I even got a weird rash. And this is a bit different, but I had an amniocentesis and thought I was dying. They had to cut the procedure short and make do with the amount of fluid they managed to get. It was more a psychological reaction than a physiological one - I can only describe it as an 'out of body' experience. Everything got really loud and there was a horrible buzzing sound, and auditory hallucinations. There was more to it than I can describe here - but it was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. There is actually a name for it but I can't remember what it is - psycho-'something'.

So that is my experience. I have no problems with innoculations, just anything that involves large bore needles that inject something or draw something out.....never, ever again! Hope you're feeling better.

Welcome to the forum, tieggers.

Seriously, your neck is swollen 2 inches? I'd go to the ER. That and the rest of your symptoms sound serious. These are not normal side effects of neck injections. At least call someone else, maybe an ER or something. (Maybe someone will come along with a better suggestion.) And don't drive yourself!

I've had all sorts of spinal injections over several years. I've had no reactions like yours, in fact no increase in pain or discomfort at all, although a few of them didn't work. I'm getting cervical facet joint injections now, trying to find the right place so I can get a nerve ablation. I had 6 ablations in my lumbar spine last year that gave me great relief, some still effective after 10 months, one needed injection a few weeks ago.

I had a 6 injections in my lower back January 9th of this year.They hit my Sciatic Nerve and put me in hell for 46 days.

The straightest answer I could get from them was that "It would most likely go away.Eventually."

No more shots.

Rick

Okay I went to the hospital and turns out he bruised the muscle and there is a hematoma (sp) in my spine. PM doc nurse called and they are mad I went to the ER. And they don't want me to have an MRI, They told me to go to the surgeon. They told me to go to the ER. Turns out they have no privileges there or anywhere. What a mess. The doctor at the ER told me my neck hard as a rock.

OK IMHO no dr should advise not to go to er if they themselves will not see you ASAP when you have issues after a procedure.

Am glad you got medical help & found out what happened.

Suggest you get copy of dr report & make a note of what was injected. That might have been part of the issue. Did they advise follow up to keep eye on ir? Advise heat or ice or physical therapy ?

From medicinenet
"..One common complication of all hematomas is the risk of infection. While the hematoma is made of old blood, it has no blood supply itself and therefore is at risk for colonization with bacteria..."
(Edited to add the above)

I had Similar experience as Thundercloud.. immediately after injection my blood pressure shot up to point doctor's office personnel was concerned I would stroke .. I spent several hours in an exam room with my family member who was my driver (required)
& nurse just said he advised I never have another injection. The doctor did not check on me at all !!
Other longer lasting effects included intolerance to lite (eyes),
sudden onset of dizzy spells - extreme falling down spells.
Those side effects lasted for YEARS!

They knew I have issues w/steroids beforehand & they used one anyway.

That happened w/ not 1 but 2 other dr.. I was 'under' the other 2 times and had advised EVERYONE beforehand but used them anyway- decided after the second time that I will write 'no steroids' in red permanent marker very near the site before another procedure.

Another time dr had needles loaded (w/steroid) & ready to do injection in spasming muscles when I reminded her .. apparently did not check my records. This was Long time dr who had done these injections several times before..

Just ask me if I trust dr to not harm me !!

Sorry I haven't been around, but sitting or standing is horrible. I know my BP is sky high. I get dizzy standing up or sitting.
Ever since I had this done, I've had trouble breathing, shaking, weakness, headache, chills and have vomited a bunch of times. No fever, but lot's of flushing.
Also, they won't tell me what they used to inject into me. The nurse was so snotty when I told her I was just discharged from the hospital (the doc said if I couldn't handle the pain that night to go in).

Seriously, Tiegs, your doctors have no privileges anywhere? Sounds fishy.

You may still get pain relief from the injection:
After a shoulder op I had a problem with pain and spasms in my bicep. An orthopod gave me a steroid injection deep in the bicep muscle that gave me a big hematoma that took months to resolve. However the injection DID help a lot with the spasming and pain. The cause of the spasms though, was in my neck. I found that out when a lumbar injection (yes, lumbar) went all the way up to my neck and cured the problem. There are passages all up the spine that can allow passage of fluids like that. I asked a different ortho about it and he had seen plenty of these events.

Thunder - Did your injection have anesthetic with epinephrine in it? I get bad tachycardia from epi because it has sulfite in it. You can ask for no epi. My dentist doesn't use it for anyone anymore. It's often put in to stop bleeding.

I wouldn't stop getting injections just because of a hematoma. I would wait until it resolves completely, maybe even some months, but if the injections give relief I would continue with them. I would probably go somewhere else though, after treatment like you got.

Hope you feel better soon.. did you discuss the continuing high bp w/ the hospital dr or your primary care dr?

Definitely sounds as though the injections give you awful side effects, I hope you feel better very soon.

You can't hold your head up?? terrible, and the Dr should see you.

For months it was so hard for me to hold my head up, I was always looking down as my head felt so heavy and neck was in so much pain, I sat with a warm bean bag collar around my neck to hold my head up, and sitting made it all worse.

I have to say my neck pain is 75% better, still there but not nearly as bad, I'm sorry you have had no relief at all.

I still have awful pain in my left arm/fingers which was not this bad before the injection, also numbness in ankle/knee.

Hope you get to see a Dr very soon, I know this takes over your whole life, big hugs....

Poor Tieggs.

Get the names of the meds including the local anesthetics and whether they had epinephrine in them. You have a right to this information. You need to know this to help figure out if you have an allergy or intolerance. You have a right to information.

Don't expect a hematoma to go down in a few days. It's more like a few months.

Keep track of the BP. If systolic stays above 150 you need medication. (what my cardiologist told me) Call your cardiologist or get one if you don't have one. You need the names of those meds for him!

Something I had my hubby use got rid of his big bruises on his legs - Vitamin D. He had big heme (iron) spots for many years. Since he works indoors I knew as a northerner he was low on D. Taking 2000 IU D daily got rid of the spots in a couple of months. Sunshine might work too.

You've been through too much already and now you're unfortunately finding out why you need a PPO instead of an HMO. So sorry! Best wishes.

You are entitled to know the meds they used, this is outrageous, it does sound as though they are hiding info.

You're in pain and the fighting between auto insurance and medical insurance doesn't help but let them worry about that!

Hi hon
Sorry this is such a big mess for you..!! Did not just ignore you. I've had internet access issues for days (in fact this posting may not make it)

You DO need this info . Day after my second screwed up procedure I had someone take me to facility where procedure was performed, with picture ID, & had copy of report w/name of steroid, in hand in 10 min. I now list "steroids, including xxx," in my allergies.

Perhaps others here will offer other suggestions
First one: I'm thinking the dr sent report to your insurance company - perhaps request a copy from them?

Second: call dr office without ID yourself & ask for records dept, ask how to get copies, how much $$, acceptable forms of payment, how long it would take, etc.
You may need to have someone take you in to sign something, I had best results having one of my (tall, adult) sons by my sides. By prior aggreement He would step in when he saw me getting stressed.

Also, if you are not already doing this, Urge you to keep a chronological record of everything.. loose leaf so you can slide reports into plastic sleeves -
Have pages w/phone calls, dates & contacts names w/your questions & their responses. separate pages to record your pain

Ask some to write for you if you cannot. Course this can be done on computer instead..

Hope you are feeling better as time goes by.. pamper yourself