Terrified: Guided Cortisone injection

[whatsgoingtohappen]

I'm absolutely terrified and have gotten myself into a pathetic state. Tomorrow morning I'm going to have a guided cortisone injection into my shoulder, which I have suffered from serve chronic pain for over a year.
I'm terrified of needles and have shockingly low pain barrier, I'm pretty worried I will cry and embarrass myself. I hate crying especially in front of strangers. Plus I have no idea what is going to happen, all I know is that it's meant to hurt a lot. I am very very close to canceling it.
But I cant go on in this pain anymore.

god they are BLISS! focus on that. you may well have an instant sense of relief from the local anaesthetic in the mix. if you've had a year of chronic pain, you will leave the clinic in a state of almost shock at the wonderful relief.

it's not quick in that all the faffing around with the utrasound to visualise the area takes time and that's the time that nerves can get you. what i do:

1.Go. You must go. You get treatment and further diagnosis at the same time. You must protect your shoulder from further damage, it's the most complex joint in your body and needs care.

1. tell them you're nervous, really nervous, don't go in brave and then collapse, they won't be ready for it. Maybe they'll have that numbing stuff they hive sometimes, like pre-epidural so you don't feel it. Sometimes they don't. Ask for it - ?topical anaesthetic it maybe called
2. have tissues ready for crying, expect you will, don't get your knickers in a twist about crying, just do what you need to get along
3. Take all your usual pain meds beforehand so that you are well tanked up anyway...
4. first time i had one i had a tough scarf wadded up and bit down on it as injection happened, well injections I had 2, as first placement wasn't excellent.
5. So be prepared for their maybe having to go in twice. It's OK! It's worth it.
6. I don't think they hurt much. Feels like pressure, more than say a nasty cut pain. But the pressure is deffo an unnatural feeling, though not so sore.
7. So hypnotise yourself through. I just bite my scarf and think 'This too will pass, etc' in my head until they say done.

Good luck, do go, it's fine, it really is.

1. Don't do anything after wards. DOn't drive. Don't hold onto bus rails with that arm. Do't Lift kids with it. And treat it kindly for a few more days after as it all deflames and gets better.

Repeat after me: this is a totally brilliant effective treatment, I want it!

Thank you merryberry you've helped me more than you realise. I'm going to print your post off and read it in the car on the way to the hospital.
hadn't though about taking pain killers before hand will do so in the car on the way. I used to meditate will try that.

They've said DH can go in for the scan part but I'm not sure if that will help I hate crying. DH isn't good in that situation too.

My sister had one in her knee and she is scared of needles hospitals etc.It was instant relief and also was 10+ years ago and she never needed another and really got her life back driving etc.As someone else said they have seen it all before FOCUS ON THE RELIEF!!Good luck x

I've had loads of patients cry on me, it's OK, absolutely nothing to be embarassed about. They'll give you a local anaesthetic first and it will be sorted before you know it.

you're very welcome, there's always something to terrify in a hospital, but i do believe in this treatment very much, and don't find it that onerous. it's truly OK, though of course you have to be brave, especially the first unknown time! i mean, they're sticking neeedles in us. Hence zoning out as a coping strategy

when i have them, the scan bit is the bit i've learnt to really love. i've always had mine done by good docs, who've given me priceless information on what they're seeing. i've never had a write up letter or follow up consultation where they gave such detailed info again.

if you can, do try and listen to that bit. or have your husband do that job - "listen to them, ignore me crying".

Herbie LOL I'm taking note of that little fib it sounds like a good strategy.

Belle thank you for the reassurance, I just really hate crying it's so humiliating. It's a bit of a personal hang up of mind.

merryberry thats a good idea getting DH to listen, he's came to all my appointments so far and usually remembers more than me. So glad you've had good docs lets hope tomorrow I get one of them.

Do you go inside the scan? Or is it one of the ones with a portable x-ray.

Does anyone know if it's safe to TTC when having this sort of treatment? Or should we wait?

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply I was on the verge of a panic attack but you've all helped me focus on what's important having a pain free future.

just came back to see how you got on.

don't know about ttc on local steroids, i expect it will turn out ok, as they're not supoosed to get into your general system. but get a medic's advice, not just me thinking out loud please!

OP - how did it go?

What tests did you have beforehand and what is the problem with your shoulder?

My DH has had x-rays and nerve conduction studies but as yet no results (6 weeks since the x-rays ), he is in constant pain with his shoulder, he had 6 months of physio which helped his joint mobility but he now has severe pain which no painkillers are helping with, even tramadol.

Malificence Gosh how awful for your DH the painkillers don't work for me anymore and I've refused Tramadol.
I've been told it's an impinged shoulder I believe they are wrong.

What happened yesterday: Absolutely nothing.

Ok heres what happened yesterday, this may be long, first a little back story. Skip to the end if it's too long.

It's actually been closer to 2 years of pain I've had, the DR reminded me of that yesterday. One day my shoulder was a bit sore I ignored it continued over a few weeks to hurt then suddenly one day I started to experience terrible pain in my shoulder and down my arm then it sort of went weak. Due to the fact that I was moving in a few weeks and the sudden death of a relative I took painkillers and waited until the move was completed.

Big shock ALL the DRs surgeries in the area were full and they were refusing all new patients. I ended up going to A&E were I was given some pain killers told my muscle was spasiming and probably strained it give it time to heal then find a DRs. Anyway eventually after a year we moved to were DH still owned a property and had stayed at his Surgery so I could join there and finally find someone to look at my shoulder.
That was a year ago. After my first initial appointment things went very slowly for the first 6 months with my DR and physio not properly communicating but both agreed it was an Impingement, Physio also said I had the worse case of my shoulder curving to protect itself he'd ever seen.
Eventually my DH went in very calmly demanded to see practice manager and warned them he was on the very of making a complaint and would pressure it very vigorously.

3 months later I got an appointment with a consultant he was good and very reassuring it was an impingement and said he was going to refer me for an injection he also says that the previous physio was causing me damage and has told me to refuse to see original physio.
By this point I was now experiencing serve neck pain and my other shoulder was starting to hurt too he said this was probably due to my other shoulder and probably trapped nerves not to be worried.

So I had another 3 month wait, during that time I've had many other worrying symptoms such as:
Pins and needles in limbs through out the day
arms loosing feeling going weak
other shoulder just as bad
Knee going strange
finger and toe joints sore
Hips seem to feel like they have pressure on them.

So I made an emergency appointment the day my letter arrived for the Injection as the past few days I'd had quite a few of the symptoms. The DR was worse than useless she couldn't seem to grasp what I was there for and kept going on about something completely different. She ordered me an appointment with the nurse to have a blood test for today. The day AFTER my injection.

So went to hospital yesterday, we spoke to a nurse as soon as we went in and asked if we would get to talk DR because we were concerned about other symptoms. She reassured us that it's routine to talk to DR after the ultrasound before injection so I relaxed a little.
Then I was informed they'd lost my records, finally found them after an hour.
Went in was scanned, DR wasn't willing to talk or do anything other than scan shoulder (he wouldn't even scan or discus my neck which was always part of the original problem) and do injection that he was going to do right there an then but DR did say he would understand if I wanted to cancel he would refer me back to the original consultant.

So we went home. Oh and due to stress, worry and pain I slept in and forgot my blood test appointment.

The only thing we have decided is fuck it lets start seriously TTC we've waited 2 years and I have no faith it will get any better.

If you've read this far thank you it's very kind of you to listen to my moaning.

Malificence Forgot to answer your Question. The only test I had was a Xrays and a chat to the consultant who got me to move my arm in different positions.
Did have some physio that my consultant wasn't to impressed about when he found out.

My only advice is nag nag nag them I think I've been to lenient about it all, don't let him get into my position 2 years later and getting worse.

I'm so sorry whatsgointohappen , I haven't got much faith in DH's consultant tbh, 6 weeks and counting for x-ray results seems ridiculous, he's been told that he probably has impingement too.
He just wants to know what's wrong, it's making him understandably miserable, he isn't sleeping properly either, which makes it worse.
He rang the hospital clinic last week for them to tell him he's not a patient of theirs, when our GP had given him the information!
He will be ringing them on a weekly basis from now on.

oh health care nightmare

if you can face them all again at GPs, please get rheumatoid factor and anti-CCP tests. The fingers toes knees and hips sound like my RA (rheumatoid arthritis) i'm sorry to say. Don't panic! But specifically ask to rule this out, which an anti-CCP test will do.

Also note, it doesn't cost that much in the scheme of things to go private for investigations with a rheumatologist. Many RA patients get dicked around SO long by NHS that it's quite common for us to do private now and then.

RA info

Malificence Has your DH tried putting Ice on his shoulder, that works better for me than anything else.

merryberry I am SO glad you've said RA that exactly what I believe it is, I read a thread on MN that mentioned it a few weeks ago and googled RA it was truly a light bulb moment for me.
Strangely that type of diagnosis doesn't terrify me like it would have at the beginning of all this. The way I see it is that I have spent all this time in pain without any guidance or proper medication with a proper diagnosis it can only get better.
Also the whole going into remission thing, the first year it went away and came back occasionally if it was an impinged shoulder surely it would always be sore?

Funny enough I am thinking of going private, is there any type of medical insurance you would recommend?
How much for private treatment would I be looking at?

I'm 26 and my granny is in better condition than me!

One reason I think I'd be quite glad of a RA diagnosis it I was really starting worry that it was something terminal and it wouldn't be found in time.

Thats my thinking too that it cant be dealt with properly if it's a wrong diagnosis.
Glad someone else is saying RA, going to make a appointment with DR and tell him directly this is what I think it to be here is list of all my problems I would like a test RA please.

Due to missing my appointment yesterday for a blood test I've got another appointment on Wednesday to have a routine blood test. Will RA be included in that or will I need a specific blood test?

Whats - he's tried ice / heat / a tens machine / every herbal supplement under the sun. Nothing relieves the pain fully, he's been to see a different GP this morning and he's signed him off work for a fortnight, he drives and hour there and an hour back every day and that seems to exacerbate the problem.

He won't give him any other medication to try either but he is asking for a re-referral to the hospital as he agrees that almost 7 weeks for x-ray results and 5 weeks for nerve study results isn't acceptable.

He's booked in with a chiropractor tomorrow to see what they say, he's pretty desperate atm as he's just not sleeping - two tramadol and 2 herbal sleeping tablets had no effect on him whatsoever last night.
I'm even trying to get him to try hypnotherapy! He's had enough basically.

That awful I really feel for your DH it's easy to get into the mind set nothing will change especially if he's not sleeping.
At least this new GP is being proactive.

I don't do Hypnotherapy but I have medicated occasionally. I believe how you mentally cope with it has a huge influence in your general day to day life but also the level of pain you can cope with. I do force myself to go on as normal, be happy snap myself out of bad moods not think about it 24/7. But thats something anyone with chronic pain needs to learn them self on the journey lets hope his one is a short one.

I sometimes used Movelat gel it didn't take the pain away but it helped deal with it.

That's the problem, he's not coping with it , lack of sleep and a fairly stressful job seem to be colluding against him and he feels like he's failing, he feels like he's letting people down but I'm trying to make him see that he needs to put himself first for a change, he cares too much.

I do think that talking to a counsellor/therapist will help, he is bottling things up and I can tell just by the look in his eyes and tone of his voice that he's not OK, no matter how many times he tells me he is.
I can understand why he doesn't want to keep on about it to me, I just get upset because he's so down and I can't do anything practical to help, although I did insist on him going back to the doctors.
It's so unlike him, he's the strong one, always fit and healthy and this has hit him like a ton of bricks, he's been suffering for over a year, 6 months of physio just delayed the diagnosis and he feels like he's back to square one.

He's gone to work to hand in his sick note and his boss isn't exactly the sympathetic type, he says he could happily never go back there but unfortunately he's trapped atm , he can't go job hunting with this problem in case it needs surgery - it's the not knowing what it is that's driving him mad.

I'm worried sick about him in all honesty.

Mal I would urge him to seek help one thing that would worry me is Tarmidol can be very addictive if he is very low in mood he could fall into the trap of trying to self medicate. This is the reason I refused them.

Thats what shocked me being young fit and healthy it was a shock to me. The job thing well I worried about that too, just this week my job has come to a natural end and suddenly I feel much more able to get on at DR and not worry if I can make an appointment in hours to suite my boss. I know there is no way of finding a job in this condition luckily DH and I can afford for me not to work and have decided to TTC anyway.
I was a nanny so I'm fairly confident that I can handle and child and the pain.