Trigger Point Injection

[livingwith]

I have had left shoulder/arm problems for many years. After many failed treatments from my family doctor, I seek answers from specialists. What I have been receiving for several year are narcotics, muscle relaxers, neurontin, and what my pain management/neurologist doctor calls nerve blocker shots that seem way to fast to me and seem more like what articles have described as trigger point injections. After receiving them, I am in more pain for days and at times weeks. He has been billing my insu...Read the full article

[NorthCarolinaGirl]

Hello Brian,

I am sorry that you are having to go through this. One, I don't think you are crazy and I can tell you from experience that you have just figured out the game. It is so sad in our society that people are so unkind, that money is such a motivator. I understand that people must make a living and that medical students who become doctors have to pay off their loans and that malpractice insurance makes it almost cost prohibitive to practice these days. Fine don't go to medical school and don't be a Dr. then. All Dr.'s are not like this however and I think it is important to remember this. My ARNP and the Dr.'s at the clinic I go to are wonderful and very understanding about my pain. My original surgeon was also a kind and wonderful Dr.

Unfortunately because there are a lot of physicians out there today that are motivated by money is why I am really pushing hard for our President Barack Obama's Health Care Plan. I am so glad that I can say that I worked very hard to help turn our State to a Democratic State.

ER docs treat everyone with back pain or associated migraines like drug addicts so I have avoided going there for years now no matter how sick I get.

Recently I experienced my first set of trigger point injections, was not told I was going to get them, had gone in for pain meds and the Dr. knew it before hand as I had told him that I was going to make an appointment to come and see him for pain meds after he had given me my second Epidural Steroid Injection. The first one worked for about 2 weeks and I was so delighted on my 2 or 3rd pain free day that I wrote a really nice day and sent it to the clinic. He was very kind and I was so grateful for those days to be without pain. Every day without pain is a gift. I knew there were no promises, etc. I was grateful for what I got and I knew the risk they had been explained to me. It lasted 14 days, which basically meant it did not work. The second one only lasted 2 days and the day I was there is when I asked him if he could prescribe pain medication as I had started drinking for pain relief (having a martini in the evening) which was not really a good option for me as I came from an alcoholic family. He said yes he could do that. So I made an appointment. When I went to see him the following week and told him the injection only lasted 2 days he seemed almost irritated.

He asked me if I wanted him to give me some shots to help get rid of the pain and I said you mean right now, you mean you can do that and he said yes, before I even knew what was happening he was asking me where it hurt and had put four needles in my back and my back was hurting so bad I couldn't believe it and it was bleeding.

My back has not been the same. I have had steady muscle spasms and the worse pain sense my cervical surgery years ago. I am guessing that I have had some nerve damage. I keep praying that it will go away and I will at least get back to where I was. It has been about a month now. The worse thing was that when I finally ask for the pain medication he acted almost surprised and said he would put me on an anti-depressant. I was so angry I knew right then that his only agenda was to get me in his office so that he could rack up a bunch of procedures, rack in a bunch of money for the practice and then send me on my way without the medication that he knew I was there for, he was not interested in my pain or me for that matter but only for the money. Then when I went back out to the car read that the medication that he had prescribed would have really been contraindicated with the medications I was already taking I went back in only to have my HIPPA rights violated in the lobby by a healthcare worker who came out after speaking with the Dr. with a pain contract and a medication I had already said made me sick to my stomach, one I had been given many times before in the past without a pain contract, talking about my needing to sign it so I would not try and sell this drug on the street or pharmacy hop, etc.

So no, you are not crazy, you are not going mad and you are suffering like many people that I have talked to are. There are many people out there who are not drug seekers who are not addicts who are just trying to live with a little bit of dignity in a life that is filled with pain. A life that has slowly been stripped of many things that they miss. Such as, getting up in the morning and singing in the shower, putting on a nice suit and going to work, having lunch with your peers, making love to your spouse in different positions without suffering for weeks at a time, running with the dog, going on long hikes or just climbing a tree like you use too. We don't want to get stoned so we can drool on ourselves or piss away the day, we are people who pay taxes, I have owned my own business for years, miss the life I once had and resent being treated like someone who is trying to get high.

So if physicians are reading this, I hope you pay attention. To those of you who are kind and remember that there are those of us out there who are legitimately in pain God Bless You for the hard work and the fact that you are still out there doing what you do in these very difficult times. For those of you who are more worried about the money then your patients perhaps it is time you you move on. We should not have to put in our time for procedures and needle pricks that may or not work as money generators for clinics and offices before we are allowed to have something to help us get through each day.

God bless you Brian and I hope that you can find some help soon. Don't give up Brian there are good physicians that care out there I know I have a great clinic here in a little bittie small town.