Back injections

What did the pain doc have to say about it?

I called and spoke to the person that I respect the most there& she stated that she will leave a message for my Dr. so I am just waiting to hear back from him. I have a feeling that he won't be to helpful. I mean ultimately I'm thinking it will be up to me wether I go in for the second injections or not. I read that sometimes that these though rare have led to permanent breathing problems and sometimes even death. Just really scared and nervous about having it done a again. Always heard the saying don't get hit by the same snake twice. If I knew this was going to come out of it I never would have gotten them this time around

I was told by my pain doc to only have 3 shots per year.

Yeah I hear ya after this last one I had I'm not having any per year. Here it is 7 days later and I'm still having difficulty breathing had to make an appointment w/my PCP af this I am probably going to be going to get a chest X-ray,it's that bad. Finally received a call from the DR that administered the back injections and through his receptionist that is also some sort of nurse told me that the lumbar back injections will not cause breathing difficulties and ik for a fact that they do although it's a very low percentage 0.007%.

@sue4 My pain Dr said you could have a total of 9 each year, 3 in each section—-L,T,C.
After having 2 in each section and none of them working, I’m not having any more,

Agree; I had 5 (3 a year) in all and the 1st 3 were great-lasted 3 months each. The 4th lasted a month & the 5th did nothing. I was so hopeful; but no more for me.

@morjas

Unfortunately there is probably no way to know how you will react or what the side effects might be. As DNA profiling advances, in the future they might be able to accurately predict how you might react to a certain medical procedure or medication. Until then it's pay yer money and takes yer chances.

I have mast or histamine type reactions to cortisone shots so I can't have them in my knees. It also makes it hard for me to breath but usually stops after an episode. No fun. Sometimes I get flushing and other panicky feelings from it.

I have had at least 15 steroid injections at various levels in my back with no effect. I recently had a placental tissue matrix injection in my SI joint, where the spine connects to the pelvis, and it really helped. Unlike steroids, there is no limit on how many you can have. Also, unlike steroids, they are regenerative in nature, so they help with the cause, not just the symptom. Ask your pain doc about them.

As to this question: What level did you have the injection and what steroid was used? Different steroids have different half-lives so they stay in the body for differing amounts of time. The diaphragm is controlled by the phrenic nerve, which exits the spinal column at C3, C4 and C5. So , if your injection was somewhere else, the is virtually no chance your epidural affected breathing unless you are allergic to the steroid and your allergic response is anaphylactic in nature. In that event, it would have hit you quickly and you would be dead without immediate intervention with epinephrine. Anaphylaxis causes a narrowing of the air passages, which is why people with it cannot breath if exposed; it does not affect the diaphragm itself. Also, steroid injections by nature are very localized, and little of the medicine gets systemic, which it would have to do if your injection was not at one of those levels in order to affect breathing. It is highly unlikely that the amount of steroid that you have in your system could affect your breathing, unless, again, you are allergic to it. You can try taking 25mg of Benadryl if you can take that medication. In the field, we gave up to 50mg for serious allergic reactions, but I do not recommend that without talking to your doctor because you need to be monitored on that dose. Benadryl, as you probably know, is for allergies and works on most allergies, not just the seasonal type. If your breathing gets better, you may be allergic to steroids.