@birdman518 Mitch, I was thinking about you and had another thought. I have had issues with inflammation after getting injections. There was the spine epidural that I described, but also in the past a diagnostic MRI with a gadolinium injection into my shoulder capsule that caused the joint to swell so I couldn't move it resulting in a frozen shoulder, an inflamed shoulder joint from a flu shot years ago where I couldn't raise my arm all the way up (I later found out about an egg allergy and eggs are used in the flu vax), and when I got my first Covid vaccination (Pfizer), I had some pains in my neck and jaw and a slight pain started in my tongue right after the injection. They sent me to the emergency room. That was likely an allergic reaction to the polyethylene glycol or "PEG" that is a binder in the vaccine. Perhaps this is also used in other things like a steroid injection for the spine? In the emergency room after the Covid vax, I was given an IV with antihistamines and steroids and it stopped the reaction within about 15 minutes. That seems to confirm an allergic reaction. I also felt no symptoms the next day. I presume the effects wore off because on the next two days I had a return of the queasy headache and allergy like symptoms.

What I was wondering is if you may have had an allergic reaction to a component in the steroid injections that they gave you after your surgery (which would then increase inflammation) in addition to the inflammation from the surgery itself? Your surgeon would have ordered the steroid from the hospital pharmacist and there would be a record of the manufacturer. You might be able to find out the ingredients. I have an environmental allergy doctor who advised me to use my asthma inhalers, take antihistamines, and 3000 mg of vitamin C before getting another Covid vaccination (which I did). I had also switched to the J & J vaccine because it does not have PEG. It has Polysorbate 80 (which is a food additive) instead. I still got some asthma from that since it is a somewhat related compound, but it was manageable. I was able to resolve the issues with antihistamines and vitamin C and did not get any neck, throat or tongue pain.

Sometimes something that is supposed to help just causes things to get worse. Do you think your steroid shots made your pain worse? Is this something you would want to discuss with your surgical team as a possible allergic type reaction?

Jennifer