Sacroiliac Joint Steroid injections HURT!!!!!!!!!!

sorry you are in such pain. i was recently diagnosed (after putting up with pain for a while) with degenerative spinal condition...which i think triggered sciatic nerve PAIN...i babied it and rested it...was a good girl....took my vitamins.....and did sciatic recovery type exercises (stretches really)...i had previously done a lot of weights trying to build some back muscle to protect my spine because of my osteoporosis....maybe if you can get the pain under control some light weights might give long term help...best of luck!

Kathy, thank you for the response. I am sorry to hear that you have been going through all of that. I hope things get better for you too.
I use to do some light weights, a little resistance training, and some cardio on my gazelle glider, but since the pain has gotten so much worse, I am not able to do any of it and still be comfortable. I am really looking forward to feeling good enough to get back at it. Good luck to you too.

those steroid shots are crap, i had them in my shoulders, sounds like to me a good round of an anti inflammatory would work best something like a high dose of motrin 600-800mgs for a couple weeks even something to stop the pain like tramadol and chlorzoxazone these 3 drugs have changed a lot for me. I don't take them all them time just when i feel a flare up coming on I have carpel tunnel, bursitis and bulging disks in my back. These have been a life saver for me you may want to ask about them as time has went on I take these less and less and can do so much more. I use to suffer pain where i could not sit up in bed from my back. oh and these drugs are not addictive and dont make you fuzzy headed (i could not stand anything that gives a high feeling) .

good luck

I wish I could take the anti-inflammatory meds, but I am allergic to aspirin. I can not take the motrin and the anti-inflammatory stuff because of the aspirin agents in them. Lucky you to be able to. I would be MUCH happier taking something like that than the darn pain meds. I am very glad to hear that you are having relief. I hope that day comes for me soon! Good luck with keeping up the pain free days!

Tess, I hope that you find what works for you eventually. I think in my case that took a while. I went through the Chiro, the steriod shots, the nerve block shots, the Lyrica, the surgeries (yes that is plural. The last of which was a fusion of L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1), and then back to the shots (nerve blocks, epidurals). I think by the fact that you see my surgeries were at three different levels mine may have been more severe than yours. that however is not in any way suggesting that I am trying to minimize your pain. I know that you are going through a lot with it because back pain sucks. I have to honestly tell you that I think the surgery is what helped me the most. The shots now are more of a maintenance program than anything else. that is simply because I will never be pain free and I've learned to live with that. When it does get worse at times though which is really flare ups or build ups would be a betterw ay to put it once a year or so that is when I head back for those epidural shots. I have had varying levels of sucess with them but in the end they have always helped in some way. As for the Lyrica, I can honestly say that it did help with the pain and did not cause weight gain in me. In fact just the opposite was true (i never do anything in the normal way) and I actually lost weight while taking it. The reason I stopped was that it made me feel too relaxed and that I felt that I didn't have control fully of my body and certain functions. That was not something that I could live with. It may be different for you and I can honestly say that it did help the pain level. One question I would have for you was that you said that "you nearly jumped off the table when the injections were given" and that they really hurt badly; well the question that I have there is doesn't the doctor that you go to offer sedation when he is giving those shots? It is a mild sedation that my doctor gives, more like a twilight sleep where you are awake and somewhat aware of what is going on but not feeling the pain. I do know what you mean though because one of the conditions or actually the main condition of the sedation is that you have to have someone drive you home. One time I didn'thave that plus had to go back to work and did it without the sedation. Now I have been through a lot of pain in my life with 18 total surgeries but I will say that the shots without the sedation was very unpleasant. Check and see if they offer sedation as an option. One other thing that I have learned is thet the concept of strengthning the other surrounding parts of your back and more importantly your stomach muscles is very true and helps a great deal. I honestly started out hating physical therapy but when I realized that the people putting me through that torture were not just sadist evil torture masters but they did have a plan I really got into it and I think that helped more than anything. You said that you recently lost thirty pounds and that is going to be great for you in the long run. Congratulations on doing that for the many benefits you will get out of it. The trick now I think probably most important in your case in to work on a program that will give strength to the stomach muscles and other spinal area muscles but not overdoing as to cause more damage to the area of your nerves and disc space that is already injured. That is a delicate balance and you may need help in doing that. It does give great benefits though in the long run. There are some great programs and books out there that help with that. I had one that really worked a while back and the name is slipping my mind. I will check into my old records and see if I can come up with it for you. Also maybe the torture master physical therapists may be a good bet for you to go back to and have them establish a program for you.

Now that I have written this mini-novel and probably bored you to tears I'll just say that I hope it helps and that your pain is relieved. As I said pretty close to about 10 days ago ;-) when I started writing this novel BACK PAIN SUCKS and I hope you find relief!

Good luck!

Oh and to clarify so as not to scare you, only 4 of those 18 surgeries were on my lower back, one was cervical spine and the rest were all to repair and rebuild my right leg after an accident.

Bob, thank you so much for your information. I am terribly sorry for all that you have been through, and hope that each day is as good as it can possibly be for you.
I have had no offers from my doctor for sedation when I have had these shots, and I have had a driver each time. I will definitely be checking into that, because it is not pleasant at all when he goes near that sacroiliac joint. Thank you for the tip.
As for the physical therapy and exercising, I am still doing the core strengthening exercises that I can manage to do. Still doing the bracing and some of the other less involved moves to keep the effort going. I just can not handle the hip flexion and more involved exercises right now. They hurt more than I feel they should at this time.
I will definitely be picking back up with it once I get to a point that I can. I have taken the Lyrica for 2 nights now, and I have actually slept through the night both nights (something that I have never been able to do), so I know that it is very strong, and I am not going to be able to take it during the day. He had prescribed it as 1 pill twice a day, and I will only be able to do that if I have NOTHING else to do. Since I constantly have SOMETHING to do, I think I am just going to stick to the nightly does right now. I wake up feeling a little disoriented and I do not like that much, but I am waking up in a little less pain that before, so I guess I have to weigh the pros and the cons.
I am leaving today to go out of town, and try to have a mini-vacation, (which I will probably spend riding around on one of the electronic scooters with my grandparents :-), but I am looking forward to it. Wish me luck, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sure hope you get to feeling better and my prayers are that you have a great weekend!

I have been living with lower back pain for years . Also fibromyalgia . Rheumatoid arthritis and various other pains .Right now I'm trying to get over a nagging pain in my right shoulder . This was the pain that was so bad that I couldn't take my wallet out of my back pocket . I have learned since that if I push on through the pain , eventually it will get better . But still some of these pains are still with me daily . I have found that a good nights sleep is the best medicine sometimes . There is also a good sight for pain information called American Pain Foundation .You might want to go to their sight to see what they have to say .

I'm so sad to hear this. My 16 yr old daughter hurt her back on the trampoline 3 years ago. She wouldnt go to the Dr. until now. The pain is bad now....she has degenerative disc disease too. She has one completely collapsed disc. She is too young for surgery and they want her to try the shots to help ease the pain. They want to send us to the pain clinic for this...do you have any advice?

Danielle, I would say that it is very possible the injections could help her. They do help lots of people with the amount of pain they are in. I know people that get a shot, and are pain free for a whole year. Then again, I am not having much luck with them. I guess it all depends on the person, but their is lots of proof that they do help.
I go to my Orthopedic for my injections, but I have been to a pain clinic in the past for problems with my neck. I saw a neurologist there for that, and they ended up helping me a lot. I guess that it all comes down to the fact that if she is in lots of pain, she really should try and see if they help. I hope it works out for her, I know it is no fun. Let me know if you have any other questions. If I do not have the answer, I am sure we can get it. Good luck to you and your daughter.

OH, Danielle...please make sure that if she does get the injections that she follows the doctor's instructions for post injection rest! She can damage the muscles around the injection site if she does not take it easy for at LEAST 24 hours. It will be best if she can just lay around and do nothing for 2 days. The injection sites get really sore. Mine hurt really bad after the first round of shots, and I know that it is because I did not take it easy like he told me to.

Thank you Tess for all the information. It really helps. She is deciding now if she wants the shots. She is cyberschooled so the rest will not be a problem. My grandmother used to get the shots and I made my daughter aware that they hurt and may or may not work. She has been researching on her own too. Thanks again!!

Tell her not to let all the information that she will receive online fill her brain and confuse her. Sometimes there is too much information and it makes it harder to decide what to do. I will keep you all in my prayers and hope that if she does get injections, that they DO HELP HER! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help (even though I am in Georgia, I can always help online). If she has any direct questions, I am here.

Hi Tess, Have you thought about balancing the acidity in your body? It sounds unusual but I've seen it work for countless people with chronic or acute pain of all kinds. After some severe car accident injuries, I researched for years to try to get relief from the almost constant migraines and severe chronic pain. The thing that worked the best for me--balancing the acidity in my blood. It sounds difficult but it is entirely done with foods and, if you choose, some natural supplements. The best part is that I started to have more energy, sleep better, and just felt so much better too. I wanted to share the power of this simple approach to pain elimination with others in my book, The Ultimate pH Solution. It's featured on http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977193128
Check it out. Hope you're feeling better soon.