Pain Update

Well we had the SI Joint injection (that I spoke of in my last post) last Tuesday. The injection was a combination of two drugs, Kenalog and Lidocaine. Kenalog is a synthetic corticosteroid. The Lidocaine works as an anesthetic to deaden the area where the shot is given. Relief is supposed to take anywhere from immediately, to within one week. It has been over a week now and nothing. No relief of any kind. Not even temporary relief the day of the shot.

Our follow up appointment with Dr Brown is next week, Wednesday I believe. When Dr Brown discussed the SI Joint Injection she said it would either give Lori some relief, thus letting us know how and what to treat, or it wouldn’t do anything and we would be ruling out the sacroiliac joint as the cause of the problems. As of now it looks like we ruled out the sacroiliac! If Dr. Brown still follows what she told us her course of treatment would be, the next step would be to treat for “Chemical Radiculitis”.

I have found a number of causes and treatments for this so I don’t even want to speculate on what Dr. Brown’s approach will be. We’ll find out next week I guess. I’ll let you know then.

In the mean time the pain continues to worsen. No matter what Lori does she cannot get comfortable for more than a few minutes. About the only position the offers some relief is laying on her left side. She is starting to adjust the way she sits, stands, and walks so much I’m afraid she is going to wack her back out or hurt her spine or hip or something. We really need to get something happening here soon.

The POTS is as bad as ever. Lori now has spells after almost every meal in addition to those when she stands up. If she eats a big meal it looks like she is going to pass out right in the middle of her plate. At Mike’s birthday dinner (we had steak) my Mom couldn’t believe how fast Lori’s heart rate got just from eating. It scared her a bit. It is something that is really hard to describe until you see it happening. POTS is a really strange condition that’s for sure.

Lori's latest labs looked pretty good, some of the best results Lori has had in quite a while. We’ll have Dr Peditto do another complete set in w couple of weeks and I’ll post the results. If results keep moving in a positive direction Lori’s WBC should be well within the normal range very soon. Lori’s proteinuria has dropped greatly too.

So I guess along with the good news of Lori’s labs leveling out we can take the bad news or the back/leg pain not getting any better.

I’ll post more when I have more to post