was I a tad optimistic?

LesBrown

Monday gone I had 6 facet and 1 caurdal injection,I was exstatic!,the pain in my spine had gone,I was singing the praises of the Pain Clinic for days,couldn't believe the movement I had just gained,and most importantly my whole mood had changed,I was thinking about going back to work and getting life back on track,tuesday was the first day in 10 years I had no pain from my spine at all.Miricle cure I thought.I stopped taking my pain killers and just stuck with my anti inflamitories

Yesterday was about the third day of working on my shed,it needed quite a bit of work so with my new bionic back I set about it with renewed vigor,I was running around like a spring chicken then I felt a little twinge that I know so well.I carried on thinking thats all gone now,the injections will stop that twinge in its tracks.

But they didn't,the slow progressive pain started to set in,not as it did in the past,no shooting pain but a slow gradual ache and the stiffness edged back to how it was before,the one good thing is I can still stand upright without stooping as I did before.strangely I've also got headaches with it.

so whats happened?,how can i slip back just like that.I can't tell everyone about it yet because TBH I'm a little emarassed,I told everyone I'm as good as cured.My next appointment is a phone call on the 4th december to tell them if it worked or not.

Les

dreamdaisy

A tad optimistic? Hmmm, that's a generous description of what you went and did. Injections don't cure, they alleviate the pain for a period of time and the more sensible one is after them the longer that alleviation might last. Didn't anyone warn you about not overdoing things? Probably not is my guess (in as far as my experience of steroid injections go).

I can understand how lovely it must have initially felt to be pain-free and feeling so much better about things so for goodness' sake rest up a bit over the next few days and I hope the 'betterness' returns - if it does nurture it. Good luck. DD

LesBrown

I was only told to rest for 24hrs otherwise I would get the "hangover from hell",their qote not mine.

so after the injections are you saying that we still can't have a normal lifes.This is the bit I don't understand,these injections stopped all pain,nout,I was free,then whammy take that.

Just can't seem to get my head around it at the moment.

dreamdaisy

Of course you can have a better life but pacing oneself (as I am sure you did before the injections) is still necessary. Just because the main symptom has gone doesn't mean that the disease has, it's still lurking. To have had such a result from the injections is fantastic, and yes you can manage to do more, but learning not to overdo things is part of the learning curve with arthritis, it's part of its rollercoaster experience. How long have you had arthritis? I'm in my sixteenth year. DD

LesBrown

over 10 years now,I've got it everywhere really,knees,neck elbows,fingers (2 ops on them),feet,my RA test is neg but doctors say its as good as sure I've got it.

I thought these injections would get me back to work,we struggle at the moment just like most I suppose.

dreamdaisy

Oh mate, I am sorry. I've about 38 affected joints and yes, it gets me down from time to time. I'm now reliant on a rollator for getting around when outdoors (although I can use my crutches on the better days). I've had one experience of a med making me feel wonderful but then not lasting, the steroid injections never achieved much for me (3 days of slightly reduced pain, tops) but the steroid tablets? Cor! Luvverly! I don't take them anymore though, one of the better decisions of my life but oh boy, I miss that little daily boost of goegeousness. Hey-ho.

Arthritis is a pig of a disease, we think we have it licked but no, it pops up again like one of those hammery-games in a funfair, you know the sort. The drugs only alleviate and it can take time to find the combination that alleviates the most of the symptoms - but for some lucky ones the meds do what is promised (but that won't last either because nothing in life does). The trouble is we rarely hear from those for whom life is approaching something along the lines of normal because they are out there getting on with things. I know that won't happen for me, it's far too late in the day, and that in itself is oddly comforting. I know where I am and how I am and how I'm going to be. That relieves much of the struggle against the disease.

Right, I must go and get dressed! I showered, I've had my recovery time and now I must broach the stairs once more. Grrrrrrrr. Take care, rest up today and I hope things ease soon. I'll be back later if you want another natter. DD

hileena111

HI
I think DD has said it all......pace yourself


Love
Hileena

knuckleduster

Hello Les

As DD said, we have to pace ourselves. Injections and medications can dull the pain, but we still have the arthritis in us.

Hope you get some more relief soon.

Janet x

LesBrown

one thing is for sure,it IS the Arthritis that causes my depression,I thought it could have been all the life stresses and my arthritis combined but tuesday I didn't have a worry in the world,now that switch has been turned back on again.

barbara12

Aww Les I really do feel for you, I have been there with the facet joint injections...but at least they didnt work at all for me.
Now the pain clinic are suppose to be sending me for more apparently they can work much better the second time.
When I was having them done there were quite a few of us, and some of the people there swore by them, one gentleman was on his 4th lot and said he couldn't wait for it has he got at least 6 months out of them.
So I say never give up,I do hope you get some relief very soon x
Oh sorry welcome to the forum..

dreamdaisy

When we are under the cosh of 24/7 discomfort and pain it's little wonder that depressions sets in. I'm used to feeling rough and getting on with it regardless but when the OA was diagnosed in April 2011 I slid rapidly down the greasy pole of depression and asked for anti-depressants. My plan was to take them for about three months while I took stock then to come off. I'm still on them (at my rheumatologists say-so) because they also help me to cope with pain, which makes sense. I have Citalopram 20mgs, one tablet daily, and that is enough to keep me near the top of said greasy pole. DD

elnafinn

Aw, Les, my heart goes out to you. I had some injections in my lower back for sciatica which had troubled me for a year. This was on 3 December 2009. I have been sciatic free from that date. Some injections DO work. There are different types from the way I understand it.

I have a tendency to not be good at pacing myself b ut the injections are still working (touch wood). I do stretching exercises every day and like to think this helps me. You must feel gutted. The best thing you can do is at the next appointment tell them what you have just told us. How good you felt, you were no longer depressed and how unfortunate that the injections did not work for long. Ask if there are other injections they can do for you.

My "wonder" injection was a Dorsal Root Ganglion Block x 2 at L4 & L5. It was a Radio Frequency Denervation injection which are a longer lasting treatment. How long no one knows though as we all vary.

Chin up,

Elna x

dreamdaisy

Hello, how are things today with you today? DD

frogmella

I had facet joint injections in may. My leg pain went straight away but it took longer for the back pain to go totally. I did think I was cured about day 8-9 but then day 10 I felt bad again. But by day 14 I was feeling better. I then had a good two months of life where I was pretty much pain free. Since then I have been back on the slippery pain slope. I hope that you are just having a temporary glitch and that you will feel better again soon.

LesBrown

I'm a little better today thanks,but i'm taking one tramadol,its better than the four i was taking,mentaly the downer from no pain to pain again is still a little hard,I think more than ever it could be a good idea to find a local group because this is not going away,and i don't mean to moan but a group might just get me to let out a bit more.The forum is a good stepping stone and good read,I don't feel experienced enough to contribute as yet but I'm learning.

I have my music to keep me going,well its a small home studio but I am very career orientated and I'm cheesed off really I can't kick start it again.I have got to learn my limitations as much as I hate doing that.

I used to have a joke about me and shelf stacking,nothing wrong with shelf stacking its a good starter job and I don't wish to undermine anyone who is contributing by working but i would say "I can always go and stack shelves at sainsbury's",well i can't!,I can look at stackers now with jelousy,they can go to bed tired!,not just go to bed,they have a head high in society,I don't.

frogmella

Hi Les,

I can totally relate to your feelings. I felt like I could do anything when I had my two month window. I actually couldn't, I still had some limitations!

Now that I am back to "normal" I am pretty fed up. I know that I am more active than a lot of normals but I am doing the swimming, walking and pilates to try and slow/prevent further bad flares as well as for some enjoyment.

I used to go on fellwalking holidays and we would walk ALL day, now I start to hurt after an hour and much sooner on an incline. So my daily 40 minute dog walk doesn't quite cut it for me. I know that other people on here would be over the moon if they could walk for an hour so I don't mean to rub salt in wounds here. I was going to tick off all of the Wainwrights, not just the 20 or so that we had done so far.

I have filled out the forms for our local pain management course and I have some hope that the course might help me address some of my grieving issues. It is such a long wait that I am thinking about taking myself to private counselling.

I feel like my life has become small and I can't seem to explain that to anyone. It sounds like that is how you feel too. People say to me "but you are swimming and walking and going to pilates" but they don't see that I don't clean the house, go out, do anything other than go to work and do my maintenance exercises.

I am sorry that you are feeling so low at the moment. Have you spoken to your GP? Maybe you could get to pain management or maybe you could go to counselling? My GP has been really understanding. We discussed anti-depressants but decided against due to even more side effects!

Also, are you having nerve pain too? If you are have you tried gabapentin or amitriptyline? Even though I am worse now I have found that gabapentin has been really good at reducing my nerve pain. Took a while to get the dose right but it was worth the side effects during the tweaking.

Sorry to have moaned but I wanted you to know that you are not alone feeling like this. Also it is quite normal to "moan" at us on here.

I hope you can find some help soon. (())

LignumVitae

Les, Frogmella

Big hugs to you both. This is the side effect of arthritis that they don't write on the tin. The thief in the night bit where all the things you enjoy become things that break your heart. I struggled with it for ages and ages, it was like being in a downspinning vortex and the guilt of suddenly not being able to do things you would enjoy with others, like walking in the hills, makes that harder.

I'm not sure what happened with me but in the end, I found that I put those things in a draw in my head (I think) I still get them out occasionally, there is the memory of me stood in crampons with ice axes ontop of Ben Lomond one New Year's day watching my climbing partner struggle up behind me. I think acceptance does sink in and you learn to accept what you can't do and find new ways to fight arthritis. For me, baking and cooking became important, admittedly adrenaline wise they aren't quite the same as a good ice climb! As it is, I now find my kicks in watching people bite a cake and their faces light up or trying a technique I thought I was too rubbish to try. It matters to me that I can do that like it used to matter that I'd be the first to summit a top. I think what I am saying is you have to be as underhand as arthritis is and tell it you don't care what it will stop you doing because you will find a new challenge that it can't beat you at. The world is full of new things to try as much as you want to do the things you have always loved.

40 minute dog walks are a difference, I know that feeling but knowing I've exercised my dogs even if it means a quick walk in the field gazing at the moors I used to race along, well, that's better than many able bodied people manage for their dogs or their minds!

Arthritis gives you a new living condition, what I had to do for my sanity was find a new life that could work in those conditions but which I still felt I was achieving and growing in.

Lots of love to you both, as I say, this is the symptom that isn't written on the arthritis packet when it bundles it's way through your door, there isn't really much guidance on what to do and you might read this and think me mad or stupid but it worked for me so I pass it on in the hope it might help you!
LV xx

frogmella

Wow LV,

Thank you for that post. Ice climbing - I was never brave enough for that! Although on one of our ridge walks we did have a bit of an ice scramble - more than a little hairy with the hounds, although I think they enjoy a scramble on the quiet.

I think that maybe I have tried to embrace different challenges - I am much better at the cryptic crosswords than I used to be and I have read so many books in the last year. I also enjoy cooking - I have chickens so do a lot of baking in the summer. We have eaten a lot of different egg recipes this year too! Only trouble is battling the bulge that I find accompanies the eating! I used to do so much exercise that I could get away with it but not any more, and the gabapentin makes me hungry.

I am a stubborn thing and I did ask my physio about the walking. She said the same old patience thing - do more back strengthening and increase slowly. I think I am going to try and increase enough that next Easter I can do a little fell, or at least start at Honister slate mine so that half the climb is already done! If I am bad after then I will just have to take all my drugs! (not at once!).

It is difficult coming to terms with a new life and I think your post has made me feel a little better in that it is possible to have life after arther! Just a different life I suppose. I am early days on this path, until April I thought I was going to get better. Anyway, onwards and upwards. Think I will take myself off on a training walk now! Maybe do an hour today!

Thank you so much. And I hope that you have helped les a bit too.

LignumVitae

I think your determination is admirable and you will achieve lots with it. I decided not to give up the dream of rock climbing (the ice had to go, the cold made it too hard and my hands and feet didn't work, not the safest) I managed last year to get back to it after a ten year break. I can only do a couple of minutes on a bouldering wall, I have to have lots of breaks and I have to be careful (and I'm not doing it now with my ever increasing bump) but it was satisfying to be able to say I could do it again and the buzz was HUGE. I even got arm muscles back from keeping doing ten minutes a week!! There's nothing wrong with reaching for the stars so long as you find other things to reach for that are more easily attainable so you don't constantly fight the disappointment.
Chickens?? I am sooooooooo jealous! One day I will have more than a backyard and will keep some myself. I already have names: Kathleen, Brenda and Miriam, named after my late Gran and her nursing home posse (they were like three clucking chickens).
Go Frogmella xx

frogmella

My name on here is the name of one of my old hens. We were stuck for a name and saw her demolishing a frog and so the name stuck!