Spinal Specialist

Now, I am not going to name names of my specialist that I went to, as I really do not like him nor do I have anything positive to say about him…. After meeting with him, he referred me to get an MRI and I had to wait for the results. When I went in about a week later, I was “officially” diagnosed with Degenerative Disk Disease (triple D’s as I call it). In plain terms, essentially the disks in my spine are deteriorating and there is no real cure, just some meds that will help manage it, and steroid injects.

Hesitantly, I decided to try for the steroid injections along with all the other stuff he gave me. Basically, they go in with a digital x-ray machine and put long needles in your lower spin and inject a 3 different steroid concoction and inject it in. I have asked plenty of times what the meds were, but the doctor has yet to come clean about it.

I makes your legs go numb and feel like jello. I couldn’t walk overly well for the rest of the day. I went ahead and took the next day off work just to be safe in case I experienced any of the side effects they talked about. Thankfully my mom was with me. As we were leaving my friend Tiff’s house (I started staying there for awhile, she was great to help and less stairs. I still have flashbacks and get scared to come down from room sometimes!) And heading back to my place to grab some more clothes, all of a sudden my chest, neck and face got sweltering hot and broke out in this giant rash. Concerned, I called my doctor. He called me back about a half hour later. When he did call back, by then my face was swelling and I lost feeling in my toes. He told me to take some Benadryl and call my primary care doctor (yes, he is a REAL gem…) from that point on, I was on a regular dosage of Benadryl and everything else. Maybe it would be good to mention, this was also two days before thanksgiving!
Unless you have experienced a severe allergic reaction, it is tough to explain. My face ached. Another issue was with all the overload of steroids in my body, I could not sleep. I went 3 days that round without any sleep. Finally one night my friend gave me a special pill that was able to help my body relax enough to sleep.

Fast forward two weeks, I was scheduled for my 2nd round of injections. I spoke with my doctor, the nurse and medical assistant all about my concerns. My doctor told me that it was a ‘fluke’ that I had that side effect and said it was vital for my recovery to go through the 2nd round. He also told me to take Benadryl prior to the office visit to see if I can cut the reaction off at the pass. He also suggested that I go to the hospital if my throat starts to close up and not to even bother calling him.

Sure enough, that night I started to get the swelling, and by lunch the next day my throat was clothing up, face swelling like a chipmunk and the rash was spreading. My friend Brenda was so nice to take me to the hospital during lunch. They decided to give me prednisone, omeprazole and an inhaler. I have never had asthma so I had no idea how to use an actual inhaler, it was a learning experience. They also gave me a couple of breathing treatments to open my lungs up more and help me out.
So back to the whole steroid issues, and not being able to sleep, try taking a physical pill steroid along with what is going on in my body. It felt like my body was fighting against everything. Will all the meds and problems, it felt like I was slowly crashing. When I called my Spinal doctor with my concerns and asking for help with the sleeping issue, he basically told me “It’s not my problem, call your primary care physician”. To me, that basically translated to, that sucks, deal with it. (Again, I love Love LOVE that doctor).

Fast forward 1 month, I had to meet with him again to follow up the injections and how I was feeling. After I listed off ALL the issues, he took no responsibility for the problems, did not offer an apology or anything. He gave me back all my films and told me he could not help me. Let’s review, still have back pain, it has helped a little bit everything, but I feel like I am still back at square one.