Had my sympathetic nerve block
 

WILL NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!
Unprofessional doctor, and they hit a nerve in my hip, which now feels like the joint will explode while the surrounding muscles are one huge knot. No offer of explanation of what was going on during the procedure or why I was feeling what I was feeling. So ready to get home and in my bed to rest, but so hate having to miss the time with my lil one. Ok rant over.

Peace, Love, Hugs, And low pain fellow spoonies. [emoji257] [emoji171]

Ugh - sorry you had to go through that. Thanks for letting us know.

Sending Healing Love, Littlepaw :hug:

They gave you a sympathetic in your hip not your spine? What was they name of your nerve block?

The name I was told was a right sympathetic nerve block. That's all I know. After resting for most of the day with movement limited to bathroom breaks and attempting to change sides in bed (hurts to lay on right side) my lower right back and hip feel as if I was in a car accident. The hip joint itself still feels as though there is something in it but the pain with movement has subsided somewhat.
I promised to give different treatments a try, I gave this one a shot (ha ha) not a good experience definitely won't recommend it to anyone else. I do however have some minimal relief of my RSD pain for the moment but of course it is overshadowed by the botched procedure.

Carolinarose, just remember results are sometimes realized later. I always flared up for a month after most of my procedures. I don't know why they just didn't give you a lumbar sympathetic nerve block. Spread to the other leg is common. Maybe they just wanted to do a diagnostic. Do you still have that red skin stuff and swelling in your right leg? Sometimes they like to see if you have warming of the limb with a block or change in appearance or see if the pain is sympathetically driven. Hope your doctor knows what they are doing and the side effects are temporary and results end up therapeutic. Sometimes blocks have to be repeated 2 or three times to hold a while.

They checked the temps of my feet afterwards and both were in the mid 80's the nurse couldn't believe it and just kept rechecking them. The red bloches are still there but the swelling has come down some and the sensitivity to touch has eased off. What gets met is the pain in my hip joint. That is where I felt everything during the procedure once they went in after numbing. And the pain is still there. From what I can find only that isn't normal.

Did they do it under fluoroscopic guidance?

I think so. They told me x-ray. he did take alot of pictures, like I said they barely talked to me during the procedure. I was not sedated at all.

I'm still confused. Did he go into your spine or just your hip?

What did your doctor say about the hip pain?
The spinal nerve roots and the sympathetic ganglia are close to each other and feed into the same nerves. If they were aiming to affect the nerves of the leg and foot they would be going for the sciatic, which runs by the hip joint. Did they think it was referred pain from pressure in the area since you felt it right away? Nerves do such funny things...

So sorry to hear this!
My block was exploratory and shot in the ganglia nerves in my neck/shoulder area. I thought all nerve blocks either involved the ganglia nerves or somewhere in the spine... :confused:

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04...7ce99f918b.jpg

This is where he went in. Definitely not my spine but I am a larger person so who knows.

Littlepaw,
The Dr said nothing about my pain. He never said if he got where he wanted to be, all that was saod to me by him was here comes the bee sting, and you're gonna feel some pressure. Which turned out to be hip joint pain not pressure. My discharge papers say I had a right lumbar sympathetic nerve block. I was in tears leaving the procedure room could not move my hip due to the pain, and cried during recovery when they wanyed me to move my legs. The nuses and the Dr spent the entire procedure discussing their weekend plans.

I can move today without severe pain but the longer I stand or sit upright, the more the joint hurts.

CarolinaRose,

I'm glad the pain is better today. Hopefully it will just keep improving. The sympathetic ganglia run on either side of the spine a little ways out from it. They would not have been shooting right in your spine but to the side of it. The xray/fluoroscope would have helped them get in the right spot.

Your doctor may not have thought hip discomfort alarming, perhaps that is a response seen on occasion. I think they forget that what is everyday routine for them is NOT routine for patients. Like I said nerves do funny things. I am hoping that for you the pain is related to the pressure they said you would feel. I don't know how much volume goes into an LSB but they are increasing pressure in the area of those nerve roots and ganglia with the fluid they inject. Nerve roots get fussy, Many people have leg and hip pain caused by sciatic nerve root compression of even a small amount from spinal degeneration. I had sciatica just from being pregnant (definitely an increase in pressure!) Hopefully your nerve is just telling you about the local increase in pressure and is going to settle down as the fluid absorbs and the area recovers. I think it is a good sign that some of your symptoms decreased a little as far as swelling and sensitivity. Sorry that had to come with hip pain!

I hope you feel better soon, Sending Healing Love,
Littlepaw :hug:

I've had 4 blocks for my foot and 6 rizotomies for the severe back pain which developed after a few weeks of walking in my initial boot for my fracture.

The first three blocks gave some relief of a week to about 4 months. When I went back to work and after about a month c/o the pain escalating... The dr suggested a fourth block for my foot. I'm not clear what was different about the last block but I woke up with excruciating pain in my entire leg. I was crying and couldn't move my leg at all. I couldn't stand to get in the wheelchair or car. I heard the nurses saying I just wanted drugs and they treated me really bad.... How stupid because I certianly had all the drugs I could ever need at home. Anyhow, the dr gave me a nucenta to get home (really sensitive to this as I'd never heard of it or ever taken it). That was a really strong medicine for me and I was out until the next day. The severe pain lasted almost 4 months in my entire leg. After that, the severe pain subsided some but I'm left with more pain than I have had since before the first block. It's like I haven't ever had any blocks and I'm back at square one. It's been 8 months since the last "botched" block.

Now, they won't try another block and have told me the next step is a spinal stimulator and until I have that procedure all I can do is treat the pain with the medication they know has been working.

I'm sorry you had a bad block experience as well. I just wanted to share my story with you, so you know another person has had a similar experience.

Ps: not sure it was clear in my other posts, that they had done blocks. I tend to block out the experience due to the severity of the pain it caused. Prior to that last one, I did gain some temporary relief of the unusual srnsations and some mild actual pain relief.

i have had 3 right lumbar sympathetic blocks, and i felt a horrible intense pain in the front of my right hip during the procedure, but the doc said it was normal. I was also not sedated, but after the first one he gave me some xanax to take before. My foot felt hot after the procedure, but have had no relief from them. Not sure if more will help, but maybe you should give it a try? I've heard you need more than one a lot of times

Warming of the limb is normal afer sympathetic block and will happen in pretty much everyone if they hit the area right. If you had no pain relief at all ask your doc if they really think your pain is sympathetically mediated. If not then more blocks would seem like an unnecessary risk.

there was immediate relief, yes, but that wore off in the next 12 hours or less