After my two injections last Thursday, I waited both in anticipation of feeling like a new woman, and in dread of potential side effects that might make me feel horrible for days. Well, neither really happened.
I don't feel like a new woman. Yes, I do think the injections helped relieve some pain in my glute and down the outside of my thigh. But - and I'm conjecturing here - I think that by easing that pain made the nerve pain from the herniated disc stand out more. Or else it was a coincidence, but man, my standard pain areas (groin, front of thigh, knee) have been hurting bad. Funnnn times. So, since I was experiencing a pain flare, I increased my Gabapentin (the nerve medication) by an extra pill, taking two in the morning instead of one, with my standard two in the evening. It's not like I decided to do this of my own volition; my pain management group told me I could take an extra Gabapentin if I was hurting a lot more. More on that in a minute.
I was very apprehensive about side effects from the steroid injections thanks to my experiences in the past. This go-round it was changed up and they used a different type of steroid for the injection in hopes of avoiding them. I got the standard steroid flush on day two:
It looks like I used the wrong shade of blush for my skin tone...and swiped it over my nose and chin as well as my cheeks and then hit my neck and my chest for fun.
Once the flush appeared I braced myself for the rest of the side effects, but none came, can you believe it? Something went well for me for a change.
And yes, I realize that more than one thing has gone well for me since this began, but living like this for so long is an emotional and physical roller coaster. It's hard to make plans because I never know how I'll be doing - for example, we were invited to Logan's birthday party on Saturday afternoon and I didn't know if I'd actually get to go...it all depended on what the steroid did to me. Thankfully I was able to attend (fun pictures to come in Friday's post), but it's so hard to get excited for something when you know your body might let you down.
Back to the Gabapentin: I ended up having a pretty rough time with it; my hands were shaking much more than usual, distractions were at an all-time high, and my memory was shot. So I dropped back down to my usual dosage yesterday. Also yesterday, my PT gave me some exercises to try when that pain is really bad and after my visit I did feel better so maybe things are turning up.
See? Roller coaster.
