Murrmurr
SF VIP
- Location
- Sacramento, California
I finally got the corticosteroid injection in my back yesterday. I've had this shot before, a few years ago, but this time they used a new method where, instead of sticking 4 needles directly through your back, they use only one needle, and, to use the nurse’s words, “they shove it up your butt."
There's a tiny opening at the tip of your sacrum, and it’s the opening of a narrow channel that widens up at the base of the lumbar area where your spinal cord ends (or starts, depending how you wanna look at it). They stick a 22-guage needle through the skin just above your buttcrack and into that tiny opening. Then they send a 17-guage tube through the needle and on up through that narrow channel to the target point in the lumbar region, where it deposits the chemicals. You're awake the whole time, and if you want you can watch this all happening in x-ray vision on a screen. If you wanna do that while people are shoving needles and tubes and chemicals "up your butt."
Anyway, the nurse had already asked me if I wanted to take something to relax me, and I said No, but after she explained about the up your butt method, I said, "You know, on second thought, maybe I'll take that relaxer."
I didn't, though. As usual, I used meditation. But it was still a PITA, literally. It wasn’t scream-inducing, but very uncomfortable. The relaxer they’ll give you is usually just a low-dose Valium, and I doubt it would have helped more than meditation does.
The chemicals are supposed to take effect in 3 or 4 days, just in time for a houseful of little marauders to arrive, but I already feel about 50% less pain, and the pain isn't as sharp as it was a day before the injection. Last time I got this shot, the relief peaked at about 85%, and that lasted for 9 months! It was glorious. Hope this new method gets even better results in the end.
There's a tiny opening at the tip of your sacrum, and it’s the opening of a narrow channel that widens up at the base of the lumbar area where your spinal cord ends (or starts, depending how you wanna look at it). They stick a 22-guage needle through the skin just above your buttcrack and into that tiny opening. Then they send a 17-guage tube through the needle and on up through that narrow channel to the target point in the lumbar region, where it deposits the chemicals. You're awake the whole time, and if you want you can watch this all happening in x-ray vision on a screen. If you wanna do that while people are shoving needles and tubes and chemicals "up your butt."
Anyway, the nurse had already asked me if I wanted to take something to relax me, and I said No, but after she explained about the up your butt method, I said, "You know, on second thought, maybe I'll take that relaxer."
I didn't, though. As usual, I used meditation. But it was still a PITA, literally. It wasn’t scream-inducing, but very uncomfortable. The relaxer they’ll give you is usually just a low-dose Valium, and I doubt it would have helped more than meditation does.
The chemicals are supposed to take effect in 3 or 4 days, just in time for a houseful of little marauders to arrive, but I already feel about 50% less pain, and the pain isn't as sharp as it was a day before the injection. Last time I got this shot, the relief peaked at about 85%, and that lasted for 9 months! It was glorious. Hope this new method gets even better results in the end.
