Facets of Life and Other Joints

jwhouk · Apr 9, 2015

A witty title with a little meaning:

For those of you who don't know, I work for the state of Wisconsin in the middle of nowhere. This was not intentional, as I was forced to move up here after the state closed my former place of work in southeastern Wisconsin (where 60% of the population lives).

This has led to a lot of stress in my life - moving, new job, new community, new people. The stress of this has not been kind, as I have ballooned back up to a weight that is not healthy for someone of my stature (1.61-1.62 m on a good day). Couple that with my age (47 in the fall), and my body hasn't been responding very well.

I have been involved in three separate car accidents since May of 2012 - none of them my fault, and one of them due to the wildlife up here in MONW. Since that time, I've noticed that my lower back has gotten progressively worse. Stress of the holidays this past year made it even worse; constant forced overtime at work hasn't helped, though the pain is nowhere what it was back in December.

I finally got in to see a spinal specialist, and after doing some more physical therapy ("Personal Torture", as my wife calls it), things haven't gotten worse - but they also haven't gotten better. It still feels like I have a rock in my lower back.

Because of this, the doc has decided that I need a Facet Joint Injection. Basically, they're going to stick a needle in my back and inject it with a anti-inflammatory steroid to try to calm the pain.

To tell the truth, I'm both hopeful and scared about this. I'm hoping this will help the pain, so I can get back to walking and exercising and trying to do stuff to get that excess weight off. On the other hand, I'm scared. This is my back we're talking about. A little misplacement of the needle and... well, yeah.

One other thing in all this: because of my line of work, I'm eligible to retire with benefits as soon as I reach 50 years of age and 25 years of service. That day is now less than three years away. There's a lot of things that can happen between now and then - most of them related to one Scott Walker - that can affect that.

This is sounding more like a Tumblr post that anything else at the moment, but the bottom line is that I'm scared, frustrated, angry, lost and yet cautiously hopeful, all at the same time.

Nah, not asking for anything except thoughts and prayers, but I just figured some of y'all might want to know why my posting has been hit-and-run as of late. (Lack of sleep does that to you.)

TL;DR: Joe's life sucks, and now he's getting stuck with needles.

Celt Z · Apr 9, 2015

I don't have a lot of experience with chronic pain, but if your shot is anything like an epidural, just don't look at the needle and you should be okay. I'm not sure if it's the same procedure, but if you think about how many women receive a similar shot and how few ever experience long-term problems, the odds are in your favor. At least you don't have to keep pushing right afterwards.

DarkAudit · Apr 9, 2015

My sister injured her back years ago, and had cortisone shots. I asked her about it and...

my sister said:
I can tell you that getting an injection in your spine sucks and hurts like crazy. Fortunately the pain subsides quickly. The shots I had were an enormous help.

Also

my sister again said:
You have to hold very still.

Squidleybits · Apr 9, 2015

I've never had the injections in my spine, but have had others over the years in other joints and they are wonderful! Quite often they will start the needle with freezing and then inject the steroid after which is great. For your back, they will likely use an ultrasound to guide it.

Good luck and I hope it helps!

Bubble181 · Apr 9, 2015

My brother's had those intra-spinal shots as well. He said they were very helpful and not as scary and horrible as they appeared...Though not a walk in the park, either. Well, actually, he said they *were* like a walk in the park - given that that hurt like a bitch too but was still a generally positive experience.

Hope it'll go off OK.

drawn_inward · Apr 9, 2015

Hope life starts turning around for you! Nothing like the uncertainty of life to set one at ~~ease~~ panic. Hope those injections work for you too.

WasabiPoptart · Apr 9, 2015

Pretty sure this is what Aussie had in his back. They really did help him. Plan to be high/euphoric for a few hours. I know he used to be.

Dei · Apr 9, 2015

My mom has had to get these a few times because she has bad back problems as well.

jwhouk · Apr 10, 2015

I go in for the poking/prodding in about two hours as I post this.

While most of the rest of the state got tornado warnings, we got snow up here.

jwhouk · Apr 10, 2015

Procedure done and I'm home. Doc stuck four needles in my lower back; the third one - left side, upper part of the lower back - hit like a hot poker.

Numbing stuff is wearing off but it's not feeling any worse. Hopefully that got it.

I'm going to go to bed now.

jwhouk · Apr 11, 2015

I've made a discovery.

The shots have apparently worked where they were aimed. BUT - and you can laugh about it to yourself - the arthritis in the rest of my body is doing an ache overtime.

Fingers are complaining about typing, and it hurts to sit for extended periods of time.

I am really hoping this goes away eventually.

DarkAudit · Apr 11, 2015

jwhouk said:
I've made a discovery.

The shots have apparently worked where they were aimed. BUT - and you can laugh about it to yourself - the arthritis in the rest of my body is doing an ache overtime.

Fingers are complaining about typing, and it hurts to sit for extended periods of time.

I am really hoping this goes away eventually.

You're breathing? Suit up. You're playing 3rd line against Buffalo tonight. (Yeah, it's that bad. Down to 5 defensemen.

)

jwhouk · Apr 11, 2015

I retired about five years ago.

Besides, Nashville has my rights.

PatrThom · Apr 11, 2015

Just try not to fall into that trap of no pain=no problem. It might not hurt, but try to go easy on it for the next week or so.

--Patrick

Squidleybits · Apr 11, 2015

jwhouk said:
I've made a discovery.

The shots have apparently worked where they were aimed. BUT - and you can laugh about it to yourself - the arthritis in the rest of my body is doing an ache overtime.

Fingers are complaining about typing, and it hurts to sit for extended periods of time.

I am really hoping this goes away eventually.

Don't suffer!! Go see your rhuemetologist!!

jwhouk · Apr 12, 2015

It's still sore, but I do have free range of motion.

Pardon me now while I go to sleep finally.

Squidleybits · Jun 3, 2015

How are you feeling now? Did they work?

jwhouk · Jun 3, 2015

I can post more about it when I'm not still trying to sleep, but yes, I honestly do believe they worked.

Squidleybits · Jun 3, 2015

I would be super interested in hearing more when you can.

jwhouk · Jun 3, 2015

After a couple of days, when the pain of having four shots in your lower back wore off, I noticed something.

I could actually move without pain.

Now, I'm not 100% right now - some bad ergonomics on my part and being overweight doesn't help - but after doing some of the stretching that the Physical Therapy guys gave me, I'm pretty much okay.

I do have to make sure I don't sit in one place too long, and I still have arthritic conditions elsewhere (Reynaud's Syndrome sucks, btw), but the back pain is practically non-existent.