Not looking for a diagnosis, just pain relief!

Yolina

jenniewb wrote: »

Just on another note; with an MRI they don't tend to inject you with anything. It sounds like you're talking about a nuclear bone scan where they inject you with radio-active fluid, you wait a few hours away from all small life (animals, children and so on) because you are a beam of radioactivity and could harm them. They then scan you and all the fluid will collect in the area which is damaged because this is where your body is newly laying down cells.

T'was definitely just an MRI I had it was a contrast dye they injected in my shoulder which was horrible - it felt like my shoulder was about to explode with all that extra liquid in it :rotfl: and it was really painful for nearly a week afterwards until all the stuff had resorbed.


Hopefully your physio appointment will come through soon

Mojisola

jenniewb wrote: »

Thanks- can I just ask why an osteopath? I'm not sure my GP will refer me if they aren't sure why; the problem is in my elbow and I'm not sure how I'd convince them I'd need help from someone specialising in back related problems.

I doubt you'd get a referral - you'd have to go privately.

Osteopaths specialise in bones and muscles and can often give relief where the NHS fails. However, if you think your problem is a fracture, it may not be appropriate.

jenniewb

Mojisola wrote: »

I doubt you'd get a referral - you'd have to go privately.

Osteopaths specialise in bones and muscles and can often give relief where the NHS fails. However, if you think your problem is a fracture, it may not be appropriate.

I know- and the most annoying thing is I could have done with a referral to an osteopath years ago!
I have back issues and nerve related back issues (says my GP). I've been packed off with pill after pill for said back pain (lower, mid/thoracic and nerves related to my mid torso, lower back and sciatic joint). I was even given tramadol at one point! (knocked me for six...) I found pain relief seems to work by putting you to sleep so you are not conscious to feel any pain. Crazy way to spend what I would consider supposed to be still in the prime of my functional life.


I was sent however to a physio at the same time because of the back pain who sent me to the hospital run Pilates class and I can only say they were shockingly bad. I could detail, you'd get bored with the length. I don't doubt the NHS is amazing- I totally agree, it's not the NHS I have an issue with here, it's ill trained staff who had no place in giving a Pilates class (about 10 of us for 6 sessions) so badly- the Pilates didn't help, it was seen as the only treatment available to me.


I didn't ask about an osteopath back then, it takes me a lot to brick it and go to my GP for help because I constantly worry about being judged and being irritating and they work so very fast (wont stop me going, just feels hard so going the extra and asking for specialist treatment is just off the scale at the moment).
I'm pretty sure it wasn't even a possibility to refer me on to an osteopath back then, despite my symptoms all relating to my back and being about nerves. If the pain, prior diagnosis and my age back then didn't get me a referral to a specialist, I am pretty sure a dodgy elbow wont :rotfl: But it's a nice thought!

missbiggles1

jenniewb wrote: »

Thanks- can I just ask why an osteopath? I'm not sure my GP will refer me if they aren't sure why; the problem is in my elbow and I'm not sure how I'd convince them I'd need help from someone specialising in back related problems.

Osteopaths don't just work with backs - mine did wonders for my knee. Also, you don't need to be referred by your GP, you just make an appoinment independently.

KxMx

MRI's can be done with or without contrast, oral or injection.

Sorry but where did you get that nonsense about nuclear bone scans from :eek:

Yes repeated ones are not recommended but they are safe, levels in soil some places in the world have higher levels than what they give you in the test! Nurse mentioned coffee from brazil at my WBC scan which is very similar to a nuclear bone scan.

I was certainly NOT a beam of radiation liable to harm children or animals and kept in isolation with staff attending in Hazmat gear; :rotfl: for the WBC scan I wandered round the Hospital but for the nuclear bone scan I went home and came back again.

If pills make you drowsy then why not try the ibuprofen gel? It's cheap enough in places like Savers.

teddysmum

I've had at 5 MRIs (multiple disc bulges), but only one with contrast and this was to check the blood supply in my neck. The only discomfort from the contrast was a slight stinging as the fluid entered via my wrist.


MRIs are painless and nothing to worry about.


Regarding painkillers , paracetamol and ibruprofen , don't work for me and co-codamol stopped being effective. Tramacet was effective, but my GP said it is no longer prescribed so I'm on tramadol, which usually works. Amitriptyline worked but gave me horrendous nightmares (well known side effect) and imipramine had no effect at all.

cavework

Hi Op...
No Doctor but I have had exactly the same symptoms.
The cause was calcified tendonitis . I have had this in both shoulders.
It starts as you have described and gradually your range of movement in the shoulder becomes more restricted, especially putting your arm straight up to the side of your head.
The pain starts when the calcium begins to be re-absorbed by the body.
This can be diagnosed with an Xray and can be treated
Could be something completely different but might help.
Hope you get it sorted
x

jenniewb

KxMx wrote: »

MRI's can be done with or without contrast, oral or injection.

Sorry but where did you get that nonsense about nuclear bone scans from :eek:

Yes repeated ones are not recommended but they are safe, levels in soil some places in the world have higher levels than what they give you in the test! Nurse mentioned coffee from brazil at my WBC scan which is very similar to a nuclear bone scan.

I was certainly NOT a beam of radiation liable to harm children or animals and kept in isolation with staff attending in Hazmat gear; :rotfl: for the WBC scan I wandered round the Hospital but for the nuclear bone scan I went home and came back again.

If pills make you drowsy then why not try the ibuprofen gel? It's cheap enough in places like Savers.

Nuclear bone scans? I've had one- I experienced it first hand, got the paperwork with the instructions. I was sent home but under strict instructions to stay well clear of small children and animals still! I had it done in 2011 and it was following an MRI, my leg was so swollen due to the inflammation (I had a fracture despite being told the previous week by a physio I'd been making it up...yes I made an official complaint!) The MRI was/is painless (I've had about 5 or 6 of them over the years) the nuclear bone scan was the only option because a scan couldn't get past the inflammation.


Don't really mind an MRI (but would rather avoid it tbh due to the claustrophobic inducing tube!) although it's not likely to pick up what this is, but don't really want another nuclear bone scan, the idea of nuclear anything being put in my body worries me!


I have been told that ibuprofen gel doesn't work by a GP, a pharmacist and another medic. I've also not known it to work (which is why I'd discussed it with the above). I have some still but don't tend to use it as it makes no difference when I do

kaya

Had 3 MRI scans on my back and never been INjected with anything, if you GP didn't bother with a scan or X-ray I would advise insisting on one, seeing a different GP or if the pain is so bad popping into A&E or your local walk in clinic. GP's do make mistakes more often than they will admit and it's not impossible to think you may have some damage. I had chronic and acute back pain for ten years before I insisted on a scan as one was never offered by which time my back was so bad it has become inoperable, most gp's mean well but they are all very overworked and stressed and do make mistakes

jenniewb

kaya wrote: »

Had 3 MRI scans on my back and never been INjected with anything, if you GP didn't bother with a scan or X-ray I would advise insisting on one, seeing a different GP or if the pain is so bad popping into A&E or your local walk in clinic. GP's do make mistakes more often than they will admit and it's not impossible to think you may have some damage. I had chronic and acute back pain for ten years before I insisted on a scan as one was never offered by which time my back was so bad it has become inoperable, most gp's mean well but they are all very overworked and stressed and do make mistakes

Just to make it clear:

My experience of scans.

MRI= NO injection, loud machine you go into a little tube. No injection; nothing injected.

Nuclear Bone Scan; injection.
Done so the radioactive fluid will pick up on the scan as it gathers where the new cells are forming which is where the injury is. The scan indicates where your body is mending itself and where there is a need for new cells hence your body building them. It is then the job of the specialist to put the scan results into layman's terms and suggest what the injury is.