Trip #2 to the acupuncturist
I returned from acupuncture around 11:30am. From that point through this moment, I feel slightly nauseated and headachey cuz I didn’t eat enough before the appointment. I am eating baked salmon, mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms, and drinking rice milk to remedy the situation.
I learned – my appointments from here on out will be in the afternoon.
Also, from the appointments itself, my shoulders feel puffed again – let’s see if I can explain… you jab a needle into a piece of flesh. You electrify it. It will puff a bit. That’s what the doctor does with the acupuncture needles – he hooks a unit to each needle and sends a small electrical current to the needle to stimulate the muscle. Like what I used to have done in physical therapy back in 2001 when I was having repetitive strain in my forearms and wrists.
They used electrodes, this guy uses acupuncture needles. *shrug* same idea.
So I’m stiff from that. The same thing happened on Wednesday. And on Thursday, I felt MUCH better. That’s what I am hoping for, for tomorrow – to feel much better.
Oh, and I asked Dr. Yan today about a face ring or whatever those are called, so I can lay on my stomach on the table without having to turn my head. He said he does have one. I just didn’t see it last time. We decided that for awhile, we’ll do the acupuncture with me sitting in a chair, and then take it from there.
I called my Ma when I got home, and asked her about the cortisone injections she got many years ago. My pain management doctor had recommended cortisone injections as treatment for my bulging disks in my neck, and I’ve been afraid to do it.
Ma has always told me that she’s as deathly allergic to cortisone as she is to penicillin. Since I’m badly allergic to penicillin also, I am afraid I’ll have similar reaction to the cortisone as my Ma did. So I got the story:
She had psoriasis of the scalp, and she kept itching it and it got worse and painful. So she went to a specialist who gave her a “gun type” cortisone injection to the neck. As a result of the cortisone injection, she said she felt drunk and couldn’t talk – her speech was slurred. She said that she lost feeling in her face and mouth, and that if she sat down, she couldn’t get back up again because her legs would go numb. So she couldn’t walk at times, either. She said this lasted two weeks and scared the shit out of her. She saw her primary care doctor, who told her to NEVER get a cortisone injection again, that she didn’t need that just for psoriasis of the scalp. He told her she was allergic to cortisone. This led my mother to believe she almost died from it.
One year, my Ma had a bad case of psoriasis on the arm. She went to the doctor who gave her a cream. The psoriasis worsened, badly. I remember this as a teenager and how mutilated her arm looked. She examined the ingredients in the cream – cortisone. So even topical cortisone is bad for Ma.
Every doctor she’s seen since then has scoffed at her when she says she is allergic to cortisone. They tell her ‘There’s natural cortisone in your body! How can you be allergic to it?’ Typical for doctors to scoff at their patients. I get that about the penicillin whenever doctors try to prescribe cillin-derived alternatives to penicillin if I’m in need of antibiotics. I always have to forcefully tell them NO, I cannot have ANY cillin-derived medicines, either. I projectile-vomit. TRUST me. They scoff. I scoff back and get what I need that is NOT cillin-derived.
Anyway, I digress.
As stated earlier, because of the fact that Ma is allergic to penicillin, and so am I, therefore I am afraid that because she is sensitive to cortisone, that so am I.
So Ma asked me if I have ever used corisone creams. I thought about it and remembered that last year, my allergist gave me a corisone ointment for the atopic dermatitis on my fingers. The dermatitis was caused by eating gluten and yeasty foods. The ointment helped me.
Based on that, Ma says I shouldn’t have a problem with cortisone injections.
My friend Jason G, had cortisone injections to his neck for ruptured disk. He said the first one helped – for two months he was pain free. But the second injection didn’t do jack shit.
My friend Nate says that “High-dose cortisone is the second most common cause of osteoporosis.”
So based on talking to my Ma, my friend Jason and my friend Nate, I did some research.
“The stories regarding the dangers of cortisone come from years ago when it was first introduced and it was used in larger doses (the consequences were not yet recognized).” – John A. Van Houten, M.D.
“…problems came with large doses over time, including a weakening of the immune system.” – Dr. Ephraim P. Engleman.
“…this drug can be mistaken for a miracle cure for their pain. It is true that cortisone injections are effective at reducing pain, but cortisone does not assist in the healing process. In fact, it’s actually been shown to slow it down.” – Laurie Brown LaRusso, MS.
“He also cautions that the cortisone did not fix the problem, it merely eased the pain.” – Laurie Brown LaRusso, MS, quoting Robert Leach, MD, editor of the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
“Cortisone in high doses is the second most common cause of osteoporosis.” – Carol & Richard Eustice, reviewed by Kate Grossman, M.D.
Well!
Dear Dr. Panjabi, my pain management specialist,
I have decided that I will NOT be taking cortisone injections any time soon!
-zept