I had an epidural neck injection for a herniated disc at C3-4 andC5-6. They brought me into the room to do my injection and one of the nurses mentioned that the women at the front desk weren’t processing patients fast enough and they really needed to rush through the procedures so they could have lunch. Of course laying on the table and hearing this made me very nervous. When they did the injection I felt the most excoriating pain throughout my entire body, my arm shot up and I could not control myself from screaming. My husband brought me home and I was in terrible pain. The entire left side of my body locked up (the right side is where I was having issues before the injection). I spent a month in bed, barely able to walk. I was told I would be ok within 24 hours, but obviously that was not the case. I called the doctor day after day crying and telling them how much pain I was in and they wouldn’t do a thing about. Finally the allowed me to come in and see the doctor, he didn’t even look at my injection site and made a joke saying I was fine and part of the needle wasn’t stuck in my neck so it’s all good. He would not admit to anything going wrong during the procedure and I still have no idea what happened. I am now doing physical therapy, I’ve done one month and have two more to go. The therapy has done nothing at this point and I have been told that I am in so much pain, because my muscles overreacted to the trauma from the injection, which has caused my head and shoulders to be pulled forward from the muscle tightness. I am in pain 24/7 and have no idea what to do. Has anyone ever heard of this happening during an epidural injection?
This sounds awful. I’m sorry to hear that this happened. The needle could have most likely struck a nerve that caused the severe pain on the left side. It is completely true that your body’s response to pain is to protect itself, and thus everything tightens and contracts. The PT may be completely right about the neck and back muscles, but if your whole left side was rocked and you couldn’t walk, then there is more to the body as a whole that needs to be addressed and taken into consideration than just the neck. I would talk to your PT about releasing the entire muscle and fascia system starting at your feet. If you would like to chat more with me please let me know. I work as a Movement Therapist with a wide variety of techniques. All of the systems work together, so they need to be doing more for your system as a whole, not just one area (the neck).