Well, I had my first gentamicin injection in over two years for my meniere's disease. I never forgot how painful the first set was but this time it even seemed worse. I don’t know if I can do three more shots.
I was pretty calm on Wednesday morning before I went to the doctor. My wife drove me to the Doctor’s office which takes about an hour to get there. She came along for support and also for driving home because I knew I wasn’t going to be in any shape to drive.
We didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor, which is always good. Right before he gave me the injection, he told me that he was going to do something different this time. Because of the last time that I had the shot the actual numbing of the eardrum was painful in itself so he decided to forego that and just give me the shot. He asked if that was okay. He kind of caught me off guard. I said sure that was fine.
Big mistake!
The initial shot really didn’t hurt that much but the gent going through the hole was excruciating. It all ended quite quickly but the pain was terrible. I sat in the chair with my head tilted for the required 45 minutes. Somehow I was able to take an ibuprofen but that didn’t help at all. The pain was getting worse.
After the 45 minutes were up I told the nurse that it seemed that this time the pain was a lot worse than any injection that I had before. She though that the pain was normal, but I didn’t remember it hurting that bad.
I made it home and tried to rest but my head and my ear were hurting pretty good. Finally I called the Doctor’s office to see if they could prescribe something to ease the pain. Of course there was a big mix-up and I didn’t get the medicine till today.
Anyway I’m glad that it is all over and I believe for the next injection in 2 weeks, I will definitely ask to have the eardrum numbed. I think that was the cause of all my problems.
I certainly appreciate the emails wishing me well that really helps me out. Thanks again
Feel free to comment and please subscribe to my RSS Feed
Thanks
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I had my first injection on the 15th and it went smoothly. That night I felt ok and the next couple of days were great. The best I've felt in a long time. Well that didn't last, I had an attack a couple of days after that treatment, but the unstable feeling has continued. I've had trouble walking straight for a couple of days now. This disease has totally zapped all of my sick time over the last year. I hope my balance comes back soon, I hate being at home and especially not driving. Has anyone else had this type of trouble after the injections. And I agree the injections are not easy.
David, I'm so sorry the injection was so unpleasant. Did he warm the gentamicin to body temperature before injecting it? I found that when I was giving myself gentamicin shots at home (using the syringe without the needle to push the liquid through a tube in my eardrum) it was mildly painful if I spent some time warming the syringe in my hands or under my arm first. If I forgot and injected it cold, it was excruciating.
Chad, I had the same response. For three days or so after each shot, I would feel great. I felt normal for the first time in more than a year. REALLY normal. But it never lasted. The instability would come back, along with the attacks. After the last shot, when my vestibular nerve was pretty much dead, I had terrible dizziness and nausea for several days. That cleared up over time, particularly once I began getting vestibular rehab therapy. But I never felt normal again.
I don't regret the injections or the surgery I had later to sever the nerve completely, because I feel better than I did when I was having cluster attacks every day for weeks on end. But I'm not normal, and I'm not sure I'll ever feel normal again. It's a terrible choice to have to make.
Post a Comment