L5 symptoms and conditions

On Sept. 2, 2009 I had a cortisone shot in my back for L4, L5, C1 disc problems. The shot was painful but brief and I went out of there with no particular symptoms. It was done in a hospital by a neurologist. On Sept. 4th I woke up and the whole room was spinning. I threw up and this continued for awhile. I could hardly stand and went to the hospital emergency room where I spent the next twelve hours getting all kinds of tests. My blood pressure was 185 over 110. Finally, they told me they could find nothing physically wrong and dismissed me with meclizine for dizziness. This is now Oct.27th and I had these vertigo symptoms for seven weeks! I was sent to an ear specialist and underwent vesicular therapy for benign position vertigo several times a week at a rehabilitation center. I had brain MRI and a neck MRA which showed nothing. Last Saturday I passed out for a few seconds. Every medical specialist insists that the Cortisone shot had nothing to do with all this but I am still undiagnosed. Yesterday (Oct. 26th) the dizziness ended (7 weeks). I don't know if it is gone for good. I cannot believe that it is just a coincidence that all this happened two days after the cortizone shot. Does this strike a bell with any of you?

I received my first shot on Kenalog three weeks ago, for a bulging disc in L5, and it took me from a 8 out of 10 pain scale, to a 2. After two weeks , I received my second shot, and now I feel about 98% better. As an added bonus, my Psoriasis of 15 years, that no Doctor could seem to control, has all but disappeared! Also a severe pain in my r/foot under 2nd tow area, has completely gone away, after 10 years of misery! I also am seeing my two toenails, and one fingernail restoring themselves to normal again(the nails had fallen off years ago, like a fungus, but it was not fungus). My dermatologist told me it had no cure and that I would have to deal with it! Kenalog benefits have FAR outweighed the negative effects so far... I have lost about 5lbs in 3 weeks, and anxiety is a mild issue, as is mild night sweats, but for me, this is a small price to pay for pain relief that was making my life miserable!

This post is directed to anyone who has contacted me regarding a possible class action lawsuit, which I was trying to initiate, as stated in my Oct 17th, 2008 post.
After contacting as many as 10 law firms, from NY to San Francisco, I have virtually "thrown in the towel". In essence, what they are saying is, this will be too expensive to litigate. The pharmaceutical companies have "teams" of lawyers, and I believe they are reluctant to go up against them.
I find it diabolical that this drug Kenalog is causing so much suffering, some emotional, some esthetic and some, like myself, sheer physical pain...but nothing can be done about it.
For all of you who have emailed me and I was unable to return your ems, I apologize....but I have been waiting to hear something positive feedback to relay. Unfortunately, that was not the case. If anything does develop I have stored your information and will get back to you. I would hope you would do the same.

I WAS TOLD TO TRY NERVE BLOCKS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SURGERY. I HAVE A RUPTURED LEAKING DISC AS THE RESULT OF A CAR ACCIDENT AT L4,L5, I HAD THREE INJECTIONS, I WAS NOT EVEN TOLD THEY WERE USING A STEROID. WHEN I STARTED HAVING NIGHT SWEATS, IRRITABILITY AND EXTREME FACIAL HAIR MY GYNO SAID IT WAS THE NERVE BLOCKS. THE NP AT THE PAIN TREATMENT CENTER SAID IN TEN YEARS SHE HAD NEVER HEARD OF IT. THE DEPO SHOT I WAS GETTING WAS NEGATED SO I GOT MY TUBES TIED. I HAVE AN APPT WITH AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST IN JUNE, I GOT IT IN NOV, MY HUSBAND SAYS WE WILL HAVE A CIVIL UNION BY THEN!! THE PAIN RELIEF LASTED 19 DAYS, THE HAIR 2 MONTHS AND COUNTING. THE SURGEON TOLD ME BEFORE HE PUT ME UNDER HE DIDN'T THINK IT WAS GOING TO WORK. I WISH I KNEW ABOUT THE SIDE EFFECTS. NOT HAPPY AT ALL. TREATMENT CENTER SAID BECAUSE OF SIDE EFFECTS I WAS NO LONGER ELIGIBLE FOR NERVE BLOCKS AND CLOSED MY CASE AS A PATIENT. I ALSO HAVE 2 BULGING DISCS IN MY NECK AND CHI FROM THE ACCIDENT. I GUESS I MAY HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY. THIS HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD EXPERIENCE.

Injections of Kenalog done via x ray machine, 3 times in a period of 2 months and trigger point injections with Kenalog done once after the second one did not work. Felt great after the first one, lasted for 4 weeks. Had another one done (second one) for the same problem, L5-SI (spinal fusion with rods and cages 7 years ago, developed sciata 4 months ago and pain doctor said the Kenalog shots were needed so I took her advice.
Needless to say, I was not informed of the warnings. I have been in bed now for 4 weeks, have no energy, feel dizzy and disorientated. Cannot even walk down the street without feeling like collapsing, hip pain and leg movement is deterioting and I am scared. Feel sick all of the time, cannot do laundry or dishes, feel so depressed as a result of these shots. Arm numbness and loss of motion, tingling in my fingers, burning pain in buttocks, down leg, and calf and down to foot. Also having muscle spasms in my left arm.
Never again will I do this. I will be speaking with my pain doctor next week and will inform her that these shots made me worse.
Thanks for listening to me, I need to go to bed again. I was such an active person before all of these shots were given to me. I feel so sad all the time and crying too often when I should be happy. I am a 47 year old female.
Any advice one can give would be appreciated.

I had this injection for a slipped disk in my L5 lumbar spine. I am a healthy 31 year old female. I had hair growth and non stop periods. I had 4, 9 day periods in 2 months and I now have anemia and low sodium. After going to the gynecologist and running a bunch of tests on me, it has now been confirmed that only the Kenalog shot could have been responsible for this. They had to put me on birth control pills to stop this and now I have side effects from that too. From what I see others have had this side effect too and I believe this is much more than just a menstrual irregularity! I have also gained weight (15lbs) eventhough I was slender, eating very healthy, and exercising everyday.The doctors who gave me this shot said that it wouldn't affect me like other corticosteroids, but apparently they were very wrong. I am definitely letting the FDA know this.

I started taking Lipitor on April 10th and have been waking in the middle of the night with severe calf and thigh cramps. Although I do have a herniated disk between l4 and l5 at first thought it flared up. Then I started to wonder about this drug and my high blood pressure medicine. Looking up side effects it seems that Lipitor may be the cause.

I live on a tiny island in the Caribbean so the Dr. will not be back till tuesday but I think it is worth not taking it until I chat with him.

I just got a Kenalog shot for a protruding disk in my L4 and L5
region. I told the doctor before I got the shot that I had recently taken cortisone pills and they had HORRIBLE side effects on me. He said the shot would be nothing like that and I would not have these side effects. Well, I do! For one I have raging insomnia and I can't even sleep if I take two Ambien! I have a horrible headace. I told the doctor about the headache because it started right after I got the shot and he said the headache has nothing to do with the shot! On top of that NONE of my pain is gone! Reading all of your comments on this board, I just want to know what is going on with all of these doctors! They just sit there and lie right to our face! I'm so mad I can't even type anymore! ARRRRGGGHHH!!!

I have been on toprol 50mg for almost a year than I had started experiencing side effects so my doctor switched me to 25mgs. I started experiencing hurting in my legs going around from the lower back to the upper thighs into the groin area. I had MRI of the spine and nothing had changed from the orginial diagnosis of stenosis in L5, 4, & 3. This could not cause the sereve pain I'm feeling. No one ever took a look at the toprol and how I was being effected from this drug. My legs feel as though they are going to give a way along with the pain in my muscles and joints

I had an injection of Kenalog on Tuesday, Feb.21, 2006, between L5 and S1, right and left side. The following day I had flushing in my face and neck. I had also hit the back of my hand on that day. When I looked at my hand it had a small round bump on it. I didn't think too much of it until I looked down about 15 minutes later. The small bump turned into a VERY large bump, taking up about 1/4 of the top of my hand. I immediately put ice on it and it did not get any larger but it didn't get smaller either.

I called the Dr.'s office and was told that I was having an allergic reaction to the Kenalog as far as the flushing went. He prescribed Vistaril for the flushing and told me to put hot compresses on my hand the next day.

The hot compresses was supposed to break up the blood clot but so far it hasn't. Yesterday I noticed that the skin below the clot is very discolored (kind of red and kind of purple.

He said that the combination of Kenalog with the Plavix and full dose of aspirin I take daily made my blood vessels very weak and one broke.

I also experienced chest pains the night of the injections. As yet, I am still not feeling very well.

I had no clue there would be so many adverse side effects and wonder if I should continue with treatment. He told me they would not use Kenalog again but they would have me take Benadryl before the next injections and take Vistaril afterwards. If I do this, how will I know if I am allergic to the next drug?