Glucose Out of Control After Nerve Block

[royce]

3 days ago I was given a nerve block by a pain management physician in Florida. I am in worse pain than ever and my glucose levels which had been controlled have sky rocketed almost immediately. I had to go to my internist who prescribed metaformin 500mg twice a day. Prior to the block I was controlling my sugars with diet and Onglyza once a day. I am hoping that this is temporary and will go away but I am not sure. I consulted another PM doctor who said I should have an ablation done but that conflicts with what the other doc who said that would be a last resort.
Can anyone share the situation with the glucose levels and how long it takes for the nerve block to kick in? I have terrible pain in my scrotum much worse than prior to the injections.

Thanks

[Violet M]

Royce,

Did your nerve block contain a steroid? Steroid injections can increase blood sugar levels for several days. I recently had a steroid injection in my shoulder and was warned about this.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21540770

With pudendal nerve blocks it may take 3-4 days for the steroid to kick in, however; it is not uncommon for PN blocks to cause a flare-up for several weeks. That is what happened to me with one of my nerve blocks. Hopefully your pain will calm down soon. In the meantime, you may need to increase your pain medications.

This webpage might answer some of your questions about nerve blocks. http://www.pudendalhope.info/node/51
Did you experience any relief at all, even for a few hours? If so, that could indicate a diagnosis of pudendal neuralgia. I would not even consider ablation of the pudendal nerve unless a pudendal nerve block definitively confirmed that I had pudendal neuralgia. Even then, I would think twice about an ablation and would try a lot of conservative therapies first.

There are two types of ablation -- pulsed radio frequency (PRF) ablation or cryoablation. I explained the difference in an article in this newsletter. http://www.pudendalhope.info/sites/defa ... 202014.pdf
Since that article was written, there have been several physicians who are doing cryoablation on the pudendal nerve but with mixed results.

From what I've heard, PRF may provide temporary relief but will likely have to be repeated on a regular basis. Cryoablation is more neurodestructive but may also need to be repeated. There are risks involved with both procedures.

I think the important thing to do at this point is to let your doctor know about your increased pain levels to see if you can get some extra pain meds, and to use whatever other methods of pain control that work such as heat and ice. Sorry to hear you are having increased pain but keep your courage up because it is most likely temporary.

Violet

[royce]

I am not sure what medication my nerve block consisted of but my assumption is that it was in fact a steroid. With the added Metaformin that my internist prescribed my glucose level today for the first time is normal. In addition to a normal glucose level yesterday was the first time I was basically pain free in all of the areas that normally are involved, this is 5 days post my injections. My PM physician wants to do a series of theses blocks for about 5-6 months. My fear is that each time he administers the block I will be in agony for several days. Two months ago I did have a nerve block by another physician that took my pain away for about 5 1/2 hours. Once he diagnosed the pain as being PN he sent me for therapy with a pelvic specialist. I did not have any relief with the therapy and was then sent to the PM doc who did the nerve block. I am so frustrated because I am getting mixed messages from everyone. My internist is recommending the ablation in order to avoid the glucose level increase from the steroid blocks. I am at my wits end with this agonizing pain.
My pain first started as rectal pain and after a series of seeing GI docs and rectal specialists someone finally sent me to the original pain doctor who did the diagnostic injection, he is the one that is currently recommending the ablation.
My question here is should I chance a series of injections? Thanks for any advice anyone can give me I feel like no one wants to make a decision for me and the are leaving everything up to me. I have been suffering for 5 months now. Today again I am almost pain free but living with the fear it will come back.

Royce

[royce]

Ok so today I spoke with the doctor he recommended that for my next injection we should use Sarapin for my nerve block. Sarapin is a natural medication and is not supposed to have any side effects,

Has anyone ever been treated with this? If so can you tell me what the results have been and if it impacted your glucose levels?

Thanks

[Violet M]

Royce, I don't remember hearing of sarapin but that would be nice if it doesn't have any side effects. I wonder how effective it is. You are right that you are the only one who can make the decision about whether to have more nerve blocks. It is a difficult decision to make for sure and I wish you all the best.

Violet

[Alice3]

Your posts are so informative. They helped me too.

[Amy01]

Hi Royce,

just want to know how Sarapin works out for you?

[RobinsBright2]

Kit is a complete package to test and monitor your blood glucose levels. It comes with test strips, lancets, a lancing device, control solution, and a log book.

Accu Check Price

[Cherry]

Informative post, thanks.

[Violet M]

Hello Cherry,

Please introduce yourself and tell us your story in the welcome center section of the forum.

Violet