Nerve block? anxiety attacks?
- This topic has 12 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
My husband was supposed to be knocked out, intravenously, but when he had the temp nerve block he said it was extremely painful!
We shall see. A very bad fungus growning for months in his pipes has been his pain, they say. Not sure it is node issues, so in 10 days he may be a new person after all the drugs fix it. Still signed up for nerve block what the hell. bring it all on!
I did have one of the those nerve blocks, and I highly recommend it.
Sorry to have come to this thread a month late. I had a nerve block a few years ago, the kind that Marion described as “electively destroys nerve tissue by the use of alcohol or pheno, cryoanalgesia”. It was Pheno, I believe. I had been having severe pain caused by swollen lymph nodes pressing on my spine and was consuming more and more pain medications with no end in sight. It was like a miracle – within a week or so I had no pain at all; my life was completely changed. I was told at the time that the block might last weeks, months, or years, and that the pain might come back gradually or swiftly: there was no way of knowing.
The procedure was easy; sort of a twilight sleep as they went into my back with long needles; I didn’t feel anything.
Because those lymph nodes were removed when I had my resection six months later, there’s no way to tell how long-lasting the relief would have been. I now have metastases that are growing and finding new places to attack, so I hope there will be possibilities of blocks if and when I get such pain again.
thanks bellavega, yes he has tried a variet of meds. The anxiety pills actually are not an issue, it is really what is causing his pain, cause he is on too many pain meds after 6 months after surgery. Hopefully surgeon will have insight tomorrow. thanks.
Has he tried different medicines for the pain and anxiety? I take anxiety pills and from first hand experience can tell you that there are a bunch of different medicines one can take but they all don’t react the same for each person. I’ve tried switching before and hated the side effects and how it made me feel.
marions thanks. Unfortunately no matter who we see they still do not seem to have any alarm to his pain. I think maybe it is some infection. I told him to call oncologist today and mention that. Something is wrong, different, getting worse over time. Surgeon’s office just called and said they will call me today to schedule a catscan and labs and get him surgeon appt after that. He would have had the tests in two weeks anyway, but seems no one is on top of what is going on. Good thing is the anxiety medicine is working and so much better than the freaking out part.
Isiman…I believe there are two kind of nerve blocks; one is temporary and the other is permanent.
The temporary procedure involves a combination of a local anesthetic, and/or opioids, steroids, and epinephrine.
I think that the permanent nerve block selectively destroys nerve tissue by the use of alcohol or pheno, cryoanalgesia, and radiofrequency ablation.I don’t recall anyone ever posting on this subject however; I also don’t recall anyone reporting about the kind of severe pain your husband is experiencing this many months, post surgery. I hope he gets help asap.
Anti anxiety drugs though, have been described for many of our members and often the caregivers needs it too.
Hang in there. This has been a tough ride. My heart goes out to you and Jim.
Best wishes,
MarionOh, I totally understand. Good news is no cancer, now it’s a matter of getting rid of the pain. I think a whole lot of it for us is we just hate to see someone we love so much go through all this pain. We know what needs to be done, but the frustrations also mount in getting it done. I wonder if anyone ever wrote a book on Care Giving.
The surgeon is the Director of the Transplant Institute, he is in charge. We have been talking directly with his right hand assistant and had the Onc call as well. he was out of the country last week. We will keep bugging. This nerve block is not like an epidural (yes, loved that when I gave birth), it is more like severing all the nerves inside him so he no longer feels pain. Maybe it is the form of an epidural although that goes in your spine I thought. We shall see, only in discussions now. You know, after a while you just get tired all of all and sometimes it is more comforting and easy to accept the path and plan that is your life and just not fight anymore. God will use all this for the good and already has touched many people around my husband because of it, and through him. But fighting the cards you have been dealt, well. sometimes more contentment in folding. But the problem is that he doesn’t have any cancer showing in labs and scans so it is just battling recovery issues so there is no towel to throw in. Right now just looking for comfort from pain, ability to gain weight etc. I’m just whining. Caregiver whoas.
Hi Isisman. Not sure about the Meds vs RX, don’t understand why it is so difficult to get in to the surgeon. If a patient is having that kind of pain you should be able to get in, in a few days. I would ask to talk to his Office Manager.
I had a Nerve Block (Epideral) last October when I had my Cancer surgery (stomach) and it was wonderful as I had no pain for 24 hours. It sounds awful but the block was nothing compared to the pain I would have had. Let us know what happens.My husband is still not absorbing calories and we have every doc on the case.He is withering away. But that is not why I’m writing. He has still been in constant pain in his surgery area for 6 months now. Yes pain pills…bring them on. They are saying they may do a nerve block? Anyone had this? Also he started to freak out, it was like drug addiction withdrawls, he thought, like if he tried to wean off pain pills. Turns out doc put him on anxiety pills. He feels better, but it was scary, he was terrified, skin crawling, freaking out, I’m so tired of issues day after day. Anyway, now he is just groggy all the time and sleeps alot due to the meds but gets up to push in the calories several times a day. I would love to know why so much pain after so long. We are frantically trying to meet with surgeon again since Gastro doc and Onc doc treat their angles…we want to talk to the doc who did the work, and he is superb in his field, but after a monht, we still can’t get an appt. We will eventually, but it has been frustrating.
- The forum ‘General Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.