Even More Pain in the Rear

I was up bright and early yesterday morning for a 7:00 AM appointment with the orthopedic specialist. As you might recall from my previous post , I considered cancelling the appointment, but at the last minute, decided to see what he had to say about the less-than-impressive results of the steroid shots.

Surprisingly, this visit was much more pleasant than the last. He did a lot less poking and prodding (although there was still a fair amount of jabbing into my aching rear, lower back, and thighs,) and there were no completely-not-funny jokes about the reflex hammer.

Instead, he agreed with me that because the first set of shots did not give me much relief, there was really not much value in a second round. So we decided on a new course of action: Lidocaine patches, and physical therapy. The Lidocaine patches provide numbing and pain relief. You simply tear off the plastic over to expose the adhesive and stick the patches on your skin where you have the most pain. The down side is that you can only use the patches for 12 hours at a time. Then you have to leave them off for 12 hours before you can apply a new patch. On the plus side, they don’t add to the pain and they don’t screw with your blood sugars.

I stopped by the pharmacy last night after work to pick up the patches. By the time I got home, I was in quite a lot of pain. Per the doctor’s advice, I cut one patch in two and slapped half on each butt cheek. The relief was not immediate, but by morning, the pain had subsided considerably. For the first time in nearly a month, my sleep was not disrupted by the hourly need to find a more comfortable position. Sadly, the pain started to return almost immediately upon removing the patches. Also, I seem to have developed a red skin irritation at the site of the patches. Luckily, I don’t seem to have any other signs of irritation (burning, itching, etc.) Hopefully the redness tapers off before it’s time to slap on the next set of patches.
My next task is to find a physical therapist near either my home or office. The orthopedic specialist was not much help on this front because I live and work so far from his office, so I have a call into my family doctor.

In other pain news, I’ve also developed some ligament pain in my belly – it’s on the sides and it feels kind of like the side cramp you get when you run too long and you’re out of shape. This pain is manageable, though, and does not keep me up at night.

I’m starting to feel like my body is falling apart. I hope it can hang on for another three months!

Explore posts in the same categories: Aches and Pains, Third Trimester

Tags: diabetes, hip pain, pregnancy, type 1

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