Advice? Medical Questions on Cortisone shots

[lavendertook]

I'd be grateful for advice here. Questions for any of you who have experience with cortisone shots, with some whining thrown in for good measure:

I went to the podiatrist today to get a cortisone shot in my heel. I have plantar fasciaitis and a small bone spur; ie., my right heel hurts when I walk on it, very seriously if I drive on it too long. The cortisone shot the doctor gave me today hurt like all get out--so badly I had to ask her to stop after only getting a quarter of it into me--which seemed to be taking forever.

She said the cortisone burns and so she had to do it slowly to keep it from being too much. But I think it was the needle being moved about that hurt moreso, though the burn hurt as well. But this was really unbearable. And I may be just a wimp, but yesterday I got a novocaine shot through the roof of my mouth to have a molar pulled out, and that shot hurt much less. I asked the podiatrist if she could inject it faster (in pain, I just can't tell how long it took--it may have been only 30 seconds or over a minute--which means it was going to take at least a couple more minutes to finish), but she said no.

So my question is, do cortisone shots usually hurt unbearably?

Does any shot to the heel hurt worse than a shot in a mouth with an infected tooth? Or did I have the misfortune of getting a war criminal for my podiatrist (like a dentist I had a couple years ago who was totally clueless on pain management--that was the one who also drilled a hole in my tongue--no, I was not getting a piercing.)

I'm not walking in this podiatrist's office again, even if it meant I never walk anywhere again. But should I bother getting a referral to another podiatrist who is better at pain management, or will the pain be just as bad with the most skilled doctor out there?

I'm really hating this podiatrist right now--I felt as shaken after this as I had felt after being slugged in the head. And I thought yesterday getting my tooth pulled at the dentist would be the bad day, but that was a breeze in comparison--this dentist is pretty good at pain management. However, I'm going to have to report this podiatrist for Geneva Convention violations.

Comments

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Ty--I am working on two kinds of stretches. Mine is not severe enough to warrant surgery, but does involve a slight bone spur and may need more than stretches and proper foot padding to make it go away.

I am increasing the amount of times a day I do the stretches. I asked the podiatrist to watch if I'm doing the stretches right since all she did last time was hand me the sheet about them. I wasn't putting weight in the proper foot while doing them so at least I got that amount of info out of her--hopefully that will help, because without some other kind of sedation I'm not doing that shot again, even with another podiatrist. I saw a website that had a couple additional kinds of stretches--any recommendations?

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Is the rolling pin exercise appropriate for you? I used to sit at my desk all day with a rolling pin right beside my foot, and every half hour or so I'd work it under my foot and just roll it forward and backward, pressing down as I did so, for a while. It got so automatic that it didn't even feel like exercise, and I think the fact that I was doing it so many times a day is why the pain just about vanished completely.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent! Ty, hon! I will try that. (-:

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Good luck. I hope it does some good.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

It's really helped--thank you! I've been keeping a rolling pin under my foot at my desk at home and a can under my foot at work and rolling them periodically all week, and my pain is practically gone now. I've also been keeping up with my other stretches. I took a walk around the lake without pain yesterday. (-:

I have half a reply to our email chat done--will finish it soon.(-:

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that the pain is easing up. Pain bad. No pain good.