Advice for pain clinic patients
Following your treatment today please be aware that you may experience some of the symptoms/sensations described below.
You may experience
Discomfort around the injection site such as bruising. This should be temporary until the steroid begins to work. You may take whichever painkillers you normally take to reduce the pain. You may have numbness in the area/limb which was treated. This is also temporary and normal sensation will return over the next few hours. If it is judged safe by the nurse, you may be discharged home whilst still experiencing some numbness. Please take extra care to protect the area/limb until normal sensation returns. This is especially important as you could cause injury by contact with heat or other objects. (e.g. furniture). If you do not experience any symptoms above you should continue as normal. However, if you do, then it is advisable that you should rest until normal sensation has returned and then continue as normal.
Injection site
You may have a dressing applied to the injection site, which you should remove later the same day. There may be a local allergic reaction to the injection which results in redness and itching. This is not serious although we need to know about it for future treatments.
Medication
Please continue with your present medication unless the doctor has altered your prescription.
Complications
There are no serious complications to these procedures, but if problems arise, please contact your own doctor. If you have any questions, please contact our Clinical Nurse Specialist on the telephone number given for advice.
What happens next?
Following your injection today, please ring. There is an answer machine in operation at all times, so please leave your name and telephone number and we will contact you to discuss your progress.