DO PROLOTHERAPY INJECTIONS HURT THAT MUCH?
As the saying goes with body builders, it also goes with
Prolotherapy,
"no pain, no gain." Shots are shots. "Do they
hurt?" every new patient asks, as sweat begins to form on the patient's
forehead and palms as the needle approaches its target. All doctors were probably taught the appropriate answer
to this question in medical school. "It hurts a little." Does anything the doctor sticks you with really hurt just a little?
Some people have many
Prolotherapy injections and do not flinch, while others receive a few shots and have a rough
time.
The amount of pain experienced during the
Prolotherapy treatment is
insignificant compared to the pain the
chronic pain patient experiences every day. Many say after the
Prolotherapy treatment, "It wasn't that bad." There
are a few people, however, who need help in receiving
Prolotherapy.
In order to assist those patients who find Prolotherapy painful, the physician may give the patient anesthesia or a prescription for Tylenol with
codeine or Vicodin to be taken prior to Prolotherapy treatments . Other physicians, like Ross, may use a device called Madajet which sprays an
anesthetic such as
lidocaine into the skin to deaden the pain when the needle pierces the skin. The needle piercing through the skin is the most painful part
of the procedure.
For those requiring injections in many areas at one time or in very
delicate areas like the neck, intravenous anesthesia such as Demerol, a narcotic, is used.
The intravenous anesthesia is the most dangerous part of
the procedure. An occasional nausea and a few "upchucks" were the only side effects. The anesthesia does make a person "woozy" but most people prefer it because it eliminates the pain of the procedure. For the most part,
the procedure is completed in a matter of minutes and requires nothing for pain.
Ninety-nine percent of our patients receive the treatments without pain killers
and do just fine.
We have lots of things to help you during the procedures
too - such as stress balls to squeeze, soothing music to listen to with headphones, hot
packs, and of course, kind assistants in the room with you to
offer you a hand to hold.
