Day 20: T4 Syndrome

 

    Today I saw my physiatrist and received a diagnostic lidocaine injection in my T4-5 vertebrae.  The original plan was to do the T5-6 junction, but when I described my symptoms (pain above my left shoulder blade radiating down my left arm to my hand) he suspected that T4 syndrome might be the cause and decided to do the diagnostic injection at the T4-5 junction instead.  

    Because people with EDS tend to metabolize lidocaine quickly, we only had a short window to assess the efficacy of the injection.  I believe my pain was significantly decreased (70%+) and that at the thirty-minute mark it began to return, with full return at about an hour.  I believe this indicates that treatment at the T4 area would be beneficial, but what kind of treatment I do not know.

    I continued to experience pain in the area between my T5-6 and T11-12 vertebrae.  Again, I think this means that the other areas need to be addressed as well.  When speaking to the PA after the injection, she said that I should observe the outcome and consider booking an appointment to do another diagnostic injection in another area before we meet at the end of next month to create a treatment plan.  That seems wise, so I will be heading back next week to try another set of injections!

Here's the thing: I think that this whole thing is more of an art than a science.  That and I'm guessing I have several different things going on at once. It makes decisions about treatment kind of stressful because it's painful and expensive and you can't be sure it'll even help.