Knees steriod and aenesthetic injected into my system wrong in hospital

[artyone]

What do you think. I had injections into both knees first time. Left knee ok r knee felt her hit a nerve. Became ill bp 220 heart rate 200 sugar 12 was admitted to hospital. Now one week later beginning to feel better. It was horrid. Think it went into my vein and shot round my body. Take care if your having it done. I had no one with me. My blood pressure was up before it was done I read it shouldn't be done if pressure up. All in all a bad day

[Hidden]

This must have been so frightening. Glad you are starting to feel better. I've only had my knees drained & injected once & the Rheumy who did it bemoaned the lack of a portable ultrasound machine to guide the needle. I wonder if ultrasound is ideally used just for steroid injections & whether it was used when you had this procedure?

It might be worth complaining if only to apply a little pressure on the hospital to take the utmost care. I don't know if statistics are kept about this sort of thing but it seems to me that what happened to you should at the very least be logged, if not investigated. I know mishaps do occur, no procedure is risk free but we patients should have high & reasonable expectations or cost-cutting will just make this sort of horrible experience more commonplace.

Luce xx

[flaxton]

Hi

How awful for you ,I saw my rheumy yesterday regarding my knees as they are huge and swollen.He asked me to rate the pain level, I said they ached but in comparison to my other joint pain they were the least of my worries. He said don't have them injected then. Interesting comment I wonder if it is not such a straight forward procedure. I think your experience and my rheumys comment confirm it is not so simple.

Hope you are feeling a bit better.

Lorraine xx

[artyone]

Hi no ultrasound was used . Specialist just laid needle on leg I guessed to measure the length. I don't want to put anyone off having this done. But correct procedure should be applied. I wasn't asked if I had anyone with me , as I had driven to another town to see her. my bp was not taken into account . It was wrong. But I am sure it is a helpfull thing to do when done properly,x

[shirlthegirl]

Hi i also had a injection in my knee a few weeks ago, she also tried to drain it, It was really painful, but then other people have said that it wasn't for them, The information that was sent to my GP was that the procedure was very difficult given the degree of flexion in my knee and that i could only tolerate 2ml, So i suppose that was why it was so painful, I think it must depend on how bad the knee is, They didn't do a Ultra scan on my knee, but when i had my both shoulders injected they did, as she needed to see where the injection was need, Take Care xxx

[65_women in reply to shirlthegirl]

Why did they not freeze ,

[KittyJ in reply to 65_women]

Shirl this post is 9 years old so you may not get a reply 😊

[helixhelix]

I had my knee drained and steroid popped in without problem (thankfully). Slightly painful, but the result was well worth it. I had phoned rheumy as was so swollen I could hardly move, and was aching fit to bust, so she squeezed me in the next day but meant she basically did it while I was sat in a corridor. I got the feeling that she was very practised at doing it, so had no qualms. After reading your story I might ask a few more questions next time! So thanks for telling us. Polly

[mille]

I think a lot depends on who does it. I have had my knees drained and injected many times. We have a specialised clinic for this one afternoon a week and the doctor that does it is fantastic but it's not always possible to get an appointment with him and when others do it for me it is usually a case of hit or miss, I once had the physiotherapist do it and she hadn't a clue and it didn't help one bit. I feel this should always be done by a doctor that specialises in it but unfortunately this doesn't always happen.

[Neonkitty]

If anyone less than SHO is doing the injections at my hospital and it is usually the Registrar if not the Rheumy, then the Registrar guides the trainee and marks the exact position to go into with a pen after feeling the knee/joint to ascertain your Knee anatomy. A novice is never left alone to do it.

I have only once had a trainee make a mess of a shoulder injection many many years ago. She fainted and left it in my shoulder ... But that is highly unusual. My knees have usually been cryo sprayed, injected with anaesthetic first then the steroid put in, is rarely more than a sharp tweak. It does feel uncomfy if there is a lot of inflammation which won't come but that is because there is not much space for the liquid to easily flow into. All in all I have and excellent results mobility wise but not allowed them any more. The Rheumy doesn't even Cryo spray or anaesthetise as she is so expert in injecting the steroid she never hurts you! The drawing of fluid or attempted drawing of fluid is the part which can be painful if it won't come. The injection rarely is I have found.

I think it is fairly straight forward as long as the person doing it is experienced. The relief I have had has been phenomenal. Get comfy before they do it (and my advice is don't watch!!!) and I used to ask for a little towel rolled up behind my knee so the leg/knee didn't wobble about. Had some support.

So Very sorry, Arty, to hear about your awful ordeal, and it is rare. If you go again for any I am sure you will get the senior person doing it after what happened to you. It will be in your notes! Hope you feeling better.

Polly, my rheumys would insist that you have your leg elevated whilst you are having a knee steroid and then sit with legs up on the couch there and be still for five minutes at least before even attempting to move, then the usual 24 hours immobilising. How strange how they did it to you but at least then did it.

Julie x

[artyone in reply to Neonkitty]

It was the specialist who did the injections . I had no one with me. I had drive 30 mins to the hospital and my bp was up on arrival. I don't think it should have been done.

[Neonkitty]

Neither do I. I hope you are not sufferi g badly with the knees just now. Sadly mine are awful. Steroid worn off. :-(. Take care and hope if and when you need to have a steroid again it goes right for you at the hospital. Also, I know needs must etc, but you shouldn't drive after having one either. Anyhow, hope you ok.

Julie x