Yes, trigger point injections help, but I wish they lasted longer. They last a couple months for me. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the demon trigger points and waves of pain. Yes, winter makes it much worse. I have myofascial pain, TMJ, fibromyalgia, DDD, DJD, osteoarthritis. Yep, I'm a wreck at age 37. Other than that, I'm actually pretty healthy though. I take morphine, Norco, norflex, and mobic. I also take ambien to sleep. The meds take the edge off. Exercise is very important, as is eating right. Massage and chiro help me. Acupuncture can be a little intense. I also take supplements. Good luck to you. I know where you are coming from!

They didn't help me. I hope you get a better response.

Welcome,

Check out this web site to learn about myofascial pain:
http://homepages.sover.net/~devstar/define.htm

I've picked up a book or two that illustrate how to self massage the troublesome trigger points. I've had t.p. injections but the relief didn't last long. Currently, I'm waiting to get a second round of botox injections.

As for meds, I take Cymbalta. You can read about that on the web too. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Cymbalta reduces my pain, but it also causes me fatigue and cloudy thinking. People respond individually to medications and it might be worth discussing with your doctor. Muscle relaxers are another option you can explore.

The cold definitely intensifies my pain. It makes sense since the cold causes muscles to tense up. That's my theory. I wear a light weight scarf all the time. The weight of winter coats hurt me too.

Hang in there.

Glad to have you in the group. I've had hundreds of trigger point injections in my legs and back. As the others reported, the relief was temporary.

Since you mentioned that you were in a bad car accident, I'm wondering if you have been to a good chiropractor or osteopath to check for any misalignment caused by the accident.? I've had good luck with an Atlas Orthogonal Chiropractor. (www.atlasorthogonality.com) I found that if I'm not in alignment, other therapies don't work for me. The following are other therapies that have been helpful and each has brought me closer to my goal: myofascial release, Myotherapy (Bonnie Prudden trained therapist), Active Release, and prolotherapy. The trigger point injections are worth a try. Maybe it will help that one "demon" trigger point. It takes a good doctor to nail the trigger with a needle. My doctor told me it was like trying to find "a needle in a haystack".

Check out the website that Zingara suggested. Also, this same doctor has written a book, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain A Survivor Manual (second edition) by Devin Starylanyl. Also, you may find the book The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief by Clair Davies helpful.

thank you all for the replies, my doctor does prolotherapy with Sarapin and lidocaine. Im gonna ask him if he can perofrm this on me. i take valium at night sometimes cause all of this has caused me insomnia. this is the pits! all of this has also made me have real bad anxiety, and panic attacks. anyone can relate? i think the anxiety is actually worse than the pain sometimes. also has anyone ever heard of "dry needling"? and did you find it helpful? i have about 7 trigger points in my upper back and neck. im willing to try anything to live a semi normal life as of now!

There is a gal in this support group that has done dry needling and found it helpful. When the osteopath who was giving me the trigger point injections felt that I needed more than 10 at one appointment, he would dry needle the remaining ones. I felt it worked as well, but again the relief was temporary.

Prolotherapy should be helpful to you if you strained or tore some ligaments or tendons in your car accident. I have had injections to both SI joints, surrounding attachments, lumbar and thoracic spine. I stained my back lifting and carrying some objects that were too heavy for me and had back pain for 7 years. Prolotherapy has eliminated that pain. I still need a few more injections in the thoracic spine to have permanent relief. Then I will need to start a strengtheing program. I'm thrilled with the results. Be sure that your doctor specializes in prolotherapy and doesn't just "dabble" in it. The doctor can make a big difference as to whether the treatment is successful. Have you checked out the website www.caringmedical.com ? There are videos that will give you an idea of what to expect and lots of valuable information.

I'm also dealing with leg pain, and so far the prolo hasn't helped it much, but it may still be too early to tell. If not, my doctor feels that I should try Neural Therapy. This therapy deals with dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system. More information on Neural Therapy is available on the website www.neuraltherapytexas.com Read the article Neural Therapy and its Role in the Effective Treatment of Chronic Pain.

Are you doing anything to deal with your anxiety besides taking valium?

Wishing you lots of luck on your quest for pain relief.

I encourage you to explore whether Cymbalta is right for you. It's purported to help with pain and with anxiety. You might be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Best,

Tink

thats a thought, but i just looked online and Cymbalta has no generic, and i have no insurance. i called the pharmacy to see how much a 30 day supply would cost and she said over $100 depending on the dosage. thats way too much that i can afford to pay as of now, i can't even work with all the troubles i have with my muscles and things. ugh! this is frustrating as ever! i can deal with everyday anxiety, i've always had it, just that thinking too much, but when the panic attack symptoms set in it gets scary. the only time i EVER have panic attacks is when i have a trigger point flare up, or right before i get a migraine. my nervous system is shot from all of this. lol just pressing one of the trigger points send my brain into panic mode thats when the hyperventilation, racing heart, and bubbly stomach starts, it drains all the energy out of me. and im flat for the rest of the day. i've had the panic symptoms for the past 3 weeks since my symptoms flared up. i have an appointment on monday to get some prolotherapy injections. hopefully this will stop this flare up in its tracks. i need to get my shoulder checked out again as well, when my muscle start to spasm in the trapezius my shoulder feels like its gonna pop out and makes a whole bunch of noises, i think the muscles actually tug on the bone.

I had my first lot of TPI last week in my scalene and was given a stretch to do at home, so far i have not found any reilef , is this normal, or is it after many injections to feel the benefit, My specialist also wants to offer me prolotherapy for my shoulder which he thinks has caused all my MPS , Im a little taken back after reading the info about it but i am seeking a second opinion just to be sure for my self.

My first experience with TP injections was that I was more sore than usual. I believe it freed the muscles that were injected, but then made others vulnerable. I went back for more once a month and eventually I started noticing relief.

Did you feel a twitch and a flash of pain that is similar to the pain you are feeling when you got injected? I think this twitch response indicates the trigger point was released. When I had injections in my neck, I felt that twitch and a sort of expanding of the muscle which was previously taut. Felt good, to me, although I tried to be very careful later.

The doctor said there weren't any special restrictions--I could exercise and go to PT as I usually would. One thing I noticed was that the muscles became very sensitive to massage and would light up with pain, but in a good way. The PT was very reluctant to work on the injected spots, but I told her my doc said it was good to have massage on the spots after injection.

After a while, the doctor said that there weren't any spots that were sufficiently bad that he would inject any more. I think only the really tight ones that don't respond well to massage are injected, so that they respond better.

Hope that helps.