[Maria]

With whatever is causing the tachycardia.

I just wanted to state (and I'm sure I have already) I had ESIs from 2001 to 2006. Somewhere I said 10 years worth which isn't correct as it was only 5 years however I had them at least 3x/year.

Doing this did masque pain thankfully and made me actually get out of bed and get walking and actually improve my physical status.

One has to remember while we are at rest due to our "bad" whatever the rest of the body is undergoing changes involved when not in use. These changes are usually make us weaker and less healthy.

For years when my back was bad I had to lie in bed for weeks and months to get over flare ups. I have not had to do that in the last 7 years at least not for weeks and months, maybe for a few days or a week at most.

The ESIs did help me actually as they bought time for my body to do it's own thing and head towards auto fusion and that helped my spine. Maybe the steroid material did contribute to my osteoporosis too but I have a family history of that with mother, father and even my brother having it and they had no ESIs so I think it's a familial thing vs. brought on the 'roids.

Sometimes covering up the pain can cover up some serious conditions that should be addressed in a more aggressive manner than just drugs but I think generally one brings changes to the doctor's attention such as increased pain and some changes with weakness or the various symptoms that would deem further diagnostic testing that would pick up changes that might necessitate surgery.

Often surgery just isn't ordered for the most common thing we take pain meds for which is pain. I had enough pain for way too long and was happy to be prescribed something to help cover it up and also help my body stabilize a bit and not head towards more surgery which may or may not help enough to get off pain meds of some sort completely.

The main message here is for people to make sure they are reporting changes they might be experiencing no matter how minute they may seem they may signify something important.