Discogram tip
 

If you are going for a discogram (or similar test... diagnostic injections, etc...), you should make sure that you should ask your doctor about taking your meds before the test. If you take a ton of meds, she may not want you on so much before the test. He may want you to take your meds normally.

I've seen people who assume that they should not take their meds before discography so they don't pollute their test. For some of us, missing our meds has the potential of setting us off so severely that we'll be overly pain sensitive... and that will harm the test results too.

This should be a conscious decision on the part of the doctor administering the test. Make no assumptions here.

I hope this helps.

Mark

Ironic that you post this the day before my discogram...The doctor had mentioned nothing to me as such, but it just seems like common sense to me. I mean whats the point in finding the pain generators if you take your pain meds.

Nice post Mark.

I think... (I'm not a doctor, yada, yada, yada)... that for most of us, the meds we take will not impact the discogram results. Super high doses may be more likely to combine with what they give you to inhibit your pain responses.

If not taking your meds, then the disco being pushed late in the day has you so flared up that you are overly pain sensitive... that can also contribute to false positives or being so pain sensitive that the test results will be in question.

The point of my post is that we should not make these decisions at all!!!! Call your doctors office... tell them what meds you are on and ask them how you should take them in the hours prior to your disco.

This is a decision for your doctor to make and we should make no assumptions at all.

Let us know how your disco goes... I hope you get an unambiguous result and that the news is good.

Mark

Iteresting discogram topic here:

http://www.ispine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5