Deleted member 43589
Well-Known Member
I have severe osteoarthritis in my right should and have had the cortisone shots until they are just no anylonger doign the the pain is pretty bad. Normally the doctors would inject Sodium Hyaluronate 1% into the joint and it releaves the pain for up to 6 months. It has worked well on my left knee. However our dear FDA approves it for one joint but has not approved it for the shoulder. Despite research showing it works. So Insurance will not pay to have this treatment down on the shoulder or hip. My doctor told me if I could get the medication they will have someone at the imaging departement use ultrasound and inject it. Through Good RX this damn medication run $1300. So a quick phone call to my friend in China and he told me there is a company in that China makes the same product but much less expensive for me. In fact, $25 for the same product. So I just saved $1275 and insurance got to pay for the imaging proceedure.
So I had to drive to downtown Houston to the medical center to get the injection done on my shoulder. There was a doctor and 3 assistants doing the work. I had to lay dow when they used a imaging machine to scan my should in real time. So they deadened the skin with a spray and placed a thin, long needle into the anterior part of the shouder and the image allowed them to guide it into the joint. Then they injected a small amount of lidocaine and then they screwed the Chinese medication which comes pre-loaded in a syringe, into the needle already in my shoulder and injected it. Absolutely no pain. In fact, I did not even know they had a needle in my shoulder. Much more complicated doing it this way but the idea is to make sure the medication is directly in the joint. I go back now for the next two weeks and have the 2nd and 3rd dose administered. I will know tomorrow after the lidocane wears off how well this stuff is working. If it works I will be mostly pain free for 6 months.
So I had to drive to downtown Houston to the medical center to get the injection done on my shoulder. There was a doctor and 3 assistants doing the work. I had to lay dow when they used a imaging machine to scan my should in real time. So they deadened the skin with a spray and placed a thin, long needle into the anterior part of the shouder and the image allowed them to guide it into the joint. Then they injected a small amount of lidocaine and then they screwed the Chinese medication which comes pre-loaded in a syringe, into the needle already in my shoulder and injected it. Absolutely no pain. In fact, I did not even know they had a needle in my shoulder. Much more complicated doing it this way but the idea is to make sure the medication is directly in the joint. I go back now for the next two weeks and have the 2nd and 3rd dose administered. I will know tomorrow after the lidocane wears off how well this stuff is working. If it works I will be mostly pain free for 6 months.
