Injection Gone Wrong: Part 2

[Brenda F. Johnson]

I'm not crazy. I'm not the only one. Frozen with emotions, Susan shifted between relief in the acknowledgment that there were other people who had residual problems from the shots, meaning it wasn't in her head, and fury that this brutality took place. Were credentials not checked beforehand? If flu shots are mandatory, shouldn't that mean that it is expected that the person giving the shots are required to know what they are doing. We as nurses are held to a professional level of expertise, should we not expect that when our employer holds us just as precious as our patients?

Shivering, Susan pulled her colorful scrub jacket closer around, and tucked her hands under her arms.

"Susan, follow me." Wrapped up in her own thoughts, Susan found herself back in the waiting room. The television droned on with talking heads. Numb, Susan glanced at the outdated magazines. Just as she reached for one, she remembered that she had read how germy magazines can be, she relented to staring at the wall.

"I think they gave you the injection in your shoulder joint," the doctor said. Their eyes met, Susan searching for something she wasn't aware of yet. "Actually, it's a good thing that the virus is dead, because if it had been a live virus, it would be growing in your joint." "Continue with the ibuprofen, increase it if you need to, and use ice on your shoulder. Come see me in a week and we will see how you are doing." With that, he turned his back and began writing on her chart. Pausing, Susan waited.

"Doc, the ibuprofen is really bothering my stomach," Susan said, one hand on the door knob. "Make sure you take it with food," he said, standing and pushing past her to exit the room. Susan followed him out, her eyes fixed on his dirty jogging shoes.

The following week, Susan sat in the doctor's office again. "It feels the same. I have used ice and taken all the ibuprofen my stomach can handle, but it still hurts the same!"

He ordered an MRI and aspercreme. Get freakin real, ASPERCREME?! Susan thought as she took the script for the MRI. He had offered a narcotic pain pill, but holding out hope that this would get better, she refused.

Lying on the cold, metal MRI bed, Susan felt like she was getting some redemption. Finally, she would have a legitimate diagnosis. Tears pooled in her eyes and drifted down the side of her face.

After the MRI, Susan talked to the tech who told her that the machine kept wanting to scan her right shoulder instead of the left. "I'm sure we got some good pictures." She reassured Susan. Her words left Susan with a sinking feeling.

Wiping the residual salty tears from her face, she slowly walked out of the MRI department. Thinking over the past couple of weeks, Susan wanted to throw herself on the floor and have a full out temper tantrum.

The MRI results came back as essentially normal, only reporting mild tendonitis. Susan knew that the test wasn't accurate. How can it be normal when she cannot lie on her left side at night, or raise her left arm over her head. Driving home, she let out a sigh of frustration as she tried to use her left arm to turn out of the parking lot. Letting her left arm go limp in her lap, she shook her head and mumbled to herself. Any use of her left arm created pain in her left shoulder. She was told she would have to choose a workman's comp orthopedic doctor and was given a list.

Looking at the list of orthopedic doctors workmen's compensation sent her, she quickly made an assessment: that one does mostly knees and hips, that one she hadn't heard of, so the third one was who she decided to see. Not able to see her personal orthopedic doctor left her uneasy.

Sitting in the orthopedic doctor's office, Susan fidgeted with her hands. Frowning, she gazed at the picture behind the doctor's graying hair. She wanted to be in that picture, swimming in the bubbling brook under the shade of the spring foliage, she could almost smell the sweetness of the flowers. She forced herself to focus on his words. He acknowledged her pain while discounting the flu shot being the problem with her shoulder.

"The MRI didn't show anything." he said, "I'm not sure what is causing the pain. I'm going to give you a script for an anti-inflammatory that I want you to take twice a day. I see that you have been doing physical therapy, so that is good! Come see in two weeks and we will evaluate at that time how you are."

It didn't seem to matter when she protested, telling him that the problem started the moment she received that shot. Her words seemed to float randomly out of her mouth up to the ceiling, never landing on listening ears. Alone and defeated, Susan knew that this doctor was aware that she is a nurse, she had taken care of his patients. How could he not be more aggressive in finding out what her problem was? Just because he had not seen this happen to anyone else, how can he rule it out that it didn't happen?

The stomach problems Susan suffered from the NSAIDs forced her to stop them, but she did keep going to physical therapy. At her follow-up, Susan asked the doctor if he had read the MRI report or looked at the disc. He told her he had looked at the disc and agreed with the report. He wanted to try an injection, which Susan agreed to. He injected her left subacromial area, not directly into the joint. The only result from the injection was soreness and a huge bruise.

"Look, Susan, I know you are in pain. I also know that you noticed it right around the time you got the flu shot. But I really think that there is something else. . ."

"No! You look! I have done everything you have told me to do. I think the MRI was faulty, the scanner kept moving away from my left shoulder, how could it get a thorough picture if it wasn't working correctly? I am not looking for drugs, in fact, I never filled any prescription given to me for pain medications. I need someone to listen to me! My problems started with the flu shot. Can I get another MRI? Maybe with contrast this time?"

Her words started to falter as sobs rose up in her chest. All the built up pain and frustration bubbled out. When Susan was able to catch her breath, she blew her nose and inhaled deeply.

He agreed to another MRI, and possibly another doctor for a joint injection.

Stay tuned for the conclusion.

To read the beginning of this story, go to Injection Gone Wrong: Part 1

Injection Gone Wrong: Part 3

[Geosurfsup]

How did you detox the silicone out of your body?

[LovingLife123]

I'm confused on the MRI part as well. Because that's really not how MRIs work. Unless it was maybe an open MRI machine and those work differently somehow? I've never seen one of those in action.

[guest464345]

1) That's not how MRI works

2) It's certainly possible for someone to get a shoulder injury from improper vaccine administration. If someone's so poorly trained that they manage to inject vaccine into your bursa, causing an immune response and inflammation there, you're undoubtedly gonna have problems. I'm not discounting this experience, HOWEVER

3) You might notice that the majority of internet sites related to this issue are published by anti-vaccine groups and personal injury lawyers. Which might give some people pause.

Shoulder injury from a vaccine is certainly possible. It's even possible, though exceedingly rare, for people to have an anaphylactic reaction and die from a vaccine (or OTC meds, or many other everyday substances)....so, sure, there are people out there who have legitimate and tragic stories to tell. But doing so without highlighting the EXTREME rarity of those events, and acknowledging the overwhelming risk-benefit ratio in favor of vaccines, especially in the current anti-science climate politically....well, I wonder about the motivation for publishing such a story.

(also, in my opinion, you're not doing your credibility any favors with the very dramatic and emotional language...though a painful and frightening experience, I don't think most people would call a misadministered vaccine "brutality." But perhaps it's a question of personal style).

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I'm confused on the MRI part as well. Because that's really not how MRIs work. Unless it was maybe an open MRI machine and those work differently somehow? I've never seen one of those in action.

1) That's not how MRI works

2) It's certainly possible for someone to get a shoulder injury from improper vaccine administration. If someone's so poorly trained that they manage to inject vaccine into your bursa, causing an immune response and inflammation there, you're undoubtedly gonna have problems. I'm not discounting this experience, HOWEVER

3) You might notice that the majority of internet sites related to this issue are published by anti-vaccine groups and personal injury lawyers. Which might give some people pause.

Shoulder injury from a vaccine is certainly possible. It's even possible, though exceedingly rare, for people to have an anaphylactic reaction and die from a vaccine (or OTC meds, or many other everyday substances)....so, sure, there are people out there who have legitimate and tragic stories to tell. But doing so without highlighting the EXTREME rarity of those events, and acknowledging the overwhelming risk-benefit ratio in favor of vaccines, especially in the current anti-science climate politically....well, I wonder about the motivation for publishing such a story.

(also, in my opinion, you're not doing your credibility any favors with the very dramatic and emotional language...though a painful and frightening experience, I don't think most people would call a misadministered vaccine "brutality." But perhaps it's a question of personal style).

I'm having some issues with this story as well.

In my own experience, MRI's do not work that way. Can the OP explain how the MRI in this situation worked?

Also, I did a google search for "flu shot injected into shoulder joint" and found numerous sites (telling this same story) that are dubious at best. Including Mercola (totally discredited pseudoscience site) and vaccine injury lawyers (aka ambulance chasers).

Grasp the muscle between the thumb and fingers of your

noninjecting hand. The needle should then be inserted perpendicularly

(that is, at a 90-degree angle) into the thickest part of

the muscle. Insertion should be quick yet firm and steady. After

the needle is inserted (usually all the way down to the hub of the

syringe), depress the plunger slowly so that the muscle can

absorb the fluid.

[Brenda F. Johnson, MSN]

I'm sorry, but you're starting to lose me with the clinical inaccuracies. MRI machines do not move away” from the targeted area of the body. No visible part of the machine moves at all, and the patient in the MRI scanner would have no way of knowing what part of their body was being imaged. An MRI uses powerful magnets inside the bore of the machine to create magnetic fields and collect feedback that yields 3D images of the target area. It's up to the MRI technologist operating the machine to define the field of view and the area being targeted, but this takes place outside of the scanner. Again, other than the table that positions the patient in the center of the bore, no part of the machine can venture away” to another area of the body.

The wording has been changed to clarify, and there will be more explanation in part 3

[Brenda F. Johnson, MSN]

I'm confused on the MRI part as well. Because that's really not how MRIs work. Unless it was maybe an open MRI machine and those work differently somehow? I've never seen one of those in action.

Read it again, it has been corrected, part 3 will explain further

[Brenda F. Johnson, MSN]

1) That's not how MRI works

2) It's certainly possible for someone to get a shoulder injury from improper vaccine administration. If someone's so poorly trained that they manage to inject vaccine into your bursa, causing an immune response and inflammation there, you're undoubtedly gonna have problems. I'm not discounting this experience, HOWEVER

3) You might notice that the majority of internet sites related to this issue are published by anti-vaccine groups and personal injury lawyers. Which might give some people pause.

Shoulder injury from a vaccine is certainly possible. It's even possible, though exceedingly rare, for people to have an anaphylactic reaction and die from a vaccine (or OTC meds, or many other everyday substances)....so, sure, there are people out there who have legitimate and tragic stories to tell. But doing so without highlighting the EXTREME rarity of those events, and acknowledging the overwhelming risk-benefit ratio in favor of vaccines, especially in the current anti-science climate politically....well, I wonder about the motivation for publishing such a story.

(also, in my opinion, you're not doing your credibility any favors with the very dramatic and emotional language...though a painful and frightening experience, I don't think most people would call a misadministered vaccine "brutality." But perhaps it's a question of personal style).

This was not a research article, no "googling" took place. And yes, there was a brutality to it, and the sad part is she was not the only victim. The wording about the MRI has been clarified. This woman has been through hell, please don't minimize her experience

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

The wording has been changed to clarify, and there will be more explanation in part 3

After the MRI, Susan talked to the tech who told her that the machine kept wanting to scan her right shoulder instead of the left. "I'm sure we got some good pictures." She reassured Susan. Her words left Susan with a sinking feeling...

It is the tech who puts in the scanner settings. The MRI doesn't have a mind of its own. Right?

I'm still not sure how a MRI, on its own, kept wanting to scan her right shoulder instead of left shoulder.

Confusion continues. . .

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

Remember....the author of this article is just retelling a series of events as they were told to her by the person who has suffered immensely due to an incorrect procedure for administering an injection. Please do not make more of this than what it is. She has no motive other than to share this experience in hopes of making others aware of what happened.

[guest464345]

I'm not discounting her experience, as I explicitly said. I believe that such a thing could happen.

I am, as I also said, wondering about the motivation for writing and disseminating something in this place, at this time, in such a sensationalistic manner.

Specifically I am questioning whether you are telling this story in the hopes of dissuading people from getting vaccinated, or if you are perhaps opposing employer vaccination requirements for nurses. If so, I think that stance is irresponsible and dangerous for public health.

Many anti-vaccine groups use the tactic of dramatic stories like this to argue against vaccinations, as noted above by me and others. Of course it's OK to tell a story related by another person, as long as you clarify whether or not you've verified the facts for yourself, but we choose to tell specific stories for specific reasons.

But I have no way of knowing your intentions; perhaps you can clarify.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

I'm not discounting her experience, as I explicitly said. I believe that such a thing could happen.

I am, as I also said, wondering about the motivation for writing and disseminating something in this place, at this time, in such a sensationalistic manner.

Specifically I am questioning whether you are telling this story in the hopes of dissuading people from getting vaccinated, or if you are perhaps opposing employer vaccination requirements for nurses. If so, I think that stance is irresponsible and dangerous for public health.

Many anti-vaccine groups use the tactic of dramatic stories like this to argue against vaccinations, as noted above by me and others. Of course it's OK to tell a story related by another person, as long as you clarify whether or not you've verified the facts for yourself, but we choose to tell specific stories for specific reasons.

But I have no way of knowing your intentions; perhaps you can clarify.

This author is an allnurses.com writer and this post was approved by allnurses.com As stated before, she has no motives other than to share this story. She has not even suggested she is against vaccines. This could've happened with any injection given improperly.....It just happened to be a flu vaccine in this instance.

[nursel56]

Sounds like an extremely stressful situation for this person, not unlike other diagnoses where someone is too often met with skepticism. Migraine and fibromyalgia pain come to mind on that, and the prevailing attitude that one must provide proof via diagnostic testing to be taken seriously is cruel.

I was unaware of this issue until now, also that this condition happens frequently enough to merit it's own acronym (SIRVA).

Unrelated to the case here, I think it's worth mentioning the vaccine in politics angle issue because it suggests the vaccine is the problem, and not the improper injection technique. If technique is the problem, it follows that other injectables must be reported in like manner. It appears that the SIRVA is reported as an "adverse vaccine event".

As we await part 3, I'm hoping proper training is mandatory and that "flu shot" is not without risk, even if you can get one at the mall or a booth at the county fair