Tailbone pain and cortisone shot

For those of you who have had tailbone pain treated by cortisone shots; did it help?  Also, what kind of doctor did your shots?  I went to my PCP and they wanted me to do the usual nsaids.  I said no way.  They won't do anything else unless I try the nsaids first.  I asked my daughter's osteopath doctor (she had knee surgery) and he said there is a pain management doctor in his group.  When I try to get an appt. they won't see me unless I have a referral from another doctor with xrays, clinical findings. . . the works!  URGHH.  I told them that while I know that "pain management" doctors have to be careful; I was not looking for pain medication; only a cortisone shot - no help.

Meanwhile, I cannot sit for very long and have 3 of the special pillows which don't help at all.  I'm at my witts end!!

Try the Nsaids first and see what that does. If it lessens the pain then the docs can figure out what it is and how to treat it. You're far enough out that you can do a pain releiver with out a problem. Most wls docs now allow the liquid form of Advil, etc for rny patients. My surgeon allows and has always allowed Advil with certain stipulations. Only on a full stomach and for short periods of time. Many post ops suffer from chronic pain that only an anti -inflammatory can provide so they take them with out any harsh effects if they're careful. I've taken Nsaids since I was a year out with no problems. I'm careful and use them only when needed. With a doc's guidance you should be fine and get some relief for your pain. NO sense living with pain every time you sit if you can do something about it. My tailbone also hurt when I was a newbie as I lost my padding but it did get better later on. Good luck to you.

 Are you using liquigels or liquid elixer? My surgeon said the regular tablets can stick to the lining... even on a full stomach or empty stomach. I'm just curious. 

I would really never advise the use of NSAIDS and I don't know of many bariatric surgeons who have relaxed the no NSAIDS policy. I was inadvertently given NSAIDS in the hospital when I almost died of a virus last year, and was too sick to tell them not to give them to me, and nearly had a GI Crisis in response to the NSAIDS. Even patches and gels are no good as the NSAIDS in the blood stream cause a thinning of the stomach lining and can cause an ulcer in the remnant stomach, something that cannot be investigated without surgery.

It seems like tailbone pain is coming from having no padding any more. You may not have the correct posture for your new thinner self. The cortisone is to decrease inflammation, don't think that will help for tailbone pain. Have you tried a chiropractor or neurologist?

Just a thought
Audra

The cortisone shots can help. Often the tailbone area gets inflamed due to the lack of padding.... but we keep sitting, and so the inflammation can become chronic. Usually NSAiDS would be prescribed to cut the inflammation... and once the inflammation is successfully combatted, often the body adjusts to the smaller size, and life goes on just fine. In fact, most people with tailbone pain postop adjust to their new physique and go on without NSAIDS or cortisone shots. There are just a few with issues prior to surgery with their tailbone (I fell down a flight of steps ka-thumping every step of the way on my tailbone, broke it all up)... or have specific issues.

I was blessed to have my tailbone pain alleviated for almost a year with a cortisone shot. Too bad for me I didn't have permanent cure.

This might not be related, but I got a pain-killing shot in my hip joint by my bone doctor (osteo-whatever). OMG. It gave me a new life! (Had the shot + PT, I should say.)

Okay, the fact your PCP is pushing NSAIDs when you shouldn't really take them, is a little frustrating. Now, maybe a neuro or an ortho doc, someone who specializes in spines might be able to help, and do the cortisone shots. 
If you go back to your PCP and discuss the NSAID thing and your desire to go to see this other specialist, then he might be willing to do the diagnostics. You definitely want to consider doing chiropractic (they can do x-rays), and I really recommend Physical Therapy. There are some AMAZING manual therapy techniques that really are magical when dealing with deep pelvic and sacral pain. 

Here's a couple things that could possibly help to align things until you find a solution. 

http://www.amazon.com/Sacro-Wedge-Plus-Color-Gray/dp/B003H2TXDS/

http://www.amazon.com/Sacro-Wedgy-Female-Version/dp/B000RZWK OC/

Here's my story...

My tailbone pain was pretty bad. I got some ****yx pillows, which helped a lot, but not enough (donut pillows are designed to relieve testicle pain, not tailbone pain, so won't help at all). After a 1000 mile car ride that had me in tears, I knew it wasn't enough I had to get help.

I went to an orthopedic doctor, since my tailbone is a bone, and he referred me to a pain specialist in the orthopedic clinic, so he was an orthopedic pain specialist. He had mixed feelings about the cortisone shots, but felt that trying them was an important first step.

So in 2009, I had my first cortisone shot. From so-bad-it-made-me-cry pain, which I considered 100% level of pain, that first shot dropped my pain level to 60% for a month or so.... but it quickly inched back up to about 85%. Saw the doc, and he said that sometimes it takes two or even three shots before it is effective. We had shot #2, which was much more painful, but he said that he really shot up the whole area to make sure to get the problem areas. I was pain free for about 11 months.

So this year May, I started to have pain, and unfortunately my pain doc is too popular, so it was early July before I could see him. Since shot #2 worked so well, they decided to try again. I had shot #3 late July (by then my pain was escalating back to 90%)... that shot knocked the pain back to 85% but never any lower. Since my last successful pain shot was the second in a series, pain doc decided to give that another chance. The friday of Memorial Day weekend I had shot #4.... ZERO improvement.

So now I'm waiting for an appointment with my Pain Doc's PA (getting to see him is VERY difficult) on Veteran's Day. (Nov. 11) Meantime sitting is very difficult. I don't think it's worth another cortisone shot. They're likely to try a nerve block this next time, which is a more permanent procedure that I will research if/when they decide to do it. I'm hoping they can get it done before the year is out, as I have a long drive scheduled at Christmas time. If the nerve block doesn't work, the only other recourse is removal, which scares the you-know-what outta me.

I have the pain and omg it hurts so badly. I did the cortisone shots. They did nada for me. MY next step is to go and have fluroscopy(sp?) done. After that the only real options are to deal with the pain or remove the tailbone. I refuse to have my tailbone removed. Not only do I not want any more surgeries ever but it's not even a definite cure. Some people are still in pain after having the bone removed. Good luck and I hope you feel better. This is literally a pain in the ass.