IMPORTANT DANGEROUS DRUG WARNING–FROM PATIENT!!!
HERES MY STORY—DON’T LET IT BE YOURS!
Dear Friends,
On October 27, 2008, I went to my doctor, a local doctor here in Destin, Florida, 32541. Lets just call him Dr. Roach, who has an office off Highway 98. I had a sore throat, that was my only complaint. He prescribed antibiotics, and offered me an injection of Kenalog. Like most people, I don’t like shots, and I didn’t really want to take it, but the sore throat had been lingering for weeks, so I agreed. How I wish I had listened to my “inner voice” that day! The only reason for the shot was to get the medication in my system “faster”, so that I could “feel better” sooner. It was not a matter of life or death, it was just a sore throat. I WAS NOT GIVEN ANY WARNING AS TO THE POSSIBLE DISFIGURING SIDE EFFECTS OF KENALOG INJECTIONS THAT ARE WELL KNOWN TO DOCTORS. I had absolutely no idea that having a single steroid injection CAN CAUSE YOUR BODY TO ATROPHY AND DIE AT THE INJECTION SITE.
Yes, I know it seems shocking and unbelievable if you have never heard of it, but I assure you it is true, as it happened to me! In fact, I have since learned that this side effect is well-known in the medical profession, and yet for some reason, doctors routinely offer injections of Kenalog for a variety of non-life-threatening conditions, such as infections, allergies, etc. If you doubt this could be true, all you have to do is google “kenalog, injection site necrosis” and see the long list of victims, people who were not warned of the risk, who are now coping with the consequences.
I am warning everyone to never, ever, have an injection of Kenalog, because it simply isn’t worth the risk, especially when there are alternatives. Even if you do decide to have an injection, at least after reading this, you will have been informed, and you will be able to weigh the possible benefits vs. the possible risks, which unfortunately I was not. If I had known this could happen, I would never, ever, have taken the risk.
I can’t say exactly when the injection site (the side of my left hip) started to COLLAPSE, SINK, WITHER, AND DIE, but I do know that I first discovered it when I felt the pit in the side of my hip while in the shower. Of course I had no idea what it was, so for a while I just kept an eye on it, checking in the mirror once in a while to see if it was still there, going away, or getting worse. All I knew was that it wasn’t there before and that I didn’t have a similar spot on the other side. I had absolutely no clue what it was and started looking online for possible weird diseases that could account for this progressing deformity. As the weeks and months went by the pit in the side of my hip continued to deepen and widen. After a couple months I noticed the skin in the area was much whiter than the surrounding skin. It was sort of a light greenish-white, you might say it was “corpse white.” When summer came around I noticed that this area no longer tanned, as the pit was on my bikini line. Part of the pit was above my bathing suit, and part was below, but the skin color of the pit was whiter than both surrounding areas, the tanned and the untanned. By July of 2009 the pit was deep enough to show through thin material, and about 2 ½ inches long, and I was starting to realize that I needed to find out what it was and how I could fix it.
I was unable to find any information online, because since I had no idea what it was, I wasn’t googling in “injection site necrosis” or “kenalog.” If you google in either of these things, plenty of information comes up.
I finally found out what it was when I got the brilliant idea of going to my cosmetic surgeon to ask if he could fix it or knew anything about what it might be. I was completely stunned when my cosmetic surgeon, who happens to be a very successful, renowned surgeon, told me immediately what it was. He only needed to glance at it, and ask me two questions, (if I had had an injection there in the past year, and if it was a steroid) to identify the problem. You see, unbelievably enough, when doctors carelessly inject people with Kenalog, this necrosis (tissue death) is a common side effect, and eventually these same people show up at the cosmetic surgery center seeking repair! I was quite taken aback and upset to learn that this disfigurement didn’t have to happen, and could have been avoided, had I only been warned!
Now that I have read all the online threads about Kenalog and other victims, I realize that I am actually one of the lucky ones! For some people the injection causes a chronic radiating sciatica-like pain down their leg. For some women it causes menstrual problems, such as periods lasting weeks! Other poor unfortunates were injected in their face, and thus had the necrosis occur there! There are many other side effects posted as well.
IT IS OUTRAGEOUS THAT DOCTORS INJECT PEOPLE WITH KENALOG FOR MINOR AILMENTS WITHOUT FIRST WARNING THEM OF THESE TERRIBLE COMMON SIDE EFFECTS!!!
Would they inject their own child with this drug knowing this? I seriously doubt it! So what about the rest of us? Don’t we count? There is a saying in the medical profession, “First, do no harm.” Too bad that isn’t actually being adhered to! By casually offering “steroid shots”, the suggestion is that the doctor thinks it would be a good idea. Who in their right mind would risk a disfiguring, possibly extremely painful injury, to treat something such as a common sore throat? These doctors have such a “god complex”, it never occurs to them to run the risks past us first, so we can decide for ourselves! How arrogant can one be, to “decide” for someone, that the benefit outweighs the risk, when the risk is tissue death? I am still struggling to wrap my brain around this one!
To get back to my story, at least the “good news” was that the cosmetic surgeon would be able to “fix” it. The cost of this repair job? $4,000. Before you say I was ripped off by the cosmetic surgeon, keep in mind that this is an hour and a half procedure done under general anesthesia in the surgical center. My own body fat had to be harvested via lipo, off various places on my body, ( I do not have a lot of extra body fat, so it could not be grafted from one location, that would have created another dent), and then injected back into the indentation or scar area. I guess it might not have been such a big deal if I had been planning on having liposuction that week anyway! But the fat had to come from somewhere, so various spots on my body where I had a little extra, were lipo’d. Also, there of course could be no guarantee that one attempt would suffice, since the body reabsorbs its own fat to varying degrees. So basically the $4,000. was for one attempt, with the hope that it would suffice.
At least my cosmetic surgeon is honest and told me the truth, both about what caused this and what it would take to fix it. That is something I will never assume when going to a doctor again. No matter how routine or “simple” it seems, one should insist on knowing the possible risks and side effects of any procedure or drug.
As soon as I got home I called my so-called “primary care giver”, ( herin known as Dr. Roach) whose assistant had given the injection. I was shaking and could have been crying and screaming at them, but I stayed calm and polite as I informed them of what had occurred and what it was going to cost to fix it. Believe it or not, I actually felt bad telling them about it, since I assumed they would accept accountability and pay for the damages they had caused. I was actually apologetic when I explained to them what had happened, (not that I had anything to apologize for, but I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings.) I wish I could tell you they were concerned and offered to help but that was not the case. The receptionist acted shocked all right, but not shocked at the disfiguring injury that had occurred; shocked that I was asking them to pay for it! She said she “couldn’t believe” I was asking them to pay for it, and her tone suggested that she thought I was some troublemaking b**** with a lot of nerve. Apparently, they expect people to just suck it up and pay for thousands of dollars worth of cosmetic repair for damages they suffer at this doctors hands and then just go off on their merry way without mentioning it to them! I was told the doctor was on vacation, so I postponed the corrective surgery until he returned, so I could show him what had happened. I wanted to show him not just to prove my own damages, but hopefully so that he would learn something from this and never prescribe another Kenalog injection again! At least, I thought, maybe I could spare someone else from going through this nightmare! Little did I know, he was already well aware of the possible consequences and potential for dire side effects, but apparently doesn’t see it as a very big deal!
I’m sure by now you know what’s coming next. Obviously I was naïve to actually expect an offer of help. Now, let me tell you, I’ve been through a lot of stuff in my life, and it takes a lot to really upset me, but seeing this doctor sit and smirk at me did it! HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS TRYING NOT TO LAUGH! He looked at the caved in spot on my hip and he agreed that it was from the kenalog injection, and that yes, he knew this could happen, as he had heard of it before! He also acknowledged that my disfigurement was “wider” than he had seen before! But all of this was said in a matter- of-fact way, with no concern, sympathy or regret for what he himself had caused! Since he did not offer to help pay for the reconstruction surgery I had to bring it up myself, which felt very awkward. It was then that he really started to smirk, and finally he said as an answer that he “had to call” my cosmetic surgeon, as if he needed to confirm what I was telling him, as if somehow it wasn’t really true, even though he could put his hands on the hole in the side of my hip! I guess he was projecting his own morals onto me. I don’t know about you, but if I say I just put $3,900 on my credit card to pay for my upcoming surgery in 3 days I’m not lying! After leaving his office I was in tears off and on for the rest of the day. Talk about adding insult to injury! I couldn’t sleep for the next 3 nights. He acted like not only was I not very important, I was a big joke! What a laugh, that a woman like myself would expect an important doctor like him to give a s***!, much less actually pay for his mistakes! Finally, lying awake again the night before my surgery, I decided to take back my power! Instead of allowing him and his staff to make me feel worthless and small, I would follow whatever legal avenues were available to be compensated and warn others! I ALSO WANT THIS DOCTOR TO LEARN THAT IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE HE WENT TO COLLEGE, HOW MUCH MONEY HE MAKES, OR HOW MANY LETTERS HE HAS AFTER HIS NAME, IT’S NOT OKAY TO CASUALLY HURT OTHERS, AND THE RULES STILL APPLY TO HIM.
On August 13th I went ahead and had the scar revision surgery as I told him I would. I have heard nothing from his office, although of course I have called at least twice and finally brought my surgical receipt bill to his office on Saturday, August 15. Let me tell you, it really sucks to be blown off when something like this happens, and I hope this never happens again to anyone, although I know it will, because this side effect is incredibly common, and people are no doubt being injected with Kenalog as you read this. Hopefully at least by distributing these flyers I am preventing this misfortune from happening to you.
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE!
YOU ALSO HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DOCTOR YOU CHOOSE. WILL YOUR DOCTOR WARN YOU UP FRONT ABOUT POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS? IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG WILL YOUR DOCTOR TAKE ANY ACCOUNTABILITY WHATSOEVER? OR WILL YOUR MISERY BE SEEN AS A SOURCE OF AMUSEMENT?
WILL YOUR DOCTOR RETURN YOUR CALLS?
IF YOUR ANSWER IS YES THEN YOU MUST GO TO A DIFFERENT DOCTOR THAN I DID!
WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO STICK UP FOR OURSELVES! DON’T LET THESE SPOILED, SMUG, SO-CALLED MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS GET AWAY WITH THIS SORT OF THING! THEIR NEXT VICTIM COULD BE YOU OR SOMEONE YOU CARE ABOUT!
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS,
BLESSINGS, LOVE AND LIGHT,
SHANNON ROSE
Pictures Before & After Surgery:
