Prolotherapy Complete

August 30, 2013

I had planned to hit the gym this morning but Dr. Peace said not before prolo. Richard took me in for my appointment at 1pm. After the standard paperwork, etc. I was taken back to the treatment room. I asked the nurse if it was going to hurt and, without even batting her eyes, she said, “Oh yes.” That’s reassuring. She cleaned my knee, drew two vials of blood and left. The process involves spinning the blood for about 15-minutes to separate the dark red platelets from the white. Then they mix the platelet rich plasma (PRP) with other good stuff like calcium, etc. 

First, I needed to be numbed. That was the part that hurt. I would compare it to when a dentist gives you an injection to numb your gums, but worse. It sucked. The doc counted down from 10 to one while injecting my knee over and over. It hurt, I was sweating and I cried once. Five vials and 20 injections of numbing solution later, they left me for the medicine to take effect. Right away, I got dizzy. Minutes went by and I could still feel everything. I told Richard that I’m an anomaly in that way, as my body just doesn’t take to stuff like this. I kept hitting my knee saying, “See? I can still feel everything.”  

   

When Dr. Peace and his nurse came back in, I swore I could feel everything and he said, “Well, let’s just try and see what happens.” Great! I didn’t want to watch so I lay back down and doc went to work. Another 20 injections. I could definitely feel pressure and a couple of surface pricks but for the most part, I was OK. I was a bit dramatic but doc said that’s because I’m “in my head” and it's true, I do need to know every little detail. The not-knowing was what scared me.

My knee bled and swelled up. It was gross. After it was all over, doc told me that my entire knee is now being bathed in this rich, healing liquid. He wanted me to stay off of it for at least two to three days but all week, even two would be best. No ice, no heat, no anti-inflammatory meds, no baths, no compression. The best thing is to let that fluid sit in the knee as long as possible. The more I move, the more its pushed out of the knee. He told me the best thing I could do was to go home and drink a bit to get a buzz to help dull the pain. Basically, grin and bear it. He said that I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep through the night and the pain would be pretty intense…