A: Please wear relaxed clothing and leave unnecessary valuables at home. The nurse will admit you to an exam room and review your history, ask you pertinent questions in relation to your injection, including how severe your pain is registering. The nurse will place an IV, and the doctor will visit to discuss the procedure in detail and answer any questions. You will be asked to sign a consent giving Dr. Schuyler permission to do the procedure. You will then be taken into the procedure room where the sedation with be administered through the IV and every effort will be made to make you comfortable during the procedure. After the completion of the procedure, you will be taken to the discharge bay and monitored for basic vital signs. Prior to your release, your IV will be removed and post procedure pain score will be asked. You and your driver will be given follow-up instructions during checkout and then assisted to your vehicle with a wheelchair.

A: Yes. Patients having procedures are given sedation to improve the patient experience and optimized the injection conditions. After being administered sedations patients are considered legally impaired for 6-8 hours. While this is an inconvenience your safety is our number one concern. We also request your driver remain at our facility during your procedure so that we go over important post-procedure instructions and discharge you in a timely manner.

If you are scheduled to undergo a pain procedure, your doctor may recommend that you fast for a certain period of time before the procedure. This may mean that you cannot eat anything for several hours or even overnight.

In some cases, your doctor may allow you to eat a light meal a few hours before the procedure. This meal should be easy to digest and low in fat, fiber, and protein. Examples of foods that are generally allowed include clear liquids such as water, fruit juice without pulp, and broth. Avoid any solid food, dairy products, or carbonated beverages, as they may interfere with the procedure or cause discomfort.

It is important to follow your doctor’s instructions carefully to ensure that you are properly prepared for the pain procedure. If you have any questions or concerns about what you can eat before the procedure, be sure to discuss them with your doctor or the medical staff responsible for your care.

A: Yes. Continue to take your daily medications as prescribed by your other doctors. However, the exception would be blood thinners. The common blood thinner are Plavix, Coumadin, Xarelto and Pletal. We will direct you on when and how long to hold these medications if we get written authorization from your prescribing physician.

A: Typically from the time a patient arrives until the time a patient is checked out of the facility will be between 45 minutes to 1 hour. We usually have a very efficient clinic, but sometimes emergencies and the treatment of complicated patients can cause some delays.

Post Procedure

After any procedure there is a short recovery period. Please bring someone to drive you to and from the office on the day of your procedure. All drivers are asked to wait in the lobby area so that our staff may let them know when patients are ready to be checked out after their procedure.
After the procedure, you will be given detailed discharge instructions. These instructions will include directions on eating, drinking, physical activity and medical concerns.

Please note:

  • If you have had an Epidural Steroid Injection, you should have a relaxing day. You do not have to be bed ridden, but you should limit your activities to your home. You should not go back to work or make any major decisions for the remainder of the day. The benefits of the injection may be affected if you are over-active (do yard work, go shopping all afternoon, fix the roof, go jogging, etc.).
  • If you have had a Medial Branch Block, you should go do things that would normally aggravate your pain. For example, if you have had a Lumbar Medial Branch Block for your lower back and you normally wouldn’t be able to touch your toes or mow the lawn, you should try to do those things over the 6 – 8 hours after your Medial Branch Block. This “test” of your pain will let our physician know whether or not the procedure was successful. If you attempt to do something on the day of your Medial Branch Block that you normally couldn’t do, but you can do without pain the day of your procedure, our physician knows he has put the correct nerve to sleep.

Dr. Schuyler understands work-injury prevention and will work with ancillary providers (Physical Therapists) to provide education on proper body ergonomic and post-injury rehabilitation. The Southern Coast Spine & Pain Specialists Worker’s Compensation team has received the most up to date training on procedures and guidelines to assure that all our recommendations are clear and informative.

Emergency

Life-threatening emergencies are not treated in our clinic. A life-threatening emergency should be treated either at the Emergency Room or by calling 911. If you have an urgent need that cannot wait until regular business hours, such as a severe drug reaction or an immediate need because of a reaction to a procedure (severe headache, severe pain from injection, severe rash or fever after injection, etc.), you need to go to the Emergency Room.

If you call our office, our voicemail is NOT checked during the night or over the weekend, so you will not be called back until the next business day.