REPORTS OF SEVERE COMPLICATIONS FROM EPIDURAL STEROID NERVE BLOCK INJECTIONS OF DEPO-MEDROL

ESI's using Depo-Medrol are harming people! Epidural steroid nerve block injections are widely used to treat back pain. It is "not recommended" by the drug maker because of the "severe medical events" that have been reported to them and the FDA!  There are new studies that link severe chronic pain syndromes with complications of this non FDA approved procedure. (Arachnoiditis, Epidural Fibrosis, Severe Sensory Nerve Disruption, etc.)  By using the Freedom of Information Act, we have discovered that there have been well over 15,000 adverse event reports and 356 deaths attributed to Depo-Medrol between 1998 and 2002.  (A very high number despite that fact that only 1.5% of all adverse events get reported to the FDA!) (A 1999 Harvard Study)

Pfizer Inc. recently purchased Pharmacia/Upjohn, the manufacturer of the most commonly used injectable steroid, Depo-Medrol!  They have recently issued a new WARNING on the use of this non-FDA approved drug for spinal surgery as well as for epidural administration.  They say that Depo-Medrol is "NO LONGER RECOMMENDED" for epidural administration in a newly published Pfizer document titled: "DEPO-MEDROL - REFORMULATION-EPIDURAL USE"  The warning covers BOTH formulations they make!  

(Another misconception is that there is a preservative-free formulation of the drug, which supposedly is safer in the opinion of the doctors who use it!  These doctors are not only wrong about this, it's incompetence if they believe this is so!

Both formulations, the single dose and the multi-dose formulation, have preservatives added, MGPC and Benzyl Alcohol respectively... both are neurotoxic and potentially damaging to neuro-tissue.  Besides, both formulations contain huge amounts of Polyethylene Glycol, a chemical cousin of automobile antifreeze and a major ingredient in DOT-3 Brake Fluid!  If this isn't bad enough, they then mix Depo-Medrol with other chemicals, such as anesthetics, like Marcaine, and ionic dyes, such as Isovue, again AGAINST THE RECOMMENDATION OF PFIZER!  PFIZER CLAIMS THAT THIS PRACTICE CAN INCREASE THE "TOXIC RISKS BECAUSE OF CHEMICAL INCOMPATIBILITIES", THEREFORE THEY HAVE WARNED DOCTORS NOT TO DO IT!

Any doctor that may be reading this should call Pfizer immediately and ask for a written copy of their newly posted Warning.

All patients should be advised that they will not be told this information unless they specifically ask their doctors for it.  Even then, there is no guarantee that their doctor will even know this latest update.

Try this Google search:  "Depo-Medrol Harm"

Kindest regards,
Dennis J. Capolongo / EDNC
Center for Pharmaceutical Safety
Washington, DC

I hope I'm not taking over an existing thread but I also have a similar question relating to a MRI report.  I have suffered with in occasions, severe lower back pain including pain and tingling sensations down the outside of my leg(s) for the past 9 years.  Having tried physio and various pain killers/rest I asked my doctor to refer me for a MRI scan.  I have cut and pasted an extract of the report below and would also be interested in a laymans terms explanation.  I am a 44 year old male in good general health however I was involved in a minor motorcycle accident 20+ years ago where after tumbling over a car I landed on my lower back.  I walked away from the accident and didn't think any more about it after a few days rest.

MRI LUMBAR SPINE Clinical information: Severe recurring right sided sciatica. Standard protocol. There is normal vertebral alignment. The vertebral bodies, visualised spinal cord, cauda equina and filum terminale return normal signal. There are minor disc bulges seen at multiple levels between L2/3 and L5/S1. The worst affected level is at L2/3 where there is a right centro-lateral annular tear where the disc makes contact with but does not compress right L2 - it is likely that there might be irritation at this level. There is also facet joint hypertrophy at the L4/5 and L5/S1 levels with associated thickening of the ligamentum flavum. No significant canal stenosis is identified. No paravertebral abnormalities are identified.

Conclusion: Multilevel minor degenerative change with a small annular tear at L2/3 that is probably irritating the right L2 nerve at its exit foramen.

Thanks.

These changes describe that the soft discs between the boney vertebral bodies are bulging out slightly. There are also some changes to the ligaments and bones which are mildly narrowing the spinal canal. However the report does not comment upon impingement of nerves, or blockage of the exits. Therefore it is not clear that these changes are causing your pain, and these changes are more descriptive of aging then trauma. I hope this explanation helps. Good luck.