Cortisone shots

Has anyone here had cortisone shots? Are they generally helpful? Should they be avoided? How painful was it? Anything else I should know or research about them? General internet searching seems to have such a wide variety of opinions as to be useless.

I may be facing a doctor recommendation to get one- maybe not. It was mentioned as a possibility, depending on the results of my upcoming MRI. So I thought I would get information about it ahead of time, just to be informed.

I would appreciate any enlightenment on the matter. Thanks!

-aaradia

__________________
I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert

Not to sure how cortisone works but does it only mask the pain and not remedy the issue. I would make an action plan with my Dr on how we are going to cure the source of the pain rather than just mask the pain itself.

I hear it works great as pain relief (from other Martial Artists)

but it doesn't heal sh!t....

I've seen it given to grapplers mostly with shoulder problems
bad thing is that after a shot they think they can fight again the next day...

__________________

“	Question Authority. Question Society. Question Reality. Question Yourself. Question your conclusions, your judgments, your answers. Question this. If you question everything thoroughly enough, the truth will eventually hit you upside the head and you will know. But here’s a warning: It won’t be what you imagined. It won’t be even close.	”

all hail Martyr Fakka

Chief hit on it..

You get the shot (Cortisone) and you think you are 100% healed. Nope, it's only a high end pain reliever applied to a localized spot.

Who are they for? People who suffer debilitating pain in a joint. Old Man haz needed one after a very bad case of tennis elbow. He then had to take 6 months off from playing tennis.. but he could at least move his elbow without pain.

-hz

For me cortizone worked wonders! I had a bulging disk in my neck and the pain was causing a lot of swelling....which in turn led to more pain and swelling. The shot shut down the pain for a while, so the swelling could go down and the area could heal. I actually needed two shots before the problem went away completely.

The downside of cortisone is that it works by breaking down tissue, so it should be sort of a last resort treatment. The doc actually told me after my second shot that there was no way I was getting another one.

Also, like everyone else mentioned, you have to take some time off after getting them.

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1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is essentially your own

For me, it didn't do anything other than making me pass out for a day.
It is a serious steroid which can effect people adversely, took mine, the next day while in the shower it raced my pulse to some like 250 beats a minute and dropped my blood pressure, passed out in the shower and cracked my head and couldn't do anything for the rest of that day except lay down and hope everything would stop spinning.
While it did nothing what so ever for the pain/issue, it did relieve me of that by having me worried about not passing out

Stay away regardless, stuff like that is not a good option, physio and other methods work much better for pain/difficulty and making improvements

wow...

never heard that from anyone....

__________________

“	Question Authority. Question Society. Question Reality. Question Yourself. Question your conclusions, your judgments, your answers. Question this. If you question everything thoroughly enough, the truth will eventually hit you upside the head and you will know. But here’s a warning: It won’t be what you imagined. It won’t be even close.	”

all hail Martyr Fakka

yeah, never heard of that happening before.

I thought getting neck injections were bad...I guess "almost dying" is worse

__________________
1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is essentially your own

Never heard of an immediate adverse reaction before but it's obviously something to watch for.

As every one said they are a short term way to quick start recovery. They are high risk because they remove the pain that was telling you your movements were incorrect.

For older people they are also a way to keep going after the damage is mostly done. I know an older climber who shambles down for shots in his elbows, knees, and shoulders every year before his summer climbing holiday.

One thing I've seen yogis who've had them do is stick thick tape over the injured joint so every movement pulls at the skin and gives them some feedback to work from in the absence of feedback from the joint area itself.

__________________
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

I apologize for not seeing this earlier, hopefully Im not too late:

Please, before you go down the road of cortisone shots, try some less invasive treatments:

Gan Cao (Licorice Root) has some glucocorticoid effects and can be used to either lower the dose of cortisone or eliminate it completely, depending on severity.

There are also a number of anti-inflammitory and tissue-building herbs that will *not* exhibit any side effects and drastically lower inflammation and/or increase blood circulation to help heal any tissue damage and break any blockages.

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PlumDragon Herbs: Dit Da Jow and Iron Palm Liniments

"When a handshake passes the elbow, it becomes Judo."

Plummy! I need these herbs, I've got a Soleus Strain and it's making Guard work very painful. I'd rather go holistic for a few weeks before I go to the doc..

Can you give us a good list of options?

-hz

“	Originally Posted By: hazmat Plummy! I need these herbs, I've got a Soleus Strain and it's making Guard work very painful. I'd rather go holistic for a few weeks before I go to the doc.. Can you give us a good list of options?	”

Two really good recipes for strains and tendon issues are JKD and Ho Family. The JKD jow is really kidn of designed with your type of injury in mind. A lot of stick fighters and grapplers just love the stuff:

JKD Dit Da Jow
Ho Family Dit Da Jow

At 5 ft 8, my legs are short and I always had problems holding guard well against people who were..."larger". The flexibility pack is a real simple yoga formula and I found it useful for leg and ankle flexibilty to sustain guard. It is not so much for healing of injury but you might find it useful for helping prevent these types of injuries from happening, when coupled with a *good* consistent stretching regimen:
Flexibility Pack

Hope that helps. =)

__________________
PlumDragon Herbs: Dit Da Jow and Iron Palm Liniments

"When a handshake passes the elbow, it becomes Judo."

Thanks for the info so far. I had 2 situations where doctors mentioned this as a possibility.

One is my knee that frequently keeps "popping" out and in place. It hurts while out of place, then is mostly ok when going back in. (This happened as a side effect of having to wear a "boot" for a week when they misdiagnosed a foot problem as a stress fracture.) That boot gave me sciatica and a popping knee.)

I get the results of my MRI tomorrow. If it is not a tear (which I don't think it is) he mentioned Physical therapy and cortisone shots. You guys confirmed where my reading up on it has lead. Unless he can explain why inflammation is the cause of my knee popping, I think I will pass on the shot. The mention of the pain being a warning really seems smart. Having no pain with a knee out of place sounds like a recipe for further injury to me.

The original problem I have been dealing with has been misdiagnosed twice now. (plantaar fasciitis and a stress fracture) I finally am seeing a podiatrist and he gave me a small cortisone shot in one area of my right foot, where I seem to have the pain/inflammation in a joint. Part of why I went for it is he said it would help him know if he is on the right track in his diagnosis. It went really smoothly, with some positive results, but it has not completely stopped the pain.

So, If I understand the just of the advice here, It fits what I was already leaning towards.
1.Be really wary about using it as the only "cure", instead of it jumpstarting a cure that needs other means as well.
2. Don't get too many, due to it breaking down tissues and making me risk further injuries.
3. Only get it if it pertains to inflammation of a small area
4. Ask Plum Dragon about natural herbs, once my diagnosis is more firm. (I need to stop taking so much Ibuprofen. I know it is not good for the liver.)
5. Be happy I got the one shot BEFORE reading Mei's near death cortisone experience!

Did I miss anything? As always, you all are a huge help! And I am always open to more advice. Hopefully this will be turned around soon, I REALLY need to get back to working out and posting about that instead of all these injury related questions.

Thanks!
-aaradia

__________________
I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert

Your training really should be helping you with these injuries.

Certainly the knee and sciatica, the sciatica from painful personal experience, there are some yoga postures that can work on. With the sciatica those postures are very similar to tai chi seated meditation. I've known tai chi (forms and push hands) bring on sciatica so that's one to watch out for. For the knee - my expert yoga teacher took a bad knee injury a few years back and yoga'd it back to health - she now has the tightest lotus I've seen. Physio should be the same but here in the uk they have some odd ideas left over from the "only weights make you strong" days.

The foot could be a whole range of stuff. It's good you have got to an expert. It couldn't hurt to consider heading down the "alternative" route in parallel by finding a top osteopath or similar and getting them to work on it.

__________________
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

“	Your training really should be helping you with these injuries.	”

Well, I was building up on only Tai-Chi at first, then very suddenly had a flare up of my knee popping and it started to swell. So I stopped, because I did not want to risk further damage until I knew what was up. Before that, The tai-chi did seem to be building up my knee strength again.

“	Certainly the knee and sciatica, the sciatica from painful personal experience, there are some yoga postures that can work on. With the sciatica those postures are very similar to tai chi seated meditation. I've known tai chi (forms and push hands) bring on sciatica so that's one to watch out for. For the knee - my expert yoga teacher took a bad knee injury a few years back and yoga'd it back to health - she now has the tightest lotus I've seen. Physio should be the same but here in the uk they have some odd ideas left over from the "only weights make you strong" days.	”

The Sciatica is abut 90% better. I have a whole slew of stretches I do, but if you know some yoga I could do, I would be happy to try that. Can you direct me to that info?
I do not have a tear!!!!!!happy happy joy joy!!!!!!woo=hoo!!!!! Of all things, he said it was either a bone bruise or (and this is probably it) an anomaly in my bones caused by severe anemia (which I had recently). I could not get him to be more specific by what he meant with that, but it is off to Physical therapy I go. Now that I know I don't have a tear, I am going to ease back into the Tai-Chi, very slowly and carefully.

He did mention the cortisone, but I decided to opt on waiting to see how the PT goes first. Thanks again for the info. It helped me make a decision I feel good about. I can always get one later, but I will hold off for now.
[quote]

“	The foot could be a whole range of stuff. It's good you have got to an expert. It couldn't hurt to consider heading down the "alternative" route in parallel by finding a top osteopath or similar and getting them to work on it.	”

Yeah, but it is hard to see an osteopath with an HMO. Dang if it took months to get to see the orthopedic specialist and the podiatrist! Stupid HMO's. Part of why this has taken so long is all the "see this doctor, get a referral that has to wait a week for the insurance to ok, then see that doctor and wait a week while you wait for the insurance to clear the tests he says, then wait another week for the insurance to ok the treatment the Dr suggests. It is ridiculous how much time I have had to wait because of beaurocracy.

I would love to see an accupunturist, but I had to use all my alloted visits for that on my chiropractor. My HMO only allows a combined total of chiro/ accupuncture per year.

__________________
I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert