Cortisone Injection - Shoulder

[postman]

I also was given the cortisone may years ago did not last long .And it took an op to put the prob right .
But i did think they tried everything else first before cutting into me .
Maybe it was a cost thing .Pills pills rest .Then surgery .

 

[craigwend]

Year-ish ago - had a cortisone injection done via ultrasound, given a local anesthetic before, no pain at all, even the local was a great relief; however once it began to wear off - even with good physio I ended up having an op - 9 months on shoulder 'perfect'


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[mangaman]

I also was given the cortisone may years ago did not last long .And it took an op to put the prob right .
But i did think they tried everything else first before cutting into me .
Maybe it was a cost thing .Pills pills rest .Then surgery .

As a doctor, postman, I go by the medical slang expression always try to do as little medicine to your patient as possible.

My avatar shows a tear in the cartilage behind my kneecap - it's now 2 years old. The orthopaedic surgeons were itching to inject it / operate on it. I refused and found building extra quads strength to support the knee/losing weight etc have made the problem almost disappear

Cartilage won't ever heal as it has no blood supply, so I always have a tiny amount of pain, but if you can avoid people sticking things into your body I would (because of the risks of infection etc)

I agree rest /elevation / ice / anti-inflammatories first with physio +/- injection with surgery a last resort.

If I were Mark Cavendish I would have had the op as I would have been on the bike again straight away, but for me the idea of chopping away bits of cartilage (which are nature's shock absorbers)may lead to arthritis in later life and as keyhole joint surgery is fairly new there is no data on arthritis incidence in 30 years time.

 

[bauldbairn]

I fractured my Calcaneus(heel) in an industrial accident 22 years ago. I was told if the pain was too much I could go back for a cortisone injection. They said would prefer not to give me it because I was so young - and there could be side effects(damage to tissue I think).
However in Rehab(physio) I met a guy I knew, who had broken both heals and both elbows(falling from a lorry backwards). This guy had it(cortisone) in all four injuries and said if he'd known just how painful it was he would have refused - but he would also have been unable to do his physio. It's swings and roundabouts I suppose.
Personally, I went down the same route as Mangaman - increased my weight-training(I'd already trained prior to the accident) to make sure the joint/heel could take the punishment. The harder I pushed my heel in training the sorer it was in training. But the sorer it was in training the less sore it was in normal activity. It seemed to work - to this day its only a wee bit stiff for 5 mins every morning and never notice it all day.

Good luck Fossyant, whatever you decide to do.

 

[ColinJ]

As a doctor, postman, I go by the medical slang expression always try to do as little medicine to your patient as possible.

I think that's a really great attitude!

My problem with many doctors is the God-complex where they think that they know everything, can fix everything, and that we mere mortals should shut up and do as we are told.

It seems that 90% of the health budget is spent on patching people up, whereas I think much more should be spent on keeping people healthy in the first place

I have only been to a doctor about 3 times in 40 years but the last time I went I still managed to fall out with him...

I was arranging to have a hearing test because I'd noticed that I was not hearing things that other people did. I ended up asking if my perforated ear drum had anything to do with the problem.

He looked down at my records and said "You haven't had a perforated eardrum!" I told him that I had but I hadn't seen a doctor about it. He got really irritable and told me that I wasn't qualified to self-diagnose. I told him that he was arrogant!

I explained that I'd been swimming around at the deep end of a swimming pool, trying to pick up a rubber brick. I'd gulped underwater and something went Bang! in my right ear, I felt sick as waxy chlorinated water started coming down the back of my throat. If that wasn't through a perforated eardrum, then what was the Bang! and where did the water come from?

He told me that (a) I'd imagined the water and ( Even if the eardrum was perforated, there was no way for water to get through into the throat.

I looked him in the eye and said - "What about the Eustachian Tube then?"

He went off on one and started ranting about how many years he'd spent at medical school, how many years he'd worked at this hospital, that clinic, how many years a GP and so on and how dare I contradict him!

I just wanted him to talk to me like an intelligent human being not a 3 year old in a nursery.

I'd obviously seek medical care if I'd done serious damage to myself or had a serious illness, but I believe that 99% of the time my body will look after itself. I eat a healthy diet, exercise frequently and my family do not have a history of serious health problems. Most live into their 80s, 90s, or even 100s. So far, this attitude has served me well.

I'll probably go and catch something really nasty now, and delay seeing a doctor until it is too late!

Anyway - good luck with your shoulder Fossyant!