Has anyone here ever had cortisone shots for pain?

Yes, I’ve had them in my knees and back for arthritis. They didn’t help my back. They do help my knees a bit. I have to have total knee replacements sooner or later, so I’m just putting off the inevitible. I get them every 3 months. They work best after a few days, but don’t last the full 3 months. My doctor won’t give them before 3 months.

The shots hurt, but are worth a try.
I’ve also tried acupuncture, and that helped as well.

good luck.

I just resently had a shot right into the knee. My doc “froze” the spot where he injected so it wasn’t too painful. Anyway, he told me that the hydrocortisone wouldn’t kick in for about a week, that the numbing agent he injected with it would keep me going until then. I walk for a living and I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg. After the shot I felt 90% better. After a week had gone by I felt completely healed. I don’t know what I would have done without that shot; surgery, I guess.

Yeah, the freezing helps. but they still hurt.

I had one in the bottom of my foot for a bone spur and thought I was gonna die.

I had a ruptured disc in my neck (C-6/C-7) and the first specialist I saw tried cortisone. It was very painful and it did not help. The second specialist I saw said cortisone was not appropriate and recommended fusion surgery which a third doctor also recommended and which I had done with complete success. In the case of a shoulder injury, cortisone was used and seemed to help a lot. Good luck to you.

I received 3 epidural cortisone injections in my lower back. You are allowed 3 of these a year. I was told by my doctors that i might not even feel a diference from the 1st or 2nd shot. To be honest with you i barely noticed a difference with the 3rd 1 either. I think it lasted about a day and 1/2. I also receive “trigger” injections every 2 months from my neurologist. These are simply done with a smaller needle. I actually received 1 of those today and it actually helped. I could barely stand up before i got it. The problem is when they do work they simply do not last very long. But from talking to different people some say they help and others they really dont make a difference. All it is is a temporary fix. I would give it a shot. Worse case you dont go back to get them anymore. Good luck

My best friend is a nurse who suffers from shoulder pain. She has had cortisone shots many times and swears by them. However, she gave me this advice: In general, asian doctors are much better at giving the shots. She has had both asian and non-asian docs administer and says it really hurts when it’s not the asian docs. One asian doc told her that they have a different method/view on “needle work”, due to being comfortable with accupunture.

I had a neuroma on the bottom of a foot that hurt like hell. My naturopath kept giving me expensive pads that had to be taped on again every three hours (if I was hiking). My “real” doctor
shot some cortisone into it once and it disappeared forever.