Cortisone Shots

Introduction

For those who suffer from inflammation and pain in specific areas of their body, cortisone shots can be quite helpful. They are injections that individuals receive in their joints, such as wrist, spine, shoulder, knee, hip, elbow, or ankle, to relieve the condition. 

You may even take this injection in your hands and feet to benefit from. Many arthritic patients take cortisone shots as part of their treatment plan. Cortisone comes from the word corticosteroid, and its shot is man’s version of cortisol hormone. 

We cannot correctly categorize these shots as pain relievers. However, since cortisone is a steroid type, it helps reduce inflammation, which ultimately reduces pain in the body. 

Cortisone Shots- What You Can Use Them For

Corticosteroids belong to a class of medications relating to the cortisone steroid. The main highlight of this class of medications is that they are majorly helpful in reducing inflammation that occurs due to several diseases. 

Cortisone is, therefore, a type of corticosteroid, and you can use them for relieving inflammation in small areas of your body or even inflammation that is widespread across your body. This is particularly helpful in conditions where you have allergic reactions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. These are the sort of conditions that have an impact on several joints.

If you suffer from any of the following conditions, your doctor will most likely prescribe a cortisone shot:

·       Tendinitis 

·       Osteoarthritis

·       Gout

·       Bursitis

·       Back pain

What Happens While Getting the Shot

The protocol for receiving the shot is the same as that of other injections. The healthcare practitioner giving you the shot will first clean your skin area with an iodine-based or alcoholic cleaning solution. Then he/she will numb the area where you have to get an injection with a numbing spray or lotion.

You will feel very little pain at the most while receiving the injection, but that too goes away soon after you have received it and covered the injection site with a bandage. In cases where you have to take the injection is a joint having a lot of fluid, the doctor will use a separate needle or syringe to extract some of the extra fluid. 

This shot is mighty powerful. Hence, you can expect its effects to last for several months before it wears out of your system. Your condition determines how many times you need the shot, but in most cases, doctors do not prescribe this more than four times a year and six weeks apart. 

What Happening After You Get the Shot

Soon after you receive the shot, you may note some redness around the injection area of may feel warm in your face and chest. This is not an uncommon occurrence, and usually, it is nothing to worry about. 

The doctor may give you some aftercare instructions, including:

·       Using an icepack on the injection site in case of pain

·       Treat the injection area very carefully for the next couple of days after the shot. For example, if you take the shot in your knee, you must refrain from exercising or limit it for some days. 

·       Refrain from baths or hot tubs for the next few days after the injection. Showers at most should be your only option. 

In case the swelling, redness, pain, or infection continues past two days or increases, you must consult your doctor immediately. 

Risks or Side Effects of the Injection

Cortisone shots can have some side effects but the risks of those only increase if you use the injection repeatedly or increase the dosage. The following are its side effects:

·       The injection site turning white or lightening in color

·       The tissues or skin of the injection area may thin

·       Nearby bones may thin (osteoporosis)

·       Rupture of weakening of tendons 

·       Blood sugar may increase temporarily

·       Joints may suffer temporary flare of inflammation or pain

·       Temporary facial flushing

·       Verve damage

·       Infection may develop in the joint

·       The nearby bone may die 

·       Cartilage may suffer damage

Corticosteroids- Temporary Remedy or Pain Relievers?

We cannot describe cortisone injections as pain relievers because corticosteroids merely rude inflammation. The reason why these shots are able to relieve pain is that most of it occur as a result of inflammation in parts of the body. 

It is true that the inflammation for which one receives the shot may recur time and again, but the shot itself can provide relief for months. It all depends on how appropriately you use the injections. You may find it interesting to know that cortisone shots can also cure certain diseases and may resolve them for good. 

Such curable conditions include tissue inflammation in a small localized area, as in tendinitis or bursitis. These can also cure you of specific types of skin inflammation. 

Cortisone Injections- When You May Use Them

Like we discussed above, you may use cortisone injections to treat a small localized and inflamed area of your body, or you can even use them for widespread inflammation in your body. You may use local cortisone injection include:

·       A bursa inflammation, such as shoulder, knee, elbow, or bursitis of the hip

·       Tendon inflammation, such as tendinitis such as tennis elbow

·       Joint inflammation, such as arthritis

You may also take a cortisone shot for hip bursitis, osteoarthritis, and painful problems in the foot as plantar fasciitis. Other conditions eligible for a shot include frozen shoulder, rotator cuff tendinitis, and several other conditions as well. 

Many doctors even prescribe these shots for specific skin disorders such as alopecia as part of the treatment. To confirm a diagnosis, the doctors often use local anesthesia such as lidocaine with the shot. 

For example, if the combination of anesthesia and injection cure pain in the groin or buttock after the shot, then the diagnosis receives confirmation that the pain is due to hip arthritis instead of on the lower back. 

Cortisone injections also come in the form of epidural injections. The doctors insert these into a certain area in the spinal canal of the patient’s lower back. The specialist only delivers this under fluoroscopy or X-ray guidance, however. 

These injections help relieve sciatica and back pain, and the experts can inject these in other parts of the spinal canal, too, for treating neck and upper back pain. Systematic corticosteroid injections treat the more widespread problems that affect much of the skin or several joints.

These conditions include allergic reactions, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma. As part of treatment for these conditions, you may receive the injection intramuscularly, meaning in your larger muscle groups such as the shoulder muscle deltoid or the buttock muscles such as the gluteus. 

The medication then dissolves into your blood and travels through your bloodstream to cure the inflammation. 

Cortisone Shots- Advantages

If you suffer from swelling in a joint, then before injecting you, the medical practitioner will extract your joint fluid. The same extracted fluid then goes to a laboratory for testing, which then gives the accurate reason behind the joint swelling. 

This in itself is a great advantage because you are able to determine the root cause of your health problem and seek appropriate treatment accordingly. Steroid injections like this one are furthermore helpful because they relieve localized inflammation faster than the anti-inflammatory and traditionally oral drugs, such as aspirin. 

While we did mention this injection has a couple of side effects that occur on overdosing or improper use, it is also true that cortisone injections prevent the risks of oral anti-inflammatory medicines. But oral variety can cause notable side effects, especially stomach irritation. 

You receive this injection just as conveniently as the others in your doctor’s clinic. Other attractive benefits of this injection include early onset of the effectiveness of the medicine, the high success rate for treatment, dependability, and lesser side effects. 

Recovery Period

You will not require a lot of time to recover from a cortisone injection, especially if you follow all of your doctor’s instructions. This means you must rest well after the joint injections so that you give sufficient time for the inflammation to reduce. 

Final Thoughts

 A cortisone shot is a powerful solution for treating inflammation in various parts of your body. Pain arising from joint problems, allergic reactions, and others can reduce quite rapidly upon taking this shot. Doctors use it for treating several other skin and health conditions too.

The cortisone shot itself is rarely painful and lesser still when an expert delivers it to you. Very rarely is there a side effect of this shot, and too in cases of overdose or using the shot too frequently. The beneficial effects of the medicine can last for several months in your body.