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Cortisone injection in my knee

Posted , 31 users are following.

marie1121
marie1121

Hi,

I posted here a couple of days ago about a recurring knee problem after 2 athroscopies for cartillage problems. I have been having physio but its made my knee worse than before. I went back to the doctors today and he's offered a cortisone injection and I have agreed but now I am panicking. I have only ever had one cortisone injection before in my hand and was in agony for about 24 hours after. Has anyone had cortisone in the knee and can they let me know what to expect? Thanks :-)

3 likes, 101 replies

101 Replies

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  • britta217
    britta217 marie1121

    Posted

    hi marie ... yes, i had one last april. my new specialist was amazed i had never had one done and immediately asked me to step over to the table. just as well, as i might have changed my mind if i had been given time to think about it. at the time i was literally in tears with pain so if he had said let's chop it off, i would have said sure, go ahead. just kidding, but you know what i mean :-) it lasts a couple of minutes but i didn't find it pleasant - eyes tightly squeezed shut and biting down heavily on teeth - so was pleased to hop off the table. 4 hours later i felt like i could have participated in strictly come dancing. absolutely amazing effect. a month, 6 weeks, later i was back to hobbling around. my specialist also told me they can do max 3 injections within a 12 month time frame. also - minor detail when in agony - cortisone makes you put on weight apparently. FYI.

    in the meantime, i have had TKR on the other knee and the "cortisone" knee is kind of bearing up. but only just.

    • jean95756
      jean95756 britta217

      Posted

      Hi Marie

      i guess I was one of the lucky ones that the cortisone injections worked for.

      i'm not afraid of injections so I was probably relaxed when they were done 

      I had my quota of them until my knee got so bad I needed a TKR which I had 16 weeks ago

      now my so called good knee is playing up and I wouldn't hesitate to have the injection in that knee

      whether at the moment I would go through having  another TKR is another

      issue 

      Jean 

       

    • jean95756
      jean95756

      Posted

      Oops. Sorry Britta I sent the message to you instead of Marie

      how are you now? Are things getting any better.

      i should see my Consultant tomorrow but I'm expecting the appointment to be cancelled due to all the snow and ice we have at the moment.

      fingers crossed he will be brave enough to turn up ....

      i've written a list of questions I need to ask so he will probably end up with earache for the New Year.

      take care my friend and all the best for 2015 

      Jean 

    • britta217
      britta217 jean95756

      Posted

      oh jean, you make me laugh! at least you have not lost your sense of humor through all of this. yes, we are sinking in snow and ice here as well. i can hear my neighbor shoveling snow again and it took me 30 minutes yesterday to dig my car out from under a thick (20 cm) blanket of ice and snow. madness. luckily i have boots with excellent profile as i would just hate to go over and hurt my operated leg. it's enough to make you stay in! but then again, it is quite magical out there.

      well, if you have the endurance and courtesy to show up, so should he! but i did laugh, cos i know you have a LOT of questions and rightly so. and if he doesn't treat you right, you have lots of friends on here who "know where he lives" ... just an empty threat, but so he understands how serious this is! good luck, jean. i look forward to hearing how you did.

    • jean95756
      jean95756 britta217

      Posted

      If ever I have my sense of humour amputated then I will know I've lost the plot.biggrin

      i've had a book of tongue in the cheek poetry published so humour is my forte'

      and of course I wrote a few humerous  things about this Op 

      keep smiling things can only get better 

      Jean 

    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 britta217

      Posted

      Your message reminds of many from my kids during their years in Horgen. My grandsons went to the international foreign school and never missed a day. I always told them to not measure the snow but measure the weekends on the slopes. Now they are flatlanders and have a 10 hr drive to the mountains
    • EileenH
      EileenH britta217

      Posted

      All these people who have snow who don't want it!!! Send it over here please!

      I live in a ski resort - there's plenty of skiing but only on manmade snow! It keeps "snozzling" - but its tiny flakes blowing in the wind. This morning it was minus 17C with 30 km/h wind - bleugh! They'd kill for 20cm of snow here. On the other hand - on the other (northern) side of the Alps it's snowed the last 3 days...

    • marie1121
      marie1121 britta217

      Posted

      that's what I am bothered about that after a few months I will be back to square one. I think even if they get this one better the other knee is on its way out now so i need to have an athroscopy on that one too, which will start the whole process off again, as for the weight, i dont need that on top of the christmas weight i have put on!
    • marie1121
      marie1121 jean95756

      Posted

      i am not afraid of injections either so that's made me feel better, hopefully it will help a bit. I like you have heard people say the same about tkr, its not the answer for everyone unfortunately :-)
    • britta217
      britta217 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      OFG ... horgen?? oh gosh, so you are familiar with zurich?  there are a couple more international schools poppe up to deal with the extra expats biggrin a couple of years ago we had the longest winter known to man - i exaggerate - when the snow started in november and was still snowing in april.  then last year,  never even got out my snow boots.  i was rubbing my hands with glee at christmas as i thought we had got off lightly.  snow up in the mountains is fab and of course my heart goes out to the resorts without a decent flake in sight but in town?  10 hours is a long long way to go for a black slope!
    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 britta217

      Posted

      Spent our 50th wedding anniversary making a walking tour of Zurich. That will be 7years ago thus coming may. My son was a corp CEO and operated out of Horgen for 3 years. He retired in 2011 and moved back within 2 hrs of us. He decided 51 was too young to retire so started another company.
    • britta217
      britta217 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      horgen ... was he at a famous chemical company?  wow, i am not sure i wold be ready to retire just yet.  of course i say i would in a heartbeat, but you need to plan that and really make sure you don't fall into a big hole of "nothingness".  so i can understand him starting up his own thing.  i have just shut down my own thing because of the knee and have gone back into the corporate world full time as of january.  insurance, paid vacation, all the other financial goodies ... the knee operation was a total wake up call for me, especially in light of having to have my other one done eventually.

      happy new year, OFG!  

    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 britta217

      Posted

      Yes, that's the one. He was CEO of the plastics division that was sold to a capital investment group. He was going to take another position with the company but nothing that interested him opened up and he just decided to take a buy out and full retirement and leave. He has a small 600 acre ranch that he has leased out to a cattleman and recently built a new 3500-4000 sq ft home. The new company is up and running now so we'll see how it goes. I retired @66 due to the knee problem but that lasted less than a month when I decided to help a friend expand his business. Planned on working a few hours a day and 2-3 days a week for a year. Wound up spending close to 10 until the knee problems resurfaced and my wife's parkinsons disease advanced making it necessary to bring my working years to a halt. I spent 42 years on the road and fighting airline travel so figured I'd paid my dues. Always thought not being able to travel would be the hardest thing to give up. 2 weeks into my 1st retirement I realized I didn't care if I ever flew again or stayed in another hotel.

  • david88779
    david88779 marie1121

    Posted

    Hi Marie.

    I notice plenty of people have already answered your query, but I'll add my 'two-pennyworth' for what its worth.

    Pre-TKR, my GP would not give me cortisone injections, he didn't want to risk making my knees worse than they already were and set up a

    programme of 'pain management'! However my surgeon had a different strategy he said they were so far gone that it would not do any harm any way! I did have one injection in one knee, it was total pain relief for a

    brief period, approximate to the time it took me to walk the length of the car park back to the car unfortunately. However it can last much longer with some people, if you have nothing to lose like me then you may as

    well go for it.

    By-the-way, my GP said I would have to wait until I was 75 at least before I could have new knees on the NHS, - my surgeon did them at the age of

    65, on the NHS, what a nice man. Good luck.

    • EileenH
      EileenH david88779

      Posted

      It is strange the ideas some GPs have about ages for joint replacement. If the joint is totally shot it will be replaced at any age if there is no other option. A friend was told by her GP that it would be about 20 years before she would be considered for a hip replacement - she was 60, very fit but quite suddenly unable to walk for the pain. In fact, when it comes to hips then surgeons like to do younger fitter patients asap - before they get to be unfit which makes the rehab harder. Knees is a bit different - but what is the point of leaving someone in a wheelchair because they aren't "old enough"?
    • marie1121
      marie1121 david88779

      Posted

      pain management is a strange way to describe it, really in this day and age nobody should have to manage their pain when all these medications and treatments are available. I suspect money is the key though, whilst in the doctors yesterday i noticed when he was prescribing strong painkillers for me the price of the prescription popped up on the screen of £3.38! Its bound to factor when they are making decisions of how to treat us. Glad you got your knees done, its not much fun waiting for them when your in pain :-)
    • marie1121
      marie1121 EileenH

      Posted

      I know there is a really good hospital about 30 miles from here where I had my 2nd athroscopy, they deal with a lot of sports people and are said to be second to none. When I was there people of all ages were having tkr's if they were necessary but its a battle to get referred to that hospital. I tried this time and failed which is why I am checking everything the consultant tells me!
    • EileenH
      EileenH marie1121

      Posted

      I hope I'll never need their services but the local hospital, 30 min walk from the house, is a magnet for people from all over Italy for orthopaedic stuff - and bunions!!!! In the winter we are a ski resort, in the summer it motorbikes and mountaineers who fall off mountains who keep them occupied. And in the down-season its hips, knees and bunions! 30 miles down the road is another equally good orthopaedic department - used by top Italian professional skiers. 

      And yes "pain management" - CBT and painting and stuff. Here they deal with the causes if they can - since it works better. In the UK they just handed out pain killers - here it is much better if you have pain, my anaesthetist pain lady was MAGIC! She's now a GP (god knows why) but I can go to her privately but at present I have no problems with my back - I had a wisdom tooth removed and suddenly the back and neck pain is no more! Wouldn't help knees though I imagine...

    • marie1121
      marie1121 EileenH

      Posted

      sounds like a move to Italy might be in order then, get my knees sorted then come back ha ha :-)
    • EileenH
      EileenH marie1121

      Posted

      You know - under EU law youa re allowed to go to any doctor you like and the NHS should have to pay what it would cost in the UK

      Maybe I could set up knee tourism here...

    • marie1121
      marie1121 EileenH

      Posted

      I didn't know that, you learn something new everyday don't you? If you did I am sure you would have plenty of takers :-)
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