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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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  • Butterbean
    Butterbean marie1121

    Posted

    Yes I find it very strange that some GPs have the idea you should be a certain age before replacement I had a hip at 54 ... 10 years ago and I hate to think what my life would have been like without it
    • marie1121
      marie1121 Butterbean

      Posted

      if you need it you should have it, age shouldn't come into it because your quality of life is nill until you are out of pain. if money was no barrier i reckon most of our joints would have been replaced years ago :-)
    • tracy32225
      tracy32225 Butterbean

      Posted

      Over here in Australia, the age card is played a lot, I just turned 50 in October and I am a nurse in an Emergency Department and work 10 hr shifts. I have struggled with bone on bone OA in my left knee for the past 10 years and was told I was too young for a knee replacement.mweel 16 th dec I have just had a left total knee replacement it got to the stage where I could not walk at the end of my shift. I am now about 2 weeks post op, and hope to be back to work in February. age should not come into it, quality of life should.
    • marie1121
      marie1121 tracy32225

      Posted

      well said Tracy, I can't imagine how you coped doing 10 hour shifts on your feet, you must have been in agony. So glad you got it sorted out, good luck with your recovery, hopefully you will be back to normal soon. Its amazing the pain you have to put up with just to get help :-)
  • david88779
    david88779 marie1121

    Posted

    Hi all.

    Some GP's as very good and will come 'on-side' but they are only GP's not orthapedic specialists. Mine is not too bad really, but he treated my knee pain in much the same way as he does my diabetes, a pill everyday and

    an annual review. Paracetamol, Codiene and Tramadol were prescribed

    plus a twice daily 'slathering' of Voltarol on the knees. But I was very

    lucky and I am eternally grateful to the surgeon. I played 'Quality of Life

    Card' and he was extremely sympathetic, he had the MRI scans and Xraysto back up his diagnosis and organised me 2 lovely 'Signature' knees,

    from the USA I believe? I feel lucky also to have no pain for the first time

    in over 10 years but have every sympathy and empathy for those of you

    that are suffering from sleepless nights and painfully days. Hopefully

    your discomfort is only temporary and you will soon experience the bliss of no nagging, tedious sometimes tearful pain.

    • marie1121
      marie1121 david88779

      Posted

      thanks David. I know its not as bad as it could be but I would like to be able to get up and down stairs without having pain and there is no chance I can take part in any sport, sad but like you said quality of life is everything, without it life is a bit like being a spectator instead of taking part :-)
  • david55379
    david55379 marie1121

    Posted

    I am a teaching tennis pro. Back in 1997 i had ACL replacement surgery on my knee and have been bone on bone pretty much ever since. fortunately it has yet to keep me from being completely active on my knees. Every 8-10 months however my knee swells with fluid and requires aspirating followed by an injection of Kenalog cortisone shot to ease pain and reduce inflammation.

    Neither the aspirating or the cort shot hurts whatsoever...and trust me, i am the BIGGEST baby when it comes to needles biggrin

    Afterwards I'm good to go for almost another year before fluid builds up again and another cortisone shot is needed.

    My current problem is that after all these years of successful treatment with aspiration and cortisone shots the cortisone shots are having no effect whatsoever! The pain in my knee is incredibly painful and disabling. It seems I've come to the road where a total knee replacement is necessary. However i haven't come to terms with that in my mind and am experiencing severe depression.

    I KNOW im bone on bone...

    I KNEW this day would eventually come...

    But i just don't understand WHY the cortisone shots have stopped working all together at least to alleviate pain such that i can have some time before i jump into replacement surgery.

    Ive also had several different cortisone steroids tried all to no avail.

    I guess my advice is;

    No...the cortisone shots do not hurt at all, and be grateful that you're not at the complete knee replacement stage yet.

    • betty72353
      betty72353 david55379

      Posted

      We must all be different.I will need a full replacement at some point I was told. I had my knee drained and the corisone injection today. The draining and the injection was very painful. I am 64 and have had 2 surgeries for torn meniscus -one in July- and did not give me relief. I have OA. My knee is aching 8 hours later
  • seamus_98118
    seamus_98118 marie1121

    Posted

    I had one yesterday ion my knee and the actual injections and withdrawal of fluid were excruciating agony , I couldn't stop myself from bellowing with the hellish pain the Doctor filled two vials with fluid and it took over ten minutes for just the one knee to be finished.

    I am a Bloke who for the last forty years has not had anisthetics at the Dentist and have had numerous fillings drilled out and refilled the Dentist always says rather you than me.But I truthfully have never endured such agonising pain I think I cleared the whole waiting room with my shouts of pain.

    24 hours later the knee seems just as painful but I know it can be early days yet for the cortisone to take effect.,but I have  a continous bad headache since and I did feel queasy leaving the surgery,which I put down to the unbelievable pain but could be side effects of the Cortisone.

    I hope I'm not putting people off as lots of others seem to sail through but it's made me think about any other treatment on my knee.I am nearly 72.

    • david55379
      david55379 seamus_98118

      Posted

      Seamus...you must have made a wrong turn and walked into the butcher shop instead of the doctors office.

      I regularly get my knees aspirated followed by a cortisone shot and its as painless as simply getting an injection...its painless!

      If you had to "bellow" in pain i would seriously check to see if whoever gave you the aspiration and cortisone shot actually had a medical license or butcher's license!

    • seamus_98118
      seamus_98118 david55379

      Posted

      We are all different and it would appear react in different ways ,I have got strong muscular thighs and with the slight swelling it must be difficult to locate the space between the the two sets of bones I know I cant find it after ages of prodding around.

      Three years ago I had an umbilical hernia correction op. and several people told me it was the most painful thing they ever had endured and could not get any relief whatsoever with the very strong painkillers they continually took for over a week afterwards and they couldn't do any sort of bending i.e. getting in and out of bed for well over a week.

      I had my op. and took one painkiller on the way home from the Hospital and truthfully didn't need any more whatsoever.

      I was expecting intense agony and experienced next to no discomfort whatsoever.So in that respect the others must have had their ops. in an abattoir according to your theory of sawbones quacks.

      I wonder if you would ever be brave enough to have any deep filling treatment without an anesthetic, lots of people would never even consider it and cant believe that I do, I must have had over thirty of them over the years deep down to the nerve ,drilling the old filling out.and I can assure the pain came no where near what I experienced yesterday.

      I think with you, you  had a very strong painkiller inserted in before the cortisone was injected plus I suspect that you have whats known as

      ''Forpenny rabbit legs '' that is thin and not much meat. smile

    • david55379
      david55379 seamus_98118

      Posted

      All joking asides i admit i am the BIGGEST baby when it comes to any medical procedure that involves a needle.

      Believe me i am fearful of any prodding, sticking etc.

      But trust me when i say the draining of fluid from the knee (aspiration) and the following cortisone shot is as simple and painless as anything can be. If it weren't i assure you id have them put me to sleep before id do it again.

      I think your right as far as everyone having a different experience.

      Be well!

    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 seamus_98118

      Posted

      It just proves once again how different we are. Due to the type tumor I have and the pervasive bleeding that went with it I had to have aspirations weekly in between actual surgeries to drain much larger quantities of blood. Never had but the small discomfort of the initial stick where lanicane is injected to start the numbing process. Then it's mostly pressure not real pain. The aspirations would remove 75 pc's where the surgical procedures were taking out 200 pc's or more. Sorry you had such a horrible experience.
    • seamus_98118
      seamus_98118 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      Thanks O. F. G.  I got the dreaded headache with the cortisone plus three quite sever bouts of hiccups,but on the plus side 48 hours later quite an improvement in my worse knee and I can actually stand on it for longer also in bed I noticed that the back of my knee was almost flat on the bed instead of a 3 inch gap underneath it. I am not hanging onto to everything for support so obviously progress..

       

    • lisa62479
      lisa62479 seamus_98118

      Posted

      My brother had a Staphallacacause infection in his knee when we were kids he got it off the wretling mat at high school; my mother washed all our cloths together the stuff was so infectios we all got it, I have  had episodes on and off throughout my life. Sounds like you had a boil in your knee. Hope you are stll alive! That can be deadly without antibioitics. Or the guy doing the procedure didn't know what he was doing, sucking out fluid by the way is not getting a shot of cortizone, so what you are talking about is something diferent, sounds licke staff to me. 
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