OT: anyone have experience with cortisone shots?

The shot is a pain to get, no pun intended, the injection site joint will hurt for a while and it 100% helps. Good luck to her.

I have enough cortisone in my body to give someone else relief by just looking at them. I have generally found them helpful. My mom had to have them in her hand due to trigger fingers like you described. They worked, but only temporarily. She ended up having surgery, which fixed everything. 

A) big needle in sore spot.  Yes, it hurts ... not like smashing your finger with a hammer so your fingernail falls off hurts, but it’s worse then getting a vaccination or analgesia for dental work.

B) totally worth it, it helps tremendously. Can save her months of pain 

C) I’d say take the day off because she’s getting injection in hand she needs to use to work

One doc's opinion: listen TLDNL: cortisone just masks the pain and can do long term damage if continually used

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/weekend-warrior/caller-ross-cortisone-shot-0d2veX9oEb1/

Knee, shoulder, and tennis elbow - had cortisone shots for each.  Like a miracle each time.  If you have pain, and functionality reduction due to inflammation then cortisone shots work well, and have for a long time, going back to early days of NFL

I had them in my foot for plantar fasciitis.....they helped bring some relief but solving that particular problem requires more than cortisone.

As to the pain - keeping in mind that pain is relative/subjective I found the actual injection uncomfortable but not awful.  I was able to walk out of the office each time (I think I did this 3 or 4 times) on the injected foot and had no other side effects or lingering soreness.  From what I experienced I think "taking the rest of the day off" is a bit much - but again ymmv.

Hope that is helpful.

I had an injection in my shoulder a few years back.  It ultimately required surgery but the injection brought almost immediate relief and allowed me to push out the procedure about 6 months when the timing was more convenient.  It will hurt a bit but well worth it in my opinion.  Good luck!

Cortisone shots are no problem, but in my experience they didn’t do much, so surgery was required. No need to take off work. Also, it’s not just that the shots eventually turn your bones to mush, the steroid also plays with blood sugar levels and can lead to unintended endo consequences 

I had a cortisone shot last year, for a 'frozen shoulder' - moving my shoulder joint the full range was even more painful for me then watching our 3rd and long playcalling, and snapping my elbow for something like shooting a basketball hurt. Getting the shot itself was of course painful but if she hates needles as much as I do, she can just not look at it going in. 

I took it easy the rest of the day but was basically fine that evening other than a lingering smart where the shot was.  I could probably have gone back to work (at my desk job) if I wanted, but if you can take the time off, I would.  My shoulder immediately felt better and I'm fine now even though I was only semi-diligent about doing the stretching exercises the doctor told me to do.  

Not a doctor, so my 2 cents is just that, but I'd hazard to guess that how she will feel post-shot is more a function of her particular ailment which sounds far worse than mine was.

About three years ago I started having random but significant and increasingly frequent aches and sharp pains in my right knee, enough to make me slip on a brace when it would happen. My doctor diagnosed arthritis, and I got a cortisone shot directly in that knee. The needle was intimidatingly long but it really didn’t hurt any more than the momentary prick one gets from just about any other shot. It took a few days for the relief to kick in, but that knee has felt great since then!

Had one in my shoulder due to swelling issues I was having 2-3 years after my college baseball career came to an end. The shot was basically instant relief and I haven't had those issues since so I would say I had a good experience. Doc told me I might eventually need a "clean up" in my shoulder for some small things that could have caused it but so far so good. 

It’s not a miracle but it is reliable. I have a pretty good tolerance for needles and never had any anxiety/pain or adverse reactions from the steroid or the act itself of injecting. As for the steroid, you’ll likely know within a day if it’s going to be helpful, and it probably will be. 
 

Also, this is not a long term fix. There’s a hard cap on how often your physician will agree to this treatment, because the risk of adverse reactions accumulates with recurrent injections. I’d recommend appreciating the quelled pain and taking the opportunity to work on new habits in terms of repetitive movements.

I had a cortisone shot in my arthritic knee. It was amazing. My knee felt better than it had in a decade before I hit the pavement outside the doc's office. Unfortunately, it only lasted about 2-3 weeks.

Getting a shot in my knee hurt but was totally manageable. I'd get one every month if that were possible. 

There were zero side effects that I noticed. 

The cortisone will knock back inflammation like nothing else. Once the inflammation is gone healing can take place more efficiently. In my case, bone on bone pain does not heal so the pain always returns. In other instances involving other problems, it may lead to permanent healing.

If the problem is a pinched nerve and not inflammation the cortisone will likely not help much but I see little downside to giving it a "shot."

My personal experience...

I play a lot of tennis and the overhead service motion led to a partial tear of the rotator cuff. Since the treatment for the partial tear was the same as the full tear (3 months of recovery), I figured I will just continue as is and get it fixed when it teared fully. But the pain was pretty severe so I ended up getting a cortisone shot.

I remember the needle being huge and intimidating, but did not feel much since they put a numbing shot first. Afterwards, I felt great. Could not believe the difference.

I never ended up tearing my shoulder and it just kinda healed itself over next several months. I no longer have any pain in the shoulder.

I hope you get to experience something similar.

I had adhesive capsulitis in my shoulder (frozen shoulder). The cortisone shot was painful and I felt like crap for about 24 hours afterward. The cortisone did not help my range of motion at all so it did not work for me. I ended up having successful surgery a few months later and all is good now.

I've had two cortizone shots (many years ago now) in my feet for plantar fasciitis.

Treatment was awesome both times.  They were lingering injuries that would NOT heal and made it impossible to run.  Cortizone shot had me back to 100% in a few weeks both times.

I had no side-effects either time.  As long as you are not a pro-athlete getting one of these every 5 days to take the mound or every week to take the field you most likely won't have any long-term effects from them.  You just shouldn't get a ton of them.

 

Had extreme pain in my hip. Needed to get a hip operation. A cortisone shot got my thru the summer until I could get the operation in the fall . The injection isn't fun , its well worth it thou . Ps  a year later going back to my surgeon tomorrow...my hip is as bad as it was when I got it done! Ugh.                                       
also hearing great results in the healing properties of bpc-157 which results In quick permanent fix in tears in muscle, tendons,ligament,bone and nervous tissues.

Physician here.  She needs a diagnosis first.  If the neck is the issue, deal with that first.  If it's the elbow, deal with that first.  If the neck and elbow are cleared and they think it's the hand, see a hand specialist first before having someone willy-nilly injecting stuff into the hand.  You can do nerve damage if it's not in the right "hands." An OT recommending a cortisone shot is different than a hand specialist recommending it.

Cortisone shots are not completely harmless and as someone else said, they don't get to the heart of the issue.  If it's an overuse issue, then some type of brace or something may help along with a shot.  If it's a neck or elbow issue, other treatments may be needed to prevent this from recurring.

I got a few for PF a few years ago. I was one of the unfortunate ones. It felt like someone injected lava into my foot (twice) and I got no relief whatsoever. Fortunately, new shoes and lots of stretching did the trick. Good luck!

My wife and I both had cortisone injections in a finger knuckle for the same issue (trigger finger, where ligament -- I think -- gets swollen and won't pass easily through the channel; very difficult and painful to uncurl the finger).  She had considerable pain at the injection site, I did not.  We both got great relief from the shot. I've also had them for other injuries, including a rotator cuff, and they have helped a lot.

My reaction is generally dermatological -- rash (not necessarily at the injection site) or redness in the face.  Both have passed quickly.

No matter what else you try, unless there is a commitment to REST, the problem isn't going away.  Cortisone may take away the swelling and pain, but will add the temptation to resume activity at the first sign of relief.  The injection is completely worth it just to reduce the pain--but it doesn't resolve the underlying problem, which it sounds like you are well on your way to identifying.  Best of luck to both of you.

I had been dealing with metatarsalgia for a while - due to both over use and me being over weight at the time - and ended up getting a cortisone shot.  They put the shots in right between my toes - it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

It gave me relief by the next day, and the relief lasted for probably 2 to 3 weeks before the pain returned.  It definitely treated the symptoms, but it did nothing for the underlying causes.

The rest of my experience probably isn't applicable to your wife's situation because her issue doesn't sound like inflammation is involved?  So I'll give a quick TL;DR - I ended up icing my foot for 20 minutes multiple times a day for a month or two and that gave me more long lasting relief than the cortisone shot, though my condition was inflammatory so it makes sense the ice helped.

I got a shot in my shoulder when it was frozen. Didn't hurt at all. I do anesthesia and work at a hand facility occasionally. They do quite a few injections while people are asleep getting trigger finger or carpal tunnel taken care of. My personal and professional experience is that they can be extremely helpful. Or might not be.... Not everyone gets huge improvement and ymmv. 

I had one to deal with a knee issue related to gout.  So its hard for me piece out what the side effects of the shot were from all the other crap I was going through at the time.  I remember it mostly helped with the pain I had and it became easier to kick out with my knee and stand up(so range of motion issues) without wanting to bite through my tongue in pain.  

Basically, I don't remember any side effects, but it made me feel a hell of a lot better.  I also only had to have one shot due to a targeted issue, there may be different considerations given it sounds like for your wife this is a repetitive stress issue.

For my plantar fasciatis, it was instant relief, aside from the shot itself being a bit painful.  No problems after.

I’ve had cortisone shots in my fingers for a similar problem. The shot itself hurts while it is going in, but it is very effective. It takes a couple of days to a week to really take effect, but it loosened up my fingers very well, and the effect lasted for quite a long while. 

I'm sorry, what does this have to do with people threatening to leave Mgoblog?

I had a few about 15 years ago when I was still competing in running. Aside from the initial injection pain, it took about 2 days for the shot to do it's thing. My pain and swelling greatly diminished and I was back to full training. The affect of the shot was to be for at least a few months.

As for long term joint pain, no I have had none. The shots I got were in the uppermost hamstring area, back then. I was told by the ortho doc-NOT to get more than one or two of those per year and no less than a 6 month interval in between shots.

If this is only a one-time solution to your wife's issue, she should be OK both short term and long term. Good luck.

I had epidurals after a spinal injury. Some of the injections were painless, others were excruciating. Precisely where the injections went made a difference in the amount of relief I got. Sadly, the doc that performed the procedure most effectively left the group I was treating with so I stopped going due to the pain of the procedure and inconsistent relief.  

Long story short, relief is possible and don't be afraid to find a different doctor if you don't like the current one.

Similar experience here as several of the other posters:  2 in the shoulder, 1 in the knee, all with great success — when combined with PT. I did want to add one piece of advice though: DO NOT look at the needle. This is not a run of the mill flu shot. When the Doc starts asking you about how your day is going it’s not because they give a damn about how your day is going. They are trying to distract you from said needle! Good Luck!

Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

I had two for tennis elbow and the 2nd one worked to reduce the inflammation and pain and allow it to heal.

Its a smart step to try before surgery.