Cortisone Injection Side Effects

[BB3000]

I play sports every chance I get, and as I get older and my body begins its process of slow, inevitable decline, the injuries are starting to mount up. Not being able to take Advil for pain and inflammation sucks royally. Now I'm at the point where my orthopedist is recommending I get an injection in my wrist to reduce the inflammation. Any time the words "reduce inflammation" and steroid" are used with regard to my body, my Crohn's radar lights up. Is there any CD-related side effect I should worry about? I'm on Lialda and nightly mesalamine enemas and that's it.



Flare free since 2012!

 

[BB3000]

As a followup question, perhaps this is a common one around here and has been asked before, but what is the best alternative for Advil for CD? Obviously Advil and Aleve are no good, but Tylenol just doesn't quite pass muster for injuries (and hangovers!) Is there some magic anti-inflammatory that Crohn's veterans know about that relative newbies like myself have to get hip to? I would love to pop a couple ___ (alternatives to Ibuprofen) in the morning when my hips are sore after a hockey game the night before... like I said, Tylenol just doesn't cut it.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Tylenol is unfortunately the only over the counter pain med that's safe* for IBD'ers to take. (When I say safe, I mean take it only as needed and don't exceed the maximum recommended dose - it's metabolized in the liver, and taking too much can mess up your liver.) Ibuprofen, aspirin, any NSAIDs are all not recommended because they can do bad things to even a healthy digestive tract, and they can make those of us with already wonky digestive systems even worse. So, unfortunately yes, Tylenol is really the only OTC pain med we can take for joint pain. Other things can help a bit, things like heating pads and sports creams, but those don't do a whole lot either. I found that physical therapy helped my painful joints the most. I continue to exercise and that seems to keep my joints happy for the most part. For me, I need to do low-impact exercise, as anything high-impact will make my joints feel worse. But if I do something low-impact like ride my bike, my joints feel pretty good.

As for the steroid injections - I have inflammatory arthritis in my hips, and I got 2 steroid injections into my right hip a couple years ago. I didn't have a good experience but maybe that's just me. I had a lot of side effects at first - I had an increase in hip pain, my GERD flared up quite badly, I had a lot of fatigue, I just generally felt worse rather than better after having the injections. After maybe a month or so of those side effects, I finally started feeling better. The side effects went away and my hip pain decreased. But after about 4 or 5 months, the hip pain gradually started to come back. I got my injections in July 2013 I think, and by that winter the hip pain was back (it's usually worse for me in winter anyway). So, for me I would say it wasn't worth it. Having a few months of relief wasn't really worth a month of fairly miserable side effects. If it had provided me with more lasting relief then it probably would have been more worth it. Like I said, that's just my experience - others may have had much better experiences than I did.

 

[StarGirrrrl]

I'm undiagnosed, and had an injection last year for hip pain.

I went through a week of being ravenously hungry, some feelings of heart racing, and my pain flared up for a few weeks.

However, these faded, and I have been almost pain free for a wonderful 6 months.

I am getting a bit more pain now, so time for another shot soon, which I will do happily.

On the other hand, a steroid shot for my shoulder pain was tried years ago, no side effects but no effect on the pain either!