Osteoarthritis Community

Get off of it for at least 24 hours. I had both of my knees injected 5 days ago. My Dr does a wonderful job with injections! I had very little pain when it was done. There is some tenderness after but they usually work really well for me. I am having bilateral knee replacement in a few months but the shots will really help me to cope until that happens.

I know eventually I will have to get those shots and I am terrified. But most who get the shots give positive reports after. Please let us know how you feel in a few days.

The first cortisone injections I had was over four years ago.
they were given by my Ortho Surgeon, and it hurt so much and for days after. The next cortisone injection I received from a pain doctor, and it did not hurt at all.

The pain doctors make a big deal out if it. They put you on a gurney under lots of lights and overhead high tech gadgets. They give you an injection to dull the pain with a slim needle that does not hurt. Then they have an XRay camera, and they get the big injection needle in just the right place, and there is no pain. Then they wheel you out to an area where they give you juice and cookes like when you donate blood.

I had my one knee replaced four years ago but have saved my other knee with first the cortisone injections and then the Synvsc One injection.

My Ortho Surgeon is closer so I go to him now but I make him numb the area. It is not as good as the pain doctor but it is better than if he did not numb the area at all. You have to get after the Ortho Surgeons. They usually will not numb the area unless you demand it.

I have been going to my Rheum for about 6 years and about every 4 months I have a shot of cortisone in my knees but he also numbs the place before giving me the cortisone shot. It hurts a bit but nothing I can't handle. At one time it was both shoulders and my hips but he said my hips were because of the arthritis in my back, which I had operated on years ago. He has mentioned Synvic which is also a shot that last about 6 months it is like putting cushioning back in so that the bones don't rub against each other. I did have both knees operated on about 10 years ago for torn meniscus. I was on Celebrex for about 3 years but my reg Dr who is a heart specialist said he didn't think to much of it as it is bad for your heart. So finally I did stop taking it. Now I take Tylenol arthritis strength 3 times a day. I still have days when I hate to get out of bed to stand up. I have to see my Rheum on Monday so I don't know what he will do or say. Best of luck to all of you who do suffer with this darn annoying disease which by the way is heriditary.

Good question!!! I just had injections for the 1st time ever and had them in both knees. The injections on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being horrible my right knee was about a 2 but my left knee was a definite 10. Patients could hear me screaming in the waiting room, and believe me I am not a big baby! I have had multiple surgeries , 3 of them major spinal surgeries and nothing has ever hurt this bad that I have had to be awake for. I almost passed out. Well it's almost 3 days later and I can't walk without a cane ! It feels like she injected cement into my knee, its so stiff, I don't have full range of motion and can't lift my left foot and I didn't have this problem before the injection. I don't know what to do.
Is this just some weird reaction or what?
I hope ur doing better "brokenmom2"
Thanks

I just had an injection in my left knee. I have a bruised knee from a fall. The PA gave it to me and I screamed like never before. I was not prepared for that. She will not do it again. I will go somewhere else. She even told me to SHHHH! People outside may hear me. It did not go over so well. My knee does feel better but give me a break. I think I will go to pain dr if I have to have another one. I usually walk my dog but I am not sure if I can since I had shot today. Can anybody make any suggestions.

Thanks

That's a little too much pain for a knee injection. Of course, if you fell on the knee that amount of pain is an indication that you have some problem from your fall.
I have had many knee injections, pretty much pain free. So I think that all your pain may indicate a need to be re-assessed by the physician.
Ice, Ice, Ice. Always try ice after injections they can hurt, ache after the lidocaine wears off.

You should not have much pain at all. I have had several injections in many joints and none hurt to the point of yelling out. There is lidocaine in the injection and that helps to numb it right away, that wears off in several hours and then the knee is achy but not super painful. You can walk on it right away without a problem. Ice, the first day or so as needed and you should be fine.

Be careful of too much cortisone. I developed glaucoma a few years back because every doctor was injecting my back, my knee, my ankle, my elbow. It builds up in your system. The pressure in the eyes went down as I stopped getting the injections. My eye doctor caught it at my regular eye exam, it was down in 3 weeks or so.

Again, that is too much pain after an injection. Injections can also be tools for doctors to realize the severity of the injury. They are used, at times, as diagnostics.
I would first call the doctor to let them know just how bad it is. Pain level, pain calendar often helps. Not weird reaction just not as expected.
Elevate and ice for the first 24 hours, then try some heat. Sometimes the medication can crystallize, it's a weird thing. If that has happened it takes longer to dissolve which takes longer to help the inflammation.Remember cortisone is only an anti inflammatory and has no pain relieving properties. So you need to take some pain medication, did they provide a script or suggest what to take? Be careful of acetaminophen or paracetamol because this is not an anti inflammatory only pain and be very, very careful of how many you take as this can have disastrous effects on the liver. I have had this happen in my back (crystallization) and have found heat to be very soothing. Same instructions as for ice; 20 minutes on and off. I find though that I become to used to the heat and it doesn't have the same soothing effect after a while.
I have so many good and bad experiences with shots, everywhere-back, neck, elbows, carpal tunnel, knees, ankles, once for plantar faccitits (that one I would never, ever repeat) I clawed the table, I think I left a hole in the upholstery. He said "scream if you have to but don't pull away, I'll have to start over again". When a doctor says that to you LOOK OUT!!
They know how bad the shots can be and they need to sound proof the room they use for shots. The only one that left me moaning was one at the base of my tail bone after my first back surgery because he thought it would be a better location for the shot, "literature states". How embarrassing because I was not prepared for that one, just above the anus into the spinal canal or whats left of it. Face down screaming into the table padding. Never again, plus I think he caused a pilonidal cyst with that. Link to that:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cyst
Good luck, prayers for you, call the doctor.

We, the heriditary OA people need to form a group of our own. We are not the same as the "wear and tear" group.. We are unique in the world of OA.
I have had doctor's nurses say "It's only ol arthur" when calling about xray results. So now I say back, "no, it's worse than that, it's primary, idiopathic, generalized, oseoarthritis". Primary- Not secondary to injury, Idiopathic-Of no known cause, Generalized-Multi-site and bilateral joints. But PIGO does not sound good so we need to get that gone because it implies a weight issue which most of us do not have at onset but the pounds build up when you can't keep yourself mobilized all the time and some of our medications add pounds, Lyrica is one such medication. We often have other pain "syndromes": Fibromyalgia, Myofascial Pain, RSD and so on.
We are so different than the wear and tear group and they do not understand this disease. We need to make sure our doctors know this. My GP is really good when I told him of my latest dx (my spine guy sent me to the knee guy) both knees he just said "oh gez", he is getting it. My GP is my medication doctor and I request all "shooters" report the cortisone injections to him due to an issue a couple years back with glaucoma. My regular eye app. and my pressure was up in both eyes. I did a lot of reading and discovered that as a result of all the shooters I had too many doses of cortisone in a short period of time and developed glaucoma which quickly resolved as the injections stopped.
We need to be diligent in our care and aware of these types of issues.
Maybe I'll look around and see what we can do about a site that informs people of the possibility that they have this form of OA. We need this to be recognized as a completely separate form of arthritis.
I hear you loud and clear!

It makes a difference to have pre-meds. I usually don't need that because the lidocaine is in the cortisone shot and it would just take longer. I am also in so much pain when I go that I don't care about the shot.
My pain guy is now scheduling me for RFA in cervical facet joints. OUCH when he uses a little "sleepy" medication. I have had this done without I told them but he insists that I be sleepy. He has been my primary go to guy of late for injections and when he says "sleepy" he's gonna hurt. Maybe this time he will do the correct procedure because the first guy to do it was eating donuts, bs'ing with his assistant and it just didn't work out right at all. Didn't work at all.
If you need it you should ask for it and they should comply with your request it is a "standard of care" in the U.S. to numb prior to shooting. I call it shooting now adays, sometimes that's what it feels like.