Help Chronic Pain

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to give it to someone wearing a medical braclet, taking an MAO inhibitor. me!! Bad news. Jan In my holistic days I used to be really down on cortisone shots. I have since been educated. Cortisone has a bad reputation that is quite undeserved. Cortisone shots can sometimes have a dramatic anti-inflammatory effect on tissues, particularly joints and tendons.

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Ive read it can be good or bad depending. Injection site is the soleus muscle of the shin. — "fortitudine vincimus" Before you buy.

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It will make your bones brittle in the long run. Before you buy.

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In my holistic days I used to be really down on cortisone shots. I have since been educated. Cortisone has a bad reputation that is quite undeserved. Cortisone shots can sometimes have a dramatic anti-inflammatory effect on tissues, particularly joints and tendons. If I am not able to quickly help someone with a well-diagnosed musculoskeletal condition, I will often send them out to talk to their doctor. Of course, you can’t do too many in the same area. It is either dramatically successful or you don’t go on much further. Cortisone is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland and is maintained in your bloodstream for a variety of reasons. Increased cortisone levels occur during times of physical stress. It is a steroid (like cholesterol, but not like an anabolic steroid that bodybuilders take…. it’s amazing how many people confuse corticosteroids with anabolic steroids). When used in moderation, cortisone injections can provide dramatic relief from severe pain, swelling and inflammation. Examples of conditions that are frequently treated with cortisone are: some kinds of back pain, shoulder bursitis, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), carpal tunnel syndrome, and trigger fingers. After such an injection, if the doctor was able to get the medication in the right area, people experience initial relief within minutes, which is the result of a local anesthetic, like novacaine, often given with the cortisone. This will wear off in about an hour. Pain in the area will then be felt as a result of initial tissue reaction to the injection, but this will generally respond to rest, an ice pack, and mild analgesics like Advil or ibuprofen. Relief from the true effect of the cortisone may take 24-36 hours to develop. Some individuals notice a warm or flushed sensation in their face, but this generally subsides as the cortisone dissipates through the system. This is not a sign of allergic reaction to cortisone. If, after 5-10 days, the treatment has not helped, this should be reported so that other treatment may be tried. There are a few contraindications to cortisone injection that make it off limits to some people, such as uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, infection, etc. There are also some rare complications that need to be considered. Cortisone shots for leg pain from a slipped disc in the lower back may offer temporary relief, but are ineffective after a few months. Patients with leg pain, called sciatica, seeking to reduce the need for back surgery to correct their disc problem don’t get much help from cortisone. Although they may temporarily offer a mild improvement in leg pain, it has no impact on level of disability, return to work, and chances of being operated on. Sciatica can result from compression of a spinal nerve by a disc that has slipped out of place in the lumbar region of the spine. When a nerve is being compressed by a disc, what may happen is pain in the leg, loss of strength — which is evidence that the nerve is compressed — numbness, and loss of reflex. Spinal corticosteroid injections have been used since 1953 for treating sciatica. Today, injections with the steroid compound methylprednisolone are used against sciatica pain almost all over the world. But nobody has ever shown conclusively whether or not it’s helpful, or how helpful it is. Of the 12 studies on the issue prior to this one, six suggested the shots were of no value. A new study, reported in a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that after three months, there was no help for these types of patients. In their report, the researchers note that the majority of people with sciatica pain eventually will get better over time. Only 10% to 15% will need surgery. The researchers conclude that treatment with spinal corticosteroid injections offers no significant functional benefit, nor does it reduce the need for surgery. Though not effective for this kind of slipped disc, the newer generation of cortisone is safer and more effective for many other conditions. If done correctly and for the right problem, it can cure you, instantly. It’s too bad some people skip right ahead to surgery. Of course, if you had a cortisone shot into your muscle tissue every day or bathe all of your  body tissues in it, such as when people have to take Prednisone pills for a long time, it would cause side effects. It has a lot of side effects. But it is only used like that in desperate situations. Cortisone is miraculously healing when used the way we normally use it. For acute cases, they give one big shot, and then progressively less the next day and the third day, and then on the fourth day, nothing. There are usually no side effects to this. It heals and cures everything from tendinitis to arthritis. Doctors also use a slow release method, where they mix it with something to delay its absorption, so it stays right where you want it – say, at your plantar fascia or a heel spur. It works until either it cures itself or you need the next shot. It can come back afterwards, but what happens is that once you have stopped the inflammation cycle, you can get long-lasting relief. Sometimes one shot will cure people. Sometimes it takes two or three, and sometimes it does not work over time. Then you can consider more aggressive options. Surgery is obviously a last choice for most problems. If my treatment is unsuccessful I will often send you off to talk to an orthopedist or other specialist. Prednisone is the same as cortisone. I mean, you take it for ten days when you are trying to treat something acute and inflammatory – whether it’s really bad poison oak or an acute flare-up of an autoimmune disease. Taking it for a long time will give you serious side effects. Same with cortisone – long-term = side effects, short term = sometimes a miracle. Long term, it can be a miracle, too, but you’ve got to understand what those side effects are. Speaking of cortisone, let’s talk about something related to it; stretch marks, that is. If you have them…you probably hate them. Lots of women and even some men get these unsightly ripples. Up to now, medicine has had little to offer. But now there are new treatments – which may not cure stretch marks – but can improve their appearance. It’s one of the inequities of fate. Not only does a pregnant woman grow to tremendous proportions over nine long months. After the delivery, she often has stretch marks as an added souvenir of her blessed event. Believe it or not, stretch marks are not caused by stretching but hormone changes, so you don’t have to have a baby to have stretch marks. Gaining lots of weight or taking excessive cortisone can result in extra ripples and ridges. Whatever the cause, they can make people self-conscious. For years medicine had virtually nothing to offer to treat stretch marks. But now we have several new ideas which aren’t exactly a cure, but can help make them less pronounced. One of them is Retin A. That’s right the same thing that can smooth lines on your face can help smooth your belly or your thighs. Early stretch marks when they’re still red can be treated with it. Research shows Retin A improved 80% of new stretch marks compared to only 8% with placebo. But when it’s too late for Retin A, now a pulse dye laser may be able to help. This particular device releases it’s energy at the most superficial vessels and then once ruptured new connective tissue is formed in the repair of that area. All of the lasers used probably only give you about 50% improvement which may not seem like a lot, but when you compare them to where you were, that’s a substantial improvement in appearance. Today, they’re tackling the broader, more difficult to treat stretch marks. The earlier you treat stretch marks, the better the results may be. Some of the older, wider bands may not improve, but most of the others will show significant improvement. So check with your dermatologist. Source: The New England Journal of Medicine (1997;336:1634-1640) — Kali On Line; http://members.xoom.com/arniskali/

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