I have athritis in my lower back and it is a new thing for me.The pain goes down my leg and in my hip. Dr said the shots will help w the pain.I do exercise and am in great health, other than the back ,lol. Just wondering about other peoples experience.

I've had back pain come & go for many, many years. My pain goes down my leg & even out my toes with some episodes. A few years back, I woke up one morning & could not get up to go to the bathroom. I ended up in hospital where they gave me an epidoral in my spine. The exercise is very important. I am worse in the winter when I'm not doing the bending & stooping when working in my garden. I discovered that Aleve is the only over the counter pain releaver that works on my back. Even though I resist taking any drug, it is better to get it under control before it gets too bad.

Good News/Bad News: I have never had the cortizone shots, but know people that have. I understand that they "hurt like hell" but help tremendously.

I've tried the cortizone and epidural steriods both 3 times and no help whatsoever. Mine is degenerative disc disease, I tried physical therapy and several different pain management therapies, the only thing helping is methadone twice a day and moderate exercise.

I had them and they helped. they even numbed the back area first so I didn't have the pain from the shots :wink:
But everyone does get different degrees of relief. In my opinion it can't hurt to try it , if it works GREAT , if it doesn't work you have lost nothing .
Good Luck :thumbup:

I take aleve too I also have celebrex. I dont take it very often as aleve works pretty good. I am taking prednisone now, 6 pills then 5 then 4 untill done. It has gotten rid of the inflamation that was causing the pain. so hopefully (fingers crossed) I wont have to have a shot just yet! Thanks for the comments.

A nurse friend told that cortizone weakens the bones.
I had shot in my foot - hurt was bad. Check with circopractor he told the name of vitiam to help with the
inflamation in foot. Aleve is what the doctor told my husband to take for arthritis in lower back. Take two
Aleve at first start of pain.

Hope you feel better.

Not in my back, but I have had shots in both ankles and in my right wrist. The shots I had in my ankles had very little pain, the doctor did an awesome job. The problem is they helped for about 2 weeks and then nothing. The shot in my wrist hurt like you wouldn't believe. When the doctor was finished he said "boy you are tough!" I guess you are supposed to scream or cry or somethig. I just wanted to kick hime someplace painful. It helped, but it was not worth the pain of that shot.
Hope you find relief!

I havn't had them in my back but have had a total of 7 in my right shoulder and 3 in the left. They don't seem to work real well for me. I wonder if I am immune to them!!! My Dr. keeps trying, I am possibly getting another into the AC Joint in my right shoulder in about 2 weeks, that one is murder!!!!

I got one in the lower back and it caused me to have a period for 37 days straight.