Steroid Injections – Fast Relief from Pain but the Side Effects Can Be Scary

Steroid injections are used to provide relief from pain and other medical conditions where the need to deliver instant and localized relief is crucial. A steroid or cortisone is injected as an anti-inflammatory agent. The most commonly used steroid injections are dexamethasone, methyl prednisolone acetate and triamcinolone acetonide.

Cortisone is a type of steroid that is produced in the body naturally by the adrenal glands. Their actions however do not last for long. Injectable cortisone or steroid injections are synthetically produced but their composition is very similar to the type that is produced in the body. They are usually injected into the affected area and not into the blood stream. Synthetic steroid injections are designed to last longer and their effect remains for many days.

They do not relieve pain but instead reduce the inflammation leading to relief from conditions that create pain. Highly concentrated doses of the steroid medications are released into the affected areas. While they do provide immediate and long-term relief, there are a few serious conce
s of using them regularly. The injections can be painful, especially when they are given for conditions such as joint pains. To reduce the pain factor, some numbing medications such as Lidocaine or other such anesthetic drugs are often injected with the steroid injections.

Doctors use cortisone or steroid injections with a lot of caution because of known instances of their side effects. The most common side effect is cortisone flare, a condition where the injected cortisone crystallizes causing immense pain and discomfort for brief periods. Whitening of the skin in the area where the steroid is injected is another common side effect. Other more serious type of side effects includes infections. Diabetics may experience a slow increase in their glucose levels which they must look out for.

There are also instances of steroid injection creating allergic conditions in patients. The unsafe medical conditions that the steroid injection exposes to the patients are the reason why doctors use it only when it becomes absolutely imperative to provide relief to the patients from conditions of pain and inflammation.

Repeated dosage of steroid injections have shown conditions where the tendons are weakened and the cartilages become softer. The number of injections that a patient receives must therefore be kept to a bare minimum.