Steroid injection to the knee.

My husband has had that done twice. When the needle etc goes in it's quite painful, but for him anyway, the improvement came very quickly. He was able to drive afterwards. He's also had one in his spine - instant relief from pain.
I had one in my foot, and was able to drive straight away afterwards.
How long does the effect last? It varies - my doctor said "wait and see".

I was wondering about that too. Sorry. Not helpful for you tiredoldwoman. I was offered a steroid injection once in an effort to stave off TKR but didn't bother as the research evidence for improvement was equivocal.

I had one in my shoulder , didn`t hurt at all but didn`t work either ! Some people get very good results though x

My OH had three in his knees, at the time he had them he wasn't allowed to drive on the day, had to taxi him home. One helped for about two months but the other two didn't do much good. It seems to be a really variable result thing, I know others have been really helped by having them. Eventually he had half knee replacement on one knee and is now looking at having the other done.

I have had them in my knee, shoulder and hands. Some worked, some didn't.
I think you are advised to rest the knee after the injection, and refrain from driving as it disperses the steroid and lessons the effectiveness. .

Over time i have had two injections in my shoulder and two in my foot. You will be ok to drive etc immediately. Good luck. It will hurt a bit but worth a try.

Thank you for the mixed advice , no-one related a horror story so I'm going ahead with it this morning .
Marydoll, yes , I've to take the rest of the day and tomorrow off work to allow the steroid to work it's way and ' adhere to the bone'.
I'll use the precious time to get some Christmas wrapping done !

Good luck, the first time I had a steroid injection into my knee, I thought heaven had come as the following day I got out of bed easily and with absolutely no pain.
So definitely worth a try
Also I'm a dreadful baby with pain, was well worked up the first time but apart from a sensation of fullness it was really not bad at all.
Take care x

In my experience the injection isn’t very pleasant but you just get up and carry on as normal. The effect should be pretty well immediate as a doctor told me after giving me an injection that did nothing to improve my pain. It turned out the pain in my knee was referred pain and what I needed was a hip replacement. Be warned!

Good luck today. I'm sure you will be fine.
Focus on the success stories. If it doesn't work, at least you have tried.
Any steroid injections I have had are usually preceded by an an anaesthetic injection and I've had lots!

Do please let us know how you got on. Good luck!

I had steroid injection into my elbow for the relief of tennis elbow. I felt the benefit a few hours later, just as my GP had predicted. Marvellous treatment, I had it done twice.

I had a steroid injection in my shoulder. It didn't hurt but the following day I felt nauseous and lightheaded. Maybe I should have been advised to rest as others here have said.

Have just had this done , it wasn't painful at all , I walked out better than I'd walked in , due to the combined anaesthetic and steroid injection .
I've been warned that it might get painful tomorrow but I feel delighted by it so far !
Thank you everyone .x.

Good news! Thanks for letting us know.

GrandmaMoira, I'm glad you said that about feeling woozy after the steroid injection. I thought it was my imagination! The GP injected my right knee about six weeks ago and it had little effect, although he had previously performed magic on my shoulder. The rheumatology nurse did my left knee and drew off some fluid. That worked wonders but today it's really painful again.

Tiredoldwoman the best may yet be to come! I have had two in my shoulder. I had no effects, good or bad with the first one. The second was done under ultrasound guidance. Within a few days, not only had my shoulder improved, the rest of me felt 20 years younger, too! No aches and pains anywhere and I could just get straight out of bed in the mornings, no stiffness to contend with.

I almost wish I could have them all the time - no wonder people get addicted to steroids.

I am having injections in both knees on Monday. I have been told that they might not work as my knees are worn down to the bone so there is no or very little soft tissue left! But I have to try them as part of the process to get knee replacements in the future. I cannot have an operation on my knees for six months after the injections so will use that time to lose weight! When I last saw a consultant two years ago (privately as I have medical insurance) he said that at age 58, I was too young as he thought 70 was the best age! I am really incapacitated by the pain when I walk so cannot cope with food shopping, other than a quick trip to a corner shop, walking more than a few yards or gardening. So I am going along the NHS process and when I have ticked off every interim measure and knee replacement in the only option ( in six months hopefully), I am then going to go private! In the meantime I just get on with doing what I can, living on my own forces me to cope!

Back to the original question I was told not to drive for 24 hours as I am having both knees injected.

I hope you get my miracle on Monday - for the first time in years I slept without pain . I'm still limping this morning but it's out of habit and fear - doc says that my whole body's out of alignment but good posture will return . I feel full of hope and quite joyous about the future . I'll need to calm down though , I still need to rest the knee but I'm like a racehorse at a starting gate . I can't believe the change in me !

Wow! That's terrific. Enjoy the pain-free experience.

That's great news. Take it easy today and enjoy being pain free.