Hi, has anybody had a steroid injection to dampen down inflammation and then have it swell straight back up again? Im so depressed, my knee is so swollen its disabling me . When this has happened before, aspiration and a steroid injection has sorted me right out, I've never had it not work before.. ...has this happened to anyone else and what did you do to for further treatment? NB Im on Sulfasalazine already, have been for years and it normally keeps my arthritis in check.
Thank you 🙂
Over the years I’ve had a number of steroid injections in a number of joints. About 30 years ago I was regularly having my knees drained (about 1 litre a time) followed by the injection. This happened roughly at the same time as one of my then drugs becoming less effective and in fact stopped working completely. This put me in hospital for 6 weeks. I was on bags of steroids - drip absolutely fantastic - and gradually put on MTX 22.5 (9 tabs).My core drugs are the trio MTX, alendronic acid & hydroxychoroquine. On to- of that folic acid, pred . Before Dec ‘19 I was also on sulfasalazine 2x 500mg morning and another drug the name of which I have forgotten. But because I had been admitted to icu and was in a coma for several months they stopped some of my arthritis drugs in particular MTX and Sulf . When I came out in March I had few symptoms of my arthritis so the MTX and sulf weren’t restarted. However once back on my feet the MTX was restarted but only 15 mg more recently I have been having further pain and swelling issues so this week I have been restarted on Sulf gradually increasing it back to what it was.
So I’m not a medical person but it sounds to me as if you need a rheumatology review.
Do you by any chance have a rheumatology help line. Ask if you can have an appointment with the nurse specialist / consultant as they tend to be easier to get an appointment with and tend to be more consistent with their advice and can fast track you if needed.
If you can see light at the end of the tunnel that will help with the depression but it may worth seeking support with that. In my early days I was suicidal with the rapid onset of the disease and that was over 40 years ago. I have never gone down the drug route for that though.
We take enough damaging drugs as it is.
Finally we are all different and what works for one isn’t necessarily good for another and these days there are so many new treatments.
I too recently had an injection that immediately caused a flare and never brought me any relief. And I was in desperate need of relief at that time. My face got all red and triggered my rosacea to return, my blood pressure shut up and I swelled all over. When I called the office upon returning home, they said that he did use a new brand called Kenelog. Six months prior I had a shot and it was like a miracle. I felt the pain leave my body and it stayed away 3-4 months. And then this and I’ve been miserable since. Find out if you can, if you possibly had the same brand. Best wishes for better outcomes.
