hi I have a prolapsed disc L4 and a tear in L3, plus arthritis in joints below.
Been in significant pain since November and currently tapering off tapentadol. Pain is in lower back plus some nerve pain.
I ask the NHS consultant I saw a few weeks ago about steroid injection and he said no point as it wouldn’t help. I saw a private consultant who said he thought it would help and offered to put me on his NHS List for it.
is there any negatives to having steroid injections other than it may not work?
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Autienotnaughty78
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You need to more thoroughly research this. I have shoulder problems arising from osteoarthritis. The right shoulder was dealt with by one steroid (cortisone) injection on 1/4/2022 by my GP. Problem solved and I've had no problems since.
Since then my left shoulder has continuously worsened to the point that I have had two more steroid (cortisone) injections, April 2024 and July 2024 administered by my same GP. Neither have worked and I've been told with steroid injections there is only one try left.... after that no more into the left shoulder. So far I've fought the continual pain with Cocodomol 30/500 in the hope that with warmer weather coming with Spring and later Summer it may settle down naturally.
All of which is no help to you at all but I thought I'd comment for your consideration anyway.
Hi I'm currently getting 2 injections a year for piriformis you are allowed 2 guided steroid injections in a year but need to keep doing exercises. Hope this helps
Hello. Back pain is difficult to live with. It makes you feel low and apprehensive about future worsening, doesn't it. I have spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis and spondilosis in L4/5 which led to sciatica as well. I had epidural cortisol injections and a caudal block given under sedation using xray and ultrasound in Nov 22 under Mr Shetty at the Whittington Hospital, London. The result was magic! I now live in West Wales where there are hardly any spinal surgeons. A team of 7 has reduced to only one in the hospital I attended. I was very pleased, however, that the remaining surgeon knows Mr Shetty and told me he is involved in the training of others in our area. I would recommend having this sort of treatment as it really helped me. It is something that needs repeating as it does wear off after a few months to a year. We're all different. I hope this information helps you to decide and that you get a good surgeon. With best wishes. AlideJ.
Similar issues in the back as you have L4-L5 and sciatica , I, too, get an injection once every 6 months. Oh my goodness, I could not function without these injections. They are wonderful. So yes, very helpful but also do not last forever. I think the back is so overused that these injections only last for months to a year. I am in the US, but I’m assuming we get very similar injections. Very very helpful, I agree. I’m hoping the original poster will continue to read these replies as I believe she could be getting some relief with these too.
pleased to read this post. I have spinal stenosis L3/4 and 4/5 with cauda equina. I’m due to have the injections in two weeks. This gives me hope. Thank you
Further to the above...you ask about negatives. I was frightened after the procedure that I was completely numb in the saddle area with no urinary control. This was simply due to local anaesthetic, like you have at the dentist, and wore off by the end of the day. Noone had told me to expect this and you can imagine I thought the worst! There...you have been told.
I had a car accident in 2006 when I was 61 and for particular reasons needed steriod injections after that. My experience they helped tremendously. I was recommended to the pain clinic in my area rather than hospitals. Here hospital only do caudal epidurals which for me only worked for a couple of weeks. At the pain clinic they do a caudal epidural first to see if it works, after if it doesnt they do Selective Nerve Root Injections which has worked better for me now I am older as my back has deteriated with age. I dont know about shoulders as mine is a back problem. My only negative thing is that my skin has become thinner, I have been told that the steroid injections cause this.
Yes, I was on steroid injections for years. Since you only get them every 3 to 4 months, when I went to the eye doctor, I neglected to include them on my current medications taken. Because of this my glaucoma became unmanageable with drops and I needed laser surgery for the high glaucoma pressure. The procedure was supposed to lower the numbers by up to 30%. Unfortunately, the surgery had no effect at all. Then when my doctor stated that she couldn’t understand why the numbers didn’t lower because according to my medication list I wasn’t on steroids, I realized I hadn’t included the shots. I went off all injections, had a full reverse shoulder replacement and now take oral medication. 1 Meloxicam am 1 Gabapentin pm and hydrocodone as needed. So far it has helped tremendously. I also lost the extra 15 to 20 lbs the steroid injections caused me to gain.
I also have herniated L4 & 5 and herniated and torn L5 & S1 following a mountain bike injury in July last year. I have been in extreme pain, nerve pain, from my back across my right buttocks and down my right leg, including numbness in both heels. I had 2 epidural steroids into the L5 & S1 in August and October. The first gave me some relief as I was also prescribed Pregabaline (nerve blocker) at the same time. The 2nd gave me limited relief for a couple of weeks. Following that my muscular skeletal specialist gave me 2 steroid injections into my sacroiliac joint thinking this is where the pain was coming from in December. These gave no relief at all and I am now seeing a spinal orthopaedic surgeon. The additional down sides of the steroids apart from it being hit and miss if they work, are the weight gain they cause. The other drug causes blurry vision.
Hi, I suffer with severe pain in lower back and sacroiliac joint dysfunction, I have had steroid injections, some did work, but I've also had radio facet denervation procedures, they do tend to give more relief for longer,
I had a steroid injection about 2 years ago for sciatica and it immediately helped my pain.
Sometimes the pain would manifest differently (sometimes I’d have what felt like hot water being poured on my leg) but apart from that it’s been great.
Might be different for people but it really worked for me.
I have had a problem with my L4-L5 disc for nearly 3 years now. I have had 4 operations but each time at about 6 weeks post op the disc prolapses some more.This time my surgeon has said that he is worried that he will do more damage than good if he operates again due to the disruption of the anatomy from previous ops.After nearly 5 months of living on Morphine the pain is finally going , but I am due to have a steroid injection plus a repeat denervation of the nerves to my facet joints in the lumbar vertebrae. I have had a steroid injection before and it did give me relief for some time.
My advice to you is to have the injection and see what the results are.It appears to be a relatively simple technique with few risks. If it works it will be great and if it doesn't you will not be left wondering whether it could have worked. I wish you all the best which ever you decide.
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Steroid injections 
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Epidural spinal steroid injection, and weight gain
