Like all medications, there are benefits and risks, but many doctors downplay, or don’t even tell their patients about the side effects of cortisone injections. I went to see my general doctor about a dull pain in my elbow. He diagnosed it as tennis elbow, which can be caused by repetitive movements or overuse, and said a cortisone shot will clear it right up.
My body didn’t react well to the cortisone, and what was a dull pain turned into multiple, daily, intense shooting pain lasting for months. If that doctor had told me the cortisone could potentially make the pain worse, which does happen, I would never have agreed to getting that cortisone shot. Since I had a bad reaction to cortisone injections, I refuse to allow any more cortisone to be injected into me no matter how persistent the doctor is. Doctors aren’t always right, and the treatment can sometimes be worse than doing nothing at all.