Steroid injections are for you if you have inflammatory arthritis, such as lupus, Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis is not as common as a degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis) and occurs due to an overactive immune system. Therefore, arthritis injections Dallas serves to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. You can always expect injections to treat symptoms and signs of your arthritis. But you may need other treatment solutions to tackle the underlying condition effectively, hence not requiring more injections.
Using steroid injections
There are different types of steroid injections for arthritis, including hydrocortisone. Some injections can relieve your pain within hours, with effects lasting approximately a week. The medication dissolves and spreads quickly inside your body and begins performing immediately.
Some other types of injections take about a week to relieve your pain. However, the treatments are more potent since the effects last a couple of months.
How quickly your pain is relieved and the effects last will also depend on your arthritis condition.
Although steroid injections are suitable for people of different ages, there is more caution regarding their use for young people. If the steroid injections are more than enough, that can negatively impact growth and development.
Administering steroid injections
Your health provider will talk with you and consider the type of steroid injection for you and the dosage. Symptoms and signs of your condition and general health, including blood sugar levels and pressure, are vital considerations. Your hypertension and high blood glucose can get worse when you receive a steroid injection for the first time.
Administration of steroid injections happens directly into a muscle, joint affected, or tissue adjacent to the affected joint.
Your doctor may need to carry out scans to identify the area with inflammation. Injecting steroids directly into the affected area often proves more effective. Furthermore, you may require local anesthesia to safeguard you from the pain and irritation of the treatment.
Once treated, your doctor may require that you spend a few minutes in the office or clinic so that if there is any adverse reaction, it can be dealt with accordingly.
Some types of inflammatory arthritis demand that your health provider searches for a long-lasting solution. Finding a treatment that solves your condition means you no longer require injections, which is good news if you have trypanophobia. Trypanophobia is the extreme fear of injections and needles.
When injections are not reliable
If dealing with an infection, your doctor can advise you against injections if it affects the treatment area.
Your doctor will try to limit the number of injections you can have within an area to about three every year. Studies have linked tissue destruction to excess injections.
There is also a possibility of avoiding steroid injections when your blood is not clotting normally. Your health provider will assess whether you are at risk of the injected body part bleeding more than expected. Furthermore, if you are taking blood thinning drugs, your doctor will perform tests to ensure the injection is possible without bleeding.
Visit JAM Wellness Clinics today at any of their locations for arthritis injections.