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knee pain

Should  I Have another cortesone shot in my knees? I am too young to have knee replacement.
Can you have surgery for bone spures arthroscopically?
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Avatar universal
I think the slippery stuff Vickey is talking about is Synvesc.  Is is made from Rooster combs. (Yep the chicken)  My mom is a big walker and was having lots of knee problems - had gotten to where she could not hardly walk at all.  Iver the last 5 years she has had 3 injections of this and in May she walked a 5K.  Might I mention she is 72 years old.  Recently they have come out with Synvesc One which is supposed to be longer lasting.  I have had knee problems that hurt really bad (OA)usually from Dec - April (cold months).  In Feb I got a cotizone shot in one of my knees and it felt better for about a month BUT this year once the warmer months came along my knee pain did not go away - glad to know what Vickey posted about it above.  I did not go back for another cotizone shot but when the cold weather gets here this year and the knee pain starts up again I will be going for the Synvesc. - Good luck.
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Avatar universal
I am sitting here minus my right leg from above the knee.  I had knee replacement surgery after they refused to fix the problem and caused me to spend 8 years becoming crippled and severely dependent on opiates.  I have been told by drs. that cortesone injections speed up the degeneration of the meniscus (cartlidge)  and help speed up the bone on bone situation that occurs when the meniscus is gone.  One of the symptoms of that is bone spurs developing where it is bone on bone.  So I would stress no.. I would not have had the three cortesone injections they performed on me after I had meniscus repair arthroscopic surgery.  With my case my post surgery pain was hanging on and the surgery that was supposed to fix the problem actually made it worse. Then came the cortesone shots and 3 months after they cleaned up the tear and did two injections I had no more cartidge left between the bones.

I am curious about how old you are and why the spurs are there.  I didn't develop the bone spurs until after it became bone on bone.  Is your meniscus still in tact, and if it is don't do the cortesone. If you are developing spurs for lack of meniscus you might want to inquire about the slippery stuff they inject into the joint that helps kind of lube the joint.  I think it last 4 to 6 months, is non invasive, and I haven't heard of it making things worse unless you happen to react to whatever the slippery stuff is( but I am pretty sure they can test you to make sure you aren't likely to have an allergic reaction to it.) I can't think of what that procedure is called but I am sure your drs would identify it for you and tell  you if it is applicable in your case.  
I have had 12 years of knee hell ending in an amputation and if I had someone warn me about all the pitfalls of some of their conservative treatments I would have made some majors changes in what I let them do.

Just keep in mind that your insurance tends to dictate what the drs are willing to do for you, and that is generally just what is cheapest initially for them. Also the insurance companies in their efforts to save a couple of dollars here and they have no problem refusing to pay for things you desperately need.  So be really careful and if you need to go out of pocket for an impartial second opinion that doesn't base your treatment protocol on your coverage, go ahead and splurge.  It is the only body you have and it really ***** to realize that you trusted the wrong dr. or procedure after it is too late to fix it.  

Good luck with your knee s.  

Vickey
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547368 tn?1440541785
Hello Bon,

Welcome to the Pain Mangement forum. I am glad that you have found us.  However I am sorry to heat about your knee pain. "Bad knees" run in my family and I understand how painful and debilitating knee pain can be.

Has cortisone been effective for you in the past? If it has not been they usually won't repeat them. As Sandee said the general rule is 3 in a year but I have know physicians that will perform 4. Sometimes they will inject the first two at two and three or four week intervals. Each physician has a different approach and reasoning.

Yes most bone spurs can be removed through orthoscopic surgery. You may want to discuss this with your surgeon.

Please keep in touch and let us know of your progress. I will be interested in learning what approach your physician takes and of course how successful it is for you. Best of Luck and take care, Tuck
Helpful - 0
356518 tn?1322263642
Hi Bon,
   I am sorry your in pain. Normally the injections are limited to three a year or one every three months as if you have any more than that the negative side effects become more troublesome.
I am not really sure if you can have bone spurs removed arthroscopically. I would assume so. have you had any removed before? Bone spurs can be very painful, what options has your doctor given you?
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