cortisone shot woohoo!

Yes, the time finally came for me to get my first cortisone shot. I have had achilles/ankle pain for several years now ... My doctors and I have always thought that I had achilles tendinitis, however now we think it may be something different because the pain is not directly at my achilles - it is more towards the side.

So last Friday I got an MRI and then a cortisone shot right after. The shot itself did not hurt as much as I thought it would. It felt like a painful acupuncture needle when they twist the needle around in your skin to find the pressure point. All the doc did was put a numbing spray on the surface of my skin, and then he shot me up. At first my foot was just numb, but a few hours later I could not walk - literally. So I wore a boot for two days to help me walk. It has been a little over 50 hours since I got the shot, and I can officially walk! Word of advice to anyone getting this shot: make sure to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Actually I'm not too sure about compression, but definitely ice and take IB Profin.

Quick facts about the cortisone shot: It is a steroid injection. Cortisone is a naturally-occurring steroid from the adrenal gland. The shot is synthetically produced, however, but it is very similar to the one our body makes. All the shot does is act as an anti-inflammatory. It does not fix the problem.