hi sorry that you are going through this because i have been through the same thing with both of my shoulders and had the cortisone shot and it made the pain worse but everybody is different. i ended up having to have surgery on both of my shoulders because of tears bone spurs and my left shoulder a portion of it never fuse together right and they kept tellin me it was fibromyagia. i couldnt take the mtx so i take arava and along with other meds. i only went through it because of insurance purposes of trying everything else first before surgery. im in the process of looking for another ortho doc thats a long story. but i hope you get some relief soon cause i no exactley what it feels like

I have been on methotrexate for 4 months and enbrel 6 months. My knee has been swollen and sore for the last 6 months. My doctor gave me a cortisone shot under the kneecap yesterday....funny, the lidocane shot(which is supposed to numb the injection of cortisone) hurt worse than the cortisone shot! BUT, it was only painful for about 5-10 seconds. I WOKE UP TODAY WITH NO DISCOMFORT IN MY KNEE. I can walk like i did before the RA hit me...yahooo!!! I say go for the shots! yes, they are not pleasant and can hurt, but if they work, the relief is fantastic!!!

I have also had the front and back of my knee drained 3 times with a cortisone shot behind my knee cap and directly in the space deep in the knee bend. My Rheumy used a freezing numbing spray which helped. I will say I couldn't feel the needle but the Cortisone burned pretty bad. He said it might hurt worse for 24 hours before it got better but by the next morning I had no pain. So far it has aided in delaying the need for surgery.

Now my thumbs are bothering me and he wants to inject directly into the thumb joints (yikes). I opted for the shot in the butt for now.

Hope it works for you :)

Before I was diagnosed with RA, I had several episodes of severe pain in my shoulders! I couldn't sleep, couldn't lift my arm and would cry with the pain. I got cortisone shots and within hours felt relief! As painful as it was (not that bad) it was worth it! It kept the pain away for a minimum of 6 months. I recommend it. I actually had to ask my orthopedist the last time for the shot. I would try it, you have nothing to lose except some pain. BTW they numb the area first, so it's not that bad, you just feel the pressure of the medicine going into the joint. My doctor advised me that if it's painful while the medicine is going in, it's because he is in the right spot and there is a lot of inflammation.
Good Luck, let me know how it works!
hugs, Christine

I had the bad shoulder pain also and got the shot in the butt.It helped incredibly.....Painful at the injection site for a day, but worth it!

If we can eliminate pain for periods of time and raise our quality of life,even if its brief, I think thats a win!...Good luck!

Hi had terrible shoulder pain with even more batwing arms where fluid built up from the "attack". My rheumy did both shoulders and I was able to finish my teaching year before quitting full time work because of RA. Prior to this had to get students to write my board work - had come on so suddenly too. This treatment worked and three years later no return of RA in the shoulders (of course it finds a new target...) Good luck.

Hi, I have had two cortisone shots in my knee. It did make them feel much better, but for the few seconds that the medication was going in I thought I was seeing stars.I have achilles tendonitis now and it is not resolving so on Monday I get a cortisone shot in my ankle. I am a big chicken when it comes to those shots so I hope I don't pass out, but I cannot take the pain anymore and have been hobbling around for the pastthree weeks on and off.

Kiddois right, the Lidocaine hurts like heck..Hope my Rheumotologist has some of the Lidocaine spray.

My doc did some strange combination of lidocaine and cortizone in the injection. It stung, but I thought it would have been worse. (For my knees). It made a huge difference though!

I have had cortisone shots in both of my feet. The lidocain was the worst part.

The instant relief was wonderful!

Thanks for eveyone's info on this. I did have the shot in my right shoulder today. She started with a numbing spray, and I hardly felt the shot itself at all. I'm a little soire noe but nothing too bad, and I'm hopeful that it will be feeling better soon. thanks again!