Thanks for the link. It’s got the same info as the others, but also has the About your treatment section at the top that the others lack, which helps.
It still feels like it doesn’t correlate with what the doc said. This says “to relieve inflammation (swelling, heat, redness, and pain).” That’s bonus, but it doesn’t tell me how long it lasts, or if it’s a permanent effect on whatever it affects … also, it doesn’t seem to suggest that it somehow separates scar tissue from the ligaments the way the doctor said it would.
I just want to understand what I hope is a cure for my year-long ankle pain.
It depends. For my shoulder injury, I had inflamed tissue. The tissue was so inflamed that there was no room for it in the joint, so it was rubbing on its neighbors, which was irritating it even more leading to… inflammation!
Cortisone can reduce inflammation to the point where it stops that vicious cycle. So if it’s just a matter of putting an end to that cycle of “my inflamed tissue is getting inflamed because it’s inflamed” the effect can be virtually permanent. My shoulder is perfectly fine now because the inflammation went down enough for the injury to finally heal properly.
I’m guessing your doctor was trying describe something similar. You have inflamed tissue that’s taking up too much space and irritating neighboring ligaments and whatnot causing discomfort.
ETA: I’ve never heard of cortisone breaking down scar tissue either, so the above is my guess.
The above was pretty much my experience as well, I just didn’t have words for it til now. I had mild trigger finger a couple of years ago; I’ve been pretty pain-free since the shot.
I am in the middle if this right now with a shoulder issue, and stopping the inflammation is part of starting the healing and recovery process. Left to continue, the inflammation could create other problems, and I would bet that scarring might be one of them, which would create long-term issues even after the inflammation was stopped. So, getting inflammation under control won’t rid one’s body of scar tissue, but it will do much to ensure that scar tissue doesn’t form from a chronic and worsening condition – in this case the inflammation.
Since he gave me the shot in the “gutter” region of my ankle, the swelling has visibly decreased some, at least half of the swelling has gone away I’d say.
Instead of the pain presenting in the gutter region, it now appears at the very front of the ankle (about 1.5 inches counter-clockwise around the ankle from the gutter). I’m guessing that the swelling in the gutter has gone down, and now there’s inflammation or scar tissue in the other area.
He did not recommend cortisone for the Achilles tendon area - he said if necessary, he will operate there and scrape off the scar tissue.
