Cortisone Shots Not Working ?

[healy125]

Hi guys. I had cortisone shots in both my shoulders last Thursday for shoulder bursitis. Right now it is Monday and they have had no effect at all. Both shoulders are still in pain, and my right one is clicking like it has for the last month. My question is how long does it usually take for the cortisone shots to take effect? I knew the shots werent going to cure all my problems, but was hoping for some relief from them. It's been four days, is that enough time to call the shots a failure? The doctor said if they don't work, call him and I will have an MRI taken. Is it time to call him back or should I give it more time to kick in and take effect? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[beachguy498]

I've had a cortisone shot in my shoulder work almost immediately after, shoulder felt great for about a week. Then it wore off. And this was done by a meatball doc-in-the-box orthopedic my PC doctor sent me to. The next series I had done by a good orthopedic surgeon and they used ultrasound to do the multiple shots. It started to feel better after 5-7
days and lasted a while. I was in PT at the same time so its hard to isolate what the shots actually did.

I would give it a total of 2 weeks to take effect, which your doctor should have told you. Cortisone injections can also cloud up an MRI and I had to wait 3 weeks from my first one.

Rob