Anyone ever had cortisone injections

[Mr I]

While I'm very healed relatively. I've still got latent sciatic issues of sciatica when standing fir long periods or seating in certain oositions and stiffness in my back.

[Bouncer]

I tried it once or twice but my issue was muscle spasm causing restriction on nerves so it didn't help much. I've heard that the best way to use the injection is in conjunction with therapy. The injection giving you the temporary ability to do more things during therapy that would have been painful without. Basically mask the pain with injection while you fix the problem with therapy. Injection alone will not solve problem.

[Mr I]

I got my MRI scans back which show significant degenerative disk disease (basically the disks between vertebrea are empty and thin). It's quite common but clearly three months ago they produced some inflammatory output hence all the pain. Seem to be headed for epidural injections but I'm not sure I'll need them the way things are going. Also some small stenosis of the spinal canal(essentially a narrowing either of the canal column or at lower lever something protruding into it which in my case may be enlarged facet joints). I'll wait to see the spinal consultant for a full debrief. But I think it's the stenosis thar caused the pain and in with that reduction of cavity it can press on the sciatic nerve at the base, the cortisone injection into the area would reduce the swelling of the nerve and thus create more space and less impingement by treating the nerve instead of messing with bone/solid white tissue and would be the logical next step to avert the need for surgery to widen by extraction of said white tissue.

[Bouncer]

In the meantime be careful with your training brother.

[Mr I]

It's funny for both conditions the recommendation for the sedentary mortal is to begin a controlled weight training and activity regime to grown muscle and support the skeletal.

But yea I'm going real careful until I know exactly what the score is.

O tell ya one thing, the tightening and issues all seemed to start when I took out gh and reduced food intake. I guess I forgot to lower the weight too lol

[Mr I]

Number one cause of back pain is...

Stress

I've had ddd for a good while and tbf everyone gets it at some point just like wrinkles. Usually occurs in 30's or 40 though. Like I say I think the stenosis us the real issue and I just need to find out exactly where the issue us. I think it's the fact joints that have grown bigger and begun to impinge by which can be operated /shaved reshaped but we'll see. If I can avoid surgery for now I rather would.

[Mr I]

Facet Joints Video

[Bouncer]

You might be onto something with the GH and how it got worse when you came off. Maybe the fluid it forces into the joints or some shit when your on giving a false impression of feeling good and than when you come off GH that fluid goes away and your left feeling all fucked up.

I've been dealing with muscle spasm and nerve impingement in upper mid back for years so trust me bro, I know the pain that it can cause and the effect it has mentally. Keep training in a smart way that will help support the area. Things like deca,GH,ibuprofin are your friends. Posture, this one is huge for me. My pain is much worse when im hunching over a computer all day. Forward head posture fucks us up more than we know brother. More than anything keep the mind clear and positive. When I'm thinking negative and I get depressed and feel shitty my physical pain is far far worse.

I know we don't have the exact same issues but regardless, the same rules apply. I'm with ya bro, lets not turn ourselves into fucken ronnie! :D

[Mr I]

That's useful and certainly some parallels. It's been a real learning curve for me.

When all is said and done I have a strong suspicion that 10iu of gh a day combined with aas would probably yield the same benefit as a shot of cortisone.

But you can't live the supraphysiologycal life forever and something tells me it's time to understand my body in a more natural state. I'm nearly 40 and without question at about 10% body fat loaded and training regular people think I'm 30. But the reality is im nearly 40 and have a body that's been lifting or competing high level sports early on since 11 yrs old so i have significant wear and tear; cartilage missing in places, disks defenetated etc.

I was pressing 120lb dumbells tonight on shoulders where I used to do 155lb but at least I'm training again and getting some benefit.

I'll see what the next three months bring and probably take the epidural shot before deciding what to do from there

[Mr I]

Counter intuitive to the usual "drugs are bad" logic. I now think it's actually fucking dumb to train balls out unless you are fully hormonally and nutritionally supported

[Bouncer]

155lb db Shoulder presses is nuts.

[Scrumhalf]

What he is talking about isn't muscular. Stress causes muscular tightness. I suspect that many years of going very heavy with the weights is the root cause of the degenerative spinal condition. When you put 400lbs on your back for squats or 600 lbs for deadlifts or 150lbs for db presses, the spine is supporting all that weight. To validate this, you need to look no further than Ronnie Coleman.

[Bouncer]

I'm aware. Muscular tightness however has more causes then just stress. Can be a response by the body to an underlying problem.

[Mr I]

What he is talking about isn't muscular. Stress causes muscular tightness. I suspect that many yiears of going very heavy with the weights is the root cause of the degenerative spinal condition. When you put 400lbs on your back for squats or 600 lbs for deadlifts or 150lbs for db presses, the spine is supporting all that weight. To validate this, you need to look no further than Ronnie Coleman.

To be fair, on speaking with the osteo surgery consultant, the majority of people in their 30's have either degenerative disk disease or some bulge. In most cases however it goes un noticed because the transition is gradual and doesn't shock the body into throwing out warning signals and the typical inflammatory and protective spasming that occurs in that case.

What me and Bouncer are talking about isn't the underlying state so much as the dramatic change in the body's realisation when you pull out off aas or gh which was otherwise potentially causing some form of cushioning or masking.

I remember years ago when I decided to come off aas all together and did for two years. The first thing that hit me and that I had to continually battle was the sheer pain I was in and the trapped nerves and knots in muscles that occurred when I tried to do my usual stuff albeit lighter like behind neck press for example would leave me with a knotted trapezius for a week needing physio.

In my case I've dropped from test, mast or primo and gh to just low dose test. What I'm wondering is whether simply taking out the gh, over six months ago has left me with less "space" for want of a better word between white tissue causing more grating and inflammation.


It comes to something when you have to chose between the societaly acceptable catabolic intervention of cortisone and the sexier but probably equally effective and physique enhancing hgh, but honestly thays where I feel like I'm at.

I'm also suggesting that this eutopian concept of being natural and training really hard can yield great results is bullshit at my stage. Frankly for me to try and train as frequent and as hard at this point without gh let alone off aas, would probably be the most destructive thing I could do to my body.

I have some decisions to make because as I said I cannot continue super human forever but I'd like to think I can gave a good healthy and strong body without needing to be on loafs of shit. It's not nice feeling dependent.

I need to transition and this point in life is as good as any so fir now ill grin and bare it as I do seem to be improving week by week. Slamming in 10iu of gh ed would feel like some giving in and delaying a problem or masking it for a later date.

I need to get to understand my body.

I've already stopped smoking and cut back on sugar, both inflammatory, started fish oil and tumeric. So making die try changes too

[Mr I]

155lb db Shoulder presses is nuts.

I was doing that every week bro, I e also do e heavier, strangely I have no shoulder issues at all.