This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using the miracle drug, cortisone.
This paper relates that cortisone and its related sterols are used to treat various types of inflammatory reactions from extremely severe diseases to mild skin conditions. The author points out that Doctor Philip Showalter Hench discovered the drug, cortisone, for which he received a Nobel Prize of medicine in 1950. The paper stresses that, while cortisone shots deliver relief and return movement in most patients, those people who suffer from chronic disorders will only find temporary relief with the use of cortisone and will usually not experience a cure.
“Cortisone, which is often combined with lidocaine, a short-acting pain reliever, sometimes clumps into crystals and worsens pain rather than relieves it. Repeated shots can eventually damage skin and other tissues. Small amounts of cortisone injected into a joint can get into the rest of the body and have hormone-like effects that make diabetes harder to control. There is also the slight risk of the shots leading to an infection of the joint and while this will only occur to 6 people within 100,000 it is a very real concern. The account about the reaction of the medical profession would be incomplete without reference to speculations about how cortisone acts on the inflamed joints. As expected, all tried to integrate their explanation with some preconceived idea about the pathomechanism of the disease. Some saw it as a manifestation of the general adaptation syndrome.”