Steroid Injections - Hormonal Effects

Corticosteroid injections are often used for pain relief as a treatment option when other conservative treatments have been ineffective.

• Corticosteroid injections are fairly simple to perform and the risk to benefit ratio is usually very favorable.

• Commonly documented side effects are infection, tendon damage, skin changes, allergic reaction and transient increase in blood glucose.

• Less commonly documented side effects are hormonal changes in women which can effect both the timing of menses as well as the length of menstruation and amount of bleeding that occurs.

• Some evidence has been shown that the disturbance in menstruation in premenopausal women having corticosteroid injections can be as high as 50%.