• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Steroid injection for calcific tendinitis?

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
I have chronic calcific tendinitis in my left shoulder, and the GP is suggesting that I get a steroid injection into the joint. I've a feeling I've heard a horror story of someone getting a six month ME crash due to one of those, although when I've asked about it in the fibro community, people have been positive. Does anyone know more about the risks? The tendinitis has been present on and off since 2010, so I doubt it's going away any time soon. I've also had calcific tendinitis in my right shoulder, but that was an acute case which only lasted a month and never came back.

Also, does anyone know more about why I should be getting calcium building up in my tendons to begin with? I'm fairly young to be getting it, early thirties.
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,427
Location
UK
Hello Calathea,

I am sorry to hear of your tendinitis.....................that is very painful.

I hesitated to respond as I don't have encouraging information to give you.

Just before I became severely ill for many years, I was given a steroid injection for bursitis under my big toe. It worked brilliantly................but I relapsed severely. It may just have been coincidence, but my doctor at the time said he thought the injection was responsible.

A few years ago, I developed De Quervain's disease (inflamed tendons under the right thumb). I couldn't use my right hand for 18 months, but refused a steroid injection for fear of exacerbating the ME.

For the past three years, I have very painful scarring alopecia and the treatment is multiple steroid injections into the scalp. The pain is very severe, but. when discussing it with my ME consultant (who is now retired, unfortunately), he said people with ME tend to do badly when injected with steroids.

I have a dim memory of reading that people with ME are prone to inflamed tendons. I wonder if that is true?

I'm sorry that this is not what you will want to hear, but it would not be right to withhold my experience.

Hopefully, others will be able to reassure you that steroids are not a problem and maybe my relapse just happened to be a coincidence.

I wish you well and a rapid resolution to your painful problem.

C.G.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
Why on earth are you apologising?! This is exactly what I want to hear, so that I can make an informed decision about the risk. Right now I'm leaning towards not doing it, and I think it's probably why I never chose to do it in the past. Being warned in advance is far better than going ahead and regretting it. I'm so sorry to hear that you've had such a rotten time of it, though. Being unable to use your right hand in particular must have been hellish.

Do you know more about how the steroids are meant to work? I know pretty much nothing about them, but I gather it's something to do with the immune system.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
Hmm. You've actually written in that thread that it made inflammation in your tendons worse. Anyway, it looks interesting, but way beyond my budget, I'm afraid.

I've been on Vitamin D supplements for years, prescribed by the doctor because my Vit D was low. They contain a lot of calcium. I've wondered about that, although I've been told it's irrelevant.

Right now it's looking as if I may just have to put up with it and hope the calcification doesn't get worse over the years.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
hi Calathea

Have you tried silica before? My tendon issues may not be as serious as yours but I got profound relief from taking Diatomaceous Earth and it is very easy on the budget.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
No, I haven't. Could you tell me a little about it?

Right now I am trying messing around with heat and cold. Although when I put the heat lamp on my shoulder last night, it helped, but when I did it today, it made the pain flare up for the first time all day! I haven't got as far as cold yet, I should go and raid the freezer for that rather crappy reusable ice pack thingy.
 

xrunner

Senior Member
Messages
843
Location
Surrey
Hmm. You've actually written in that thread that it made inflammation in your tendons worse. Anyway, it looks interesting, but way beyond my budget, I'm afraid.

Yes pure K2 made my joints much better but tendons worse. I have a particular problem with all fat soluble vitamins, not only k which but it's not related to calcium.
So I take k2 from nattokinase (it's the only supplemental form I tolerate) and diet http://www.westonaprice.org/fat-soluble-activators/x-factor-is-vitamin-k2
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
I'm afraid I got lost trying to read all of that article! If I can get natto locally, and I do have a small Chinese supermarket practically on my doorstep, any idea how much of it I should eat? What about miso? I hear that's a source of K2, and it's something I know I like, can get locally, and that works with healthy cooking.
 

xrunner

Senior Member
Messages
843
Location
Surrey
Have a look at figure 4 for sources of k2. It also shows that Natto has quite a lot of k2 in it. I don't know what an optimal portions would be. I guess it would also depend on how you react to it.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
Natto would be the one I'd go for, or miso if it turns out that it's also a good source (having trouble confirming that one but it looks likely). At the moment I am having breakfast consisting of a bowl of quinoa with a spoonful of miso and some margarine, and it's very tasty! I could probably handle having that for breakfast every day.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
No, I haven't. Could you tell me a little about it?

Right now I am trying messing around with heat and cold. Although when I put the heat lamp on my shoulder last night, it helped, but when I did it today, it made the pain flare up for the first time all day! I haven't got as far as cold yet, I should go and raid the freezer for that rather crappy reusable ice pack thingy.

hi Calathea


"silicon is an essential nutrient for the structural integrity and development of connective tissue."
http://www.wingspanartsintl.com/specials/strengthentissues2.pdf

Only after about a week of taking DE, I got substantial relief from a nagging painful tightening of my hamstring that I had been dealing with for quite some time. I could not attribute the relief I got from anything other than the DE that I started taking. Also have dealt with tendon issues in my wrists which kept me from weightlifting for awhile. I would back off lifting for awhile and then when I tried again, I would easily reaggrivate it. Been back weightlifting for a couple weeks now and so far, have not had any discomfort in my wrists.

I also found this interesting that apparently excess magnesium can deplete silicon. I used to supplement magnesium and also take a lot of epsom salt baths. So I don't know if that, atleast in part, what was going on with me, but I guess it's possible.....

"Likewise, excessive magnesium intake will increasingly inhibit silicon absorption, no matter how much silicon is supplemented, and at which point silicon will no longer be able to lower magnesium. Only by raising sodium or phosphorous levels, and decreasing magnesium and/or calcium intake, is it possible to raise germanium or silicon levels again, following the inhibiting action of phoshorous on calcium, and/or sodium on magnesium."

http://www.acu-cell.com/gesi.html

If you try DE, you have to make sure it is "Food Grade". It also works on your internal plumbing, so if you haven't addressed that in awhile, go slow to start with cause it's possible you could have some herx reactions.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
Could you be a bit more specific about the effect on the urinary tract, which I assume is what the "internal plumbing" euphemism was about?

Thanks for the info. Would you mind not editing the font size in future, though? ME has affected my eyes substantially.

I'm finding the article hard to read, but I note that it says that silicon intake is naturally higher in vegetarian diets. I eat a wholefoods vegan diet, with lots of cereals, fruits and vegetables, so it's probably fairly high for me. I can't see anything that discusses how silicon realtes to calcific tendinitis, am I missing something?
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Could you be a bit more specific about the effect on the urinary tract, which I assume is what the "internal plumbing" euphemism was about?

Thanks for the info. Would you mind not editing the font size in future, though? ME has affected my eyes substantially.

I'm finding the article hard to read, but I note that it says that silicon intake is naturally higher in vegetarian diets. I eat a wholefoods vegan diet, with lots of cereals, fruits and vegetables, so it's probably fairly high for me. I can't see anything that discusses how silicon realtes to calcific tendinitis, am I missing something?

hi Calathea

Sorry about that font size. When I referred to internal plumbing I meant more of cleaning out the colon. What effect it has on the urinary tract, I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you. Silica, supposedly like Vit K, also helps in making sure calcium gets in the bone where it belongs. As far as calcification deposits, it "may" help and I'll refer you to the responder to this post from curezone who I have noticed from time to time on there that he knows his stuff...

http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1462729

I'm not saying DE is the magic pill for you so to speak. Being that it's inexpensive which is a concern for you, it might be worth a shot to try.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
So by cleaning out the colon, do you mean diarrhoea?

As for calcium deposits, it may be worth pointing out reabsorbing the calcium is what is meant to cause the pain. This is what I was told when I had acute calcific tendinitis in my other shoulder, and the problem went away after a month. I don't know how it works with the chronic version.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
hi Calathea

I have not gotten diarhhea from taking it. It's MOA is more of scrubbing away the gunk of the colon walls. It's not a stimulant laxative like cascara sagrada would be.
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
It's a myth that there is gunk on the colon walls. They're covered with a layer of mucus, and nothing can stick to that. Thanks for the input, but I think I'll give this one a miss.

I've now heard from a few people with ME who said that steroid injections made their ME worse, and from plenty more without ME who said the pain relief only lasted a few weeks anyway. So now I can make the decision not to go for the steroid injections, which is all that I wanted to know. Thanks, everyone.
 

sianrecovery

Senior Member
Messages
828
Location
Manchester UK
Hi C
I also have calcific tendonitis, in my left shoulder. I have an issue with the lay down of calcium, which I assume is related to the genetic kidney abnormality I have, meduallary sponge kidney, which also means I have calcifying kidneys and kidney stones. I have some calcium deposits in my irises too. The other side of the coin is I have osteoporosis. Ultra sound of the shoulder shoulder showed multiple calcium desposits in the tendons, an impingement, and some pitting of the joint. My experience of the reabsorption came two months ago, I think linked to a physio session and maybe starting Plaquenil. It hurt like hell, and the shoulder froze for two weeks, no motion. I did icing, I did warmth, I took pain meds and antiinflamatory stuff like pyconogenol, rosehip, celedrin, and zylamend. I also alkasised my diet for a bit. The pain has substantially receded, but I still dont have full range of motion, and cant sleep on it. I'm told my alternatives are steroid injections, needling, when they stick a needle to try and break the deposits up, and surgery. I'm not rushing toward any of them. I think weighing up the steroid thing is hard - I had a low dose steroid treatment for a few months to get my adrenals up - but I guess if you have underlying infective issues caution is required because you are altering the immune balance, abeit temporarily.
Do let me know if you find a miracle cure...
 

Calathea

Senior Member
Messages
1,261
All I can tell you is that the first time I got it, it was in my right shoulder (I'm right-handed), acute, and the pain was beyond belief. With the pain scale I use, it was a 9 (a 10 is pain like having a hand crushed, the sort where you pass out shortly afterwards, and an 8 is childbirth, for reference). I ended up in A&E (that's ER to Americans), it was so bad. That lasted a month, a month of being stoned off my head on painkillers and unable to move my right arm or use it in the slightest. Once it was over, it was truly over.

With the left arm, the pain isn't as bad, though it's got up to an 8 at times. I've had episodes lasting a month at most, I've had several of them, and I only get minimal problems with moving the shoulder. So that one is chronic rather than acute.