Desperate Patients With No Choices: Drink Dove To Quench Thirst. Cortisone Shots in A Consumer's Eyes

“Cortisone shots for pain, no benefits but harms. A therapy pales in comparison with a bottle of snake oil.” I posted this article earlier in my Newsletter: Truth of acupuncture science.

The Clinical Value of Cortisone Shots

In my post, I cited American medical doctor Ross Hauser's article, which summarized the harms from cortisone shots based on the most recent researches:

• Corticosteroid?increases knee cartilage?destruction.
• Cortisone injections increase the risk of joint surgery.
• Cortisone injections increase the need for secondary surgery and possibly higher risk for post-surgical infections in the joint.
• Corticosteroids can alter the healing environment of the joint by effecting damage on the native stem cells in cartilage.

Dr Hauser believes that “there is no doubt that the rise of osteoarthritis, as well as the number of hip and knee replacements, is a direct result of the injection of corticosteroids into these joints” .

Based on his extensive literature review, Dr Hauser concluded:

• Cortisone has a harmful effect on soft tissue healing by inhibiting blood flow to the injured area, suppressing new blood vessel formation, suppressing the growth of immune cells like leukocytes and
• macrophages, preventing protein synthesis, fibroblast proliferation, and ultimately collagen formation.
• Cortisone inhibits the release of growth hormone, which further decreases soft tissue and bone repair.
• Cortisone weakens collagen and therefore soft tissue such as ligaments and tendons.

A Consumer's Viewpoint

After reading this post, Lindy Bostrom, a natural health & wellness related web design & marketing expert, raised question to me. Her question is a vivid reflection of how a lay consumer is viewing how our medicine is performing in pain management.

I cite the Q & A between Lindy and me as below.

Lindy:

What is the alternative? Since you're an acupuncturist, am I to assume that this is the solution?

These injections, while destructive, do provide temporary pain relief and give people the ability to move and reduce the debilitating stress of constant pain.

For some, this is worth the cost when they know of no alternative.

Medicine in 1970s – 2020s

Brook:

Hi, Lindy, thank you very much for sharing your insight and questioning. This post has no intention to discuss "alternative" issues (I will do it later). This post wants to confirm a fact, a very ironic fact in modern medicine, a fact remains unchanged in the last 40 years from 1970s to today 2020s.

In 1970s, “Medicine's treatments for diseases are seldom effective, and that they are often more dangerous than the diseases they're designed to treat.” As criticized by Robert Mendelsohn, MD, in his "Confession of a Medical Heretic" (1979).

In 2020s, “Medicine has yet to come up with a more useful drug than morphine; without it, few would have the heart to practise the profession.” As viewed by medical doctor Seamus O'Mahony in his book “Can medicine be cured?” (2020).

Are Alternatives Available?

I highly appreciate your insight and questioning about what is the alternative. For possible alternatives, you may want to read this post of mine to find a hint: The End of Modern Medicine: The Possibility to Restore Its Golden Age with Magic Bullets https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/end-modern-medicine-possibility-reset-its-golden-age-magic-cheng

You may also want to read another post to find out the possible alternatives:

Will AI Turn 80% of Medical Doctors Jobless? No Worry, It Won't Beat A Clinician Armed with Magic Bullets https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/ai-make-80-medical-doctors-jobless-worry-way-get-out-brook-cheng/

You will further note that there are too many alternatives which are more effective and less harmful compared to cortisone shots. For example, the alternatives for osteoarthritis treatments:

Osteoarthritis Pain: 153 Therapies, The Best One? A 2022 Review of Cochrane Reviews https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/osteoarthritis-pain-153-therapies-best-one-2022-review-brook-cheng-vpxwe

Drink Dove To Quench Thirst

The fact you observed that "Cortisone shots do provide temporary pain relief and give people the ability to move and reduce the debilitating stress of constant pain. For some, this is worth the cost when they know of no alternative" is a confirmation from consumers' side that the current medicine provides no net benefit to human beings at all in dealing with pain. The end results is what you observed:

Drink dove to quench thirst: desperate patients with no choices.

No wonder British medical doctor Erika?schwartz wrote ( November 13, 2015 ) in the Daily Mail: “Don't let your doctor kill you!” “Modern medicine doesn't train them to see patients as individuals” (Erika Schwartz, 2015).

Work Together: Clinicians & Consumers

I understand you are an expert in web design & marketing expert for natural health & wellness business. Lets work together toward finding a way to change the current medicine into one that is remarkably and reliably beneficial to our human beings including you and your loved ones, and me and my family members.

So no more “drink dove to quench thirst” in the future. Again thank you for providing your penetrating insight.

References

Hauser R, Alternatives to cortisone shots: Updated reviews of corticosteroid options. December 23, 2022

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