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In a nutshell * Steroid injections were associated with faster arthritis progression compared to no treatment or hyaluronic acid injections * Hyaluronic acid injections showed signs of slowing disease progression while still providing pain relief * Both treatments reduced pain, but only steroid shots were linked to concerning structural changes on MRI scans ============================================================ SAN FRANCISCO — Getting a cortisone shot for knee arthritis might provide quick pain relief, but new research reveals a troubling association: those steroid injections may be linked to faster joint damage over time. A surprising study found that patients who received corticosteroid injections showed more...

It's been a full 90 years since Dr. Philip S. Hench and his colleagues from the Mayo Clinic discovered cortisone can be effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Cortisone was first prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis in 1949, or 70 years ago, after it was first produced commercially by Merck & Co. in 1948. In the seven decades since, hundreds of millions of people around the world have had cortisone shots for short-term pain relief and to reduce the swelling from both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Worldwide, corticosteroid injections into the hips and knees remain a common treatment for patients...

TAU discovers a quick injection can prevent PTSD in 60% who experience trauma When a person suffers trauma, the body naturally increases its secretion of cortisone. Taking this natural phenomenon into account, Prof. Zohar set out to discover what a single extra dose of cortisone could do, when administered up to six hours after test subjects experienced a traumatizing event. The results, which will be published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology in October 2011, indicate that the likelihood that the patient will later develop PTSD is reduced by 60 percent.

Not too long ago, a man in the UK pulled 13 of his own teeth rather than live in agony because the National Health Service didn’t have a dentist to treat his chronic teeth problems. His fellow Brits won’t have the option of using a pliers on their backs after the most recent rationing decision by the NHS. In order to save £33 million ($55.6 million), the British single-payer system will no longer give cortisone shots for nonspecific back pain despite the effectiveness of the treatment:

In the 60's to 1989 research into tryptophan grew rapidly, millions used it for depression. In 1989, a contaminated batch forced the FDA to pull tryptophan off the US market, never to return. This destroyed all research into this critical amino acid and cleared the way for pharmaceutical drugs and billions of profits for them. I am asking the question, why do so many drugs work on the tryptophan oxygenase (pyrrolase) pathway? We have antidepressants (all classes). Related articles; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7126996 And here; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1826617 Then we have alcohol; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10721064&query_hl=9 Then we have asprin; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7082905&query_hl=15 Nicotine, morphine, phenobarbitone http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=989&query_hl=17 then we have...