Hi there,

Thanks for your reply. I have read up that it can go either way. Sometimes cortisone is very effective other times not so much. Is there a way to determine if there is inflammation around the nerve root before getting an injection? I'm keen to wait and see to let it resolve. My physio does a lot of dry needling work which helps a lot and plus most of the referred pain has been reduced quite a bit. I'm almost pain free which is a good thing. I guess with my first injection, we went down the diagnostic route. If the injection worked, then it was obvious that there was inflammation around the biceps sheath even though it didn't show up on the ultrasound.

Also do you think that a cortisone injection would be the next step before considering taking drugs like endep or lyrica? I'm not keen about taking either one of the drugs because of the side effects and really I'm not up for feeling like a zombie all day long and I know that it is very hard to come off them once you start. If you have any insights about patient's experience with these drugs I'd be interested in hearing about them too. Even if I got to the stage where I had to consider taking them, I still don't think that it would change my treatment plan. I'd still need physio as per usual to mobilise the thoracic and work on the neck and shoulder.

Cheers.