I've had the series of symvisc injections in both knees. I never heard of hyaluranon so I googled and saw it's the generic form of symvisc. The symvisc did nothing for me, but some people have had better results and anything's worth a try, I guess. I get the cortisone injections and they help a little for a while. I really need the joints replaced, but I keep putting it off. Because the symvisc is a thicker serum, I must warn you the needle is larger than the one used for cortisone. Not fun.

Is this the "gel" stuff that is suppoed to mimic the natural fluids in the joints? If so, I have friend who is getting them. She said she didn't feel much difference to begin with but hopes the next round will show impovement. She still gets the cortisone as well.s

I had Synvisc injections. About 10 years ago I had a series of three shots at one week intervals. I did feel some relief. Then I repeated the series 3 years ago and there wasn't any improvement. I knew before the last series that there was a good chance that they would be ineffective but I hoped for some improvement.

They are more effective if you do not have advanced osteoarthritis which I have. In fact I'm going to see the orthopedic surgeon in one month and then we'll schedule knee replacement.

I did not experience any pain from the needle. There was a momentary odd sensation as the fluid accumulated inside the knee joint which quickly went away as the fluid dispersed within the area. The needle is quite thin.

I never had them, but my DH did, and they really didn't help. I haven't had them because my ortho doc says that if your knees are close to or at bone on bone (as mine are), experience shows that the injections don't really help. They are better for folks with less serious cartilage loss.

Cortisone shots helped me a lot the first time - lasted 9 months or so, but the next time the benefit lasted less than 2 months, so no more of those. I just walk around and put off having knee replacements.

DH just had his first knee replacement 4 weeks ago, and that has convinced me to wait until I have to crawl to get around before I go that route.

I've had them and they helped at first then when the joints were totally worn out they didn't work anymore and a knee replacement was the only course of action. If you aren't bone on bone they should work. If you have a skilled doctor he'll give them quickly and the pain will be quick and minimal. Yes, they hurt, it's a needle, what can I say?

I do have advanced OA in rt knee (left knee not quite as bad in xrays or IRL), but cortisone still works for 6-8 months. I usually wait until I'm in "crisis" mode (typically after a bad couple of rounds of golf) before getting another cortisone shot. I'm not worried about pain from the injection; I'm worried about the potential ineffectivess of the hyal. series when I've done well with the cortisone. Think I'll just continue w/cortisone. When that stops working (which will be when I'm crawling like les), I'll deal with replacement surgery.

Thanks all for IRL comments!

Java

java, remember now, the cortisone is damaging the tissue and joints with each injection.

hiwthi - can you give some more information about cortisone damaging the tissue and joints? I haven't heard that.

There is a ton of information on the subject, here is just one link. Talk to your doctor about it, he/she can explain it to you much better than I can.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Would these alternative injections work for a severely arthritic knee that has no cartilege left and a bone spur??

My dr. hasn't mentioned anything, they gave me a cortisone injection once, and it really didn't help, primarily because my knee is bone-to-bone. However, I did notice that when I had to take a round of prednisone, my knee felt amazingly better. But I'll never get another cortisone shot...far too hard on the body.

Pesky, as I said above, my ortho says the injections are NOT effective for people who are bone on bone. Better for people with no worse than moderate cartilage loss.

I forgot to mention that the one thing that DID help was an MRI. I was having increasing problems with my right knee, and the doc had also been tracking a calcification in the area above the knee cap. He said that had to be checked out before I could have knee surgery, because should that be malignant, treatment of that had to be done first. Well, duh!

So he sent me for an MRI. Within a day of the MRI, my knee was better than it had been in months - and stayed that way for months. Either it was the magnets from the MRI, or I scared it into behaving by thinking about surgery. LOL

It has made me wonder if some of the stories about magnets helping could be true.

**Bonking self on forehead** Les, I see you did address that! I blame it on the cat who was standing in front of the screen...yeah...that's it....the cat.

I've tried the magnetic braclets and anklets, but didn't get relief. But my BIL has used a bracelet on his arthritic wrist and swears by it. Perhaps the MRI magnet was strong enough to help? Couldn't imagine lugging a machine like that around!

I am bone on bone and cortisone DOES work for me, which is why I'm hesitant to switch to a different method that is also just palliative. I have no joint cartilage in my rt knee and almost none in my left knee.

Ads for self-promoted products leave me skeptical. "Cortisone turns off the cells that maintain healthy joint cartilage."

Cortisone is location specific (area of influence depends on amount of inflammation) so a knee injection will not affect cartilage in other areas of the body. Cortisone signals white blood cells to stay out of the area. White blood cells trigger inflammation-caused fluid build up (not sure I'm saying this right, but white blood cells=inflammation=excess fluid; knock out the white blood cells and the process stops). Cortisone effectiveness wanes over time (rate depends on level of activity). I get one shot every 9 to 10 months and I'm good to play golf, exercise at the gym and (sigh) go to work every day.

According to most people I've heard from, once the cortisone shots stop working for the knees, the other palliative care regimes are also not effective.

I wish an MRI would alleviate my knee problems but the last one in November only proved once again that I'm lucky to still have the cortisone work for me!

Cortisone suppresses your immune response, so while it suppresses the inflammatory response, it mostly just masks the symptoms, since it does't treat the source of the problem. My mothers knee would be black because she was grinding bone to bone, but she could walk on it. In her case she was beyond the point where joint replacement was inevitable, and the second knee was so far gone when they did it that the replacement was more difficult and not as successful. (They would not do simultaneous because in her case they thought the further reduction in mobility would lead to pneumonia and death).

She was RA not OA, so it was different, but I would cut to to the chase and replace rather than relying on palliative care for too long.

After my recent knee injury I found out I have osteoarthritis and it flared up due to the trauma. My meniscus is torn and pretty thin so I'm not yet bone on bone. My mom had osteoarthritis in her knees at a pretty young age so I've got a genetic black mark but I'm more than sure that being obese practically my whole life is the true culprit.

My goal is to lose as much weight as possible to give my knee some relief but in the mean time I plan on doing the cortisone. I know cortisone is just a mask, as Palimpsest stated, but I have to keep active. I didn't think the shot was painful at all and the pain in my knee all but disappeared after a couple of days. However, the shot I got for my plantar fasciitis was no picnic.

Next time I see my doc, I'll ask her about the symvisc. Thanks for the heads up.

Had series of 5 injections last Spring. Initially, did not feel that they helped. But a few months later, started realizing that my knee rarely gave out on me and had much less pain/issues. So, maybe they did help. My knee has very little cartilage left.

Red