How to Treat Arthritis With Cortisone Cream

Arthritis is a group of medical conditions that involve inflammation of the body's joints. Almost any part of your body may be affected by the inflammation, swelling and pain associated with arthritis. Some forms of arthritis may be physically disabling or even life threatening due to complications related to the muscles and internal organs. For less-severe cases, cortisone cream may help relieve some of the symptoms associated with arthritis.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ice pack
• Over-the-counter pain medication

1. Apply cortisone cream directly to the areas of the body that are in pain related to arthritis. Cortisone cream is used to help treat the pain and redness associated with swollen joints and the structures of the body that surround the inflamed area. Cortisone cream may take up to a few hours to begin working and should provide temporary relief for up to a few days.

2. Avoid overusing cortisone cream to treat your arthritis. Cortisone cream may cause discoloration, stretch marks, fragility or thinning of the skin that you are treating if it is overused. Rest assured that regular, doctor-supervised use of cortisone cream does not carry significant risk of these negative side effects.

3. Rest your inflamed joints as much as possible while treating them with cortisone cream. It is best to avoid any unnecessary or excessive movement that may cause stress on the joints, such as exercise or rigorous physical activity. If necessary, use an icepack or take over-the-counter pain medication as recommended by your doctor to help soothe your arthritis.

4. Talk to your doctor about ionophoresis, a treatment involving cortisone cream that is commonly used for more serious cases of arthritis. During the ionopheresis procedure, you doctor will direct a small electric current over your skin to help the cortisone cream to absorb through the skin and down through the joints.

5. Discuss using cortisone injections as an alternative cortisone cream to treat your arthritis. Cortisone injections are generally used in cases where cortisone cream is not effective in relieving the symptoms of pain.

Tips & Warnings

• Start with a cortisone cream with a low dose of steroids before moving to a stronger dose to avoid negative side effects. Cortisone may cause unexpected increases in blood pressure and cholesterol, so be sure to discuss these side effects with your doctor before beginning use.
• Cortisone reduces inflammation by reducing the activity of the white blood cells in your body that fight off disease, so it is important to take special care to avoid infections while using cortisone cream.

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