Kenalog and depression

This post is directed to anyone who has contacted me regarding a possible class action lawsuit, which I was trying to initiate, as stated in my Oct 17th, 2008 post.
After contacting as many as 10 law firms, from NY to San Francisco, I have virtually "thrown in the towel". In essence, what they are saying is, this will be too expensive to litigate. The pharmaceutical companies have "teams" of lawyers, and I believe they are reluctant to go up against them.
I find it diabolical that this drug Kenalog is causing so much suffering, some emotional, some esthetic and some, like myself, sheer physical pain...but nothing can be done about it.
For all of you who have emailed me and I was unable to return your ems, I apologize....but I have been waiting to hear something positive feedback to relay. Unfortunately, that was not the case. If anything does develop I have stored your information and will get back to you. I would hope you would do the same.

After experiencing insomnia, excessive sweating followed by chills, anxiety, thirst, frequent urination, nausea, and depression, I thought I would see what the published side effects of kenalog are. I was given an injection in the doctor's office a week ago for knee joint pain and was told that this medication was superior to other cortisone's since it does not filter through the pituitary or adrenal glands. The knee is great. I even feel more comfort in my arthritic fingers but the other side effects are very unpleasant. Probably will suffer with the pain rather than the fatigue and grossness I'm feeling now.

I have severe allergies and cronic sinusitis... like a lot of people on here I have taken all the allergy drugs they make for the past 9 years... Ive had tons of procedures done and sinus surgery last Feb '08. Nothing helps. Ive taken oral steriods many times but recently my new ENT decided to give me a Kenalog shot in Sept. Nothing was explained to me other than it was a steroid. The nurse put it in my left shoulder. I have had all the symptoms people are describing on here except the indent. I have been progressively getting sicker and feeling worse and worse over the past few months. I feel like I could go to bed and just stay there. Now this past Monday he gave me another Kenalog shot in my left shoulder. I heard something on a tv show that it causes depression so I jumped on this site and feel sick about all the messages I have read about people's terrible side effects. I feel like my doctor who I trusted let me down. I am so worried that my shoulder is going to have a big grey dent like everyone is describing on here. I am just so tired of being ill.

I was given a shot in I think January of 2008, not knowing exactly what it was, because I had a fever and the doctor said it would jump start my recovery. At first there seemed to be no problem with the injection site and I felt great just days after.

A couple of months later, when I was working out and losing weight and keeping a very close eye on my body because of it. Suddenly, I noticed that I had a deep indentation and discoloration on the left side of my lower back - right where they gave me the shot. It seemed like it appeared over night. It got deeper, and darker as time passed.. I was scared to press my finger in it because when I did, it just kept going in..as if there was no fat OR muscle in that spot.. I was FREAKED out. I'm a model so this fact that there was a bottomless whole in my lower back was devastating. I also feared that there may be something life threatening going on. I mean, a chunk of you just doesn't disappear overnight..Unless someone stole your kidney, but, I didn't wake up in a bath tub full of ice.

I typed in "Injection that causes Indentation in the lower back" and I found this board. Everyone here suffered the same exact symptoms from this shot and worse. I was certain that it had to be Kenalog. It seemed to cause death of all tissue at the injection site, depression, lethargy, moodiness, insomnia, pain and all sorts of other symptoms after this shot. I started to suffer from all of them soon after the shot and I didn't really know why or where it came from. I was in so much pain and was so tired.. I stopped doing everything I loved and I could barely sleep because of the pain.

I don't know what to do about this. I'm extremely broke and I don't have health insurance(and they wouldn't fix anything considered to them as "cosmetic" anyways).. My parents are in no position to help me anymore and I could never afford an attorney to try to claim against this.

How can I go about fixing this with no money? Is there any way to fix this to begin with?

Any advice, insight or experiences would be GREATLY appreciated!

I have a huge deformity going on in my left hip area and I am in constant pain. Not to mention I have NO SEX LIFE any longer. I am depressed I will not wear the same clothing as I used to wear because I am deformed now. I received 80 mil. twice over the same month. I read all about this medication and number one that was entirely to large of a dosage and it was injected entirely to deep. When I asked the dr. that gave me the shot, he matter of factly,said,"Oh yes that is a side affect." And that was that.Well I am not done I will be hiring an attorney tomorrow because the indent is getting larger,the pain is persistent,and my depression is now affecting my entire family. Some how that doesn't seem fair to me.

After a year and a half, my "dent" seems to be going away on its own!! My husband didn't believe me at first, but now we are sure! I don't know what caused the depression to fill back in, but I am glad! The menopausal symptoms have gone away also. Yippee! There is hope!

My hair is falling out too!! Since January I have had 2 kenalog shots for allergies and 2 shots for poison ivy. My side effects are hair loss, depression, headaches, bruise easily, swollen joints, weight gain, and a dent on my rear. These effects did not start until I had 2 shots, now it is so severe. I was so scared when my hair started falling out but knew that I didn't have Lupus or Diabetes which could cause the same side effects...I have been tested for both and do not have either.

Please let us know if there are anymore out there who have hair loss because of the Kenalog Shot.

I can't attribute this directly to my cortisone shot - however, I've noticed that the past few months I have been losing my hair. I can pull it out virtually by the handfuls anymore! I am only 24 - this doesn't seem normal and the only change I could point to is the shot. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD HAIR LOSS THEY CAN TIE TO A CORTISONE SHOT?

I also noticed a change in my period. Nothing as extreme as I'm reading here - but I'm so glad to have read this - puts my mind more at ease to know have a cause for that.

I have tried other remedies - but the cortisone shot has been the only thing to actually work. Any other ideas?

Kenalog-40 I was never told what I was being given in my bottom, just that it would help with seasonal allergies. FDA site "Neurologic-Psychiatric: Psychic derangements may appear when corticosteroids are used, ranging from euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and severe depression to frank psychotic manifestations. Also, existing emotional instability or psychotic tendencies may be aggravated by corticosteroids." FDA More "Neuro-Psychiatric: Convulsions, depression, emotional instability, euphoria, headaches, increased intracranial pressure with papilledema(pseudotumor cerebri) usually following discontinuation of treatment, insomnia, mood swings, neuritis, neuropathy, paresthesia, personality changes, psychic disorders, vertigo. Arachnoiditis, meningitis, paraparesis/paraplegia, and sensory disturbances have occurred after intrathecal administration."
I went to an Urgent Care Clinic for allergies. My skin was crawling every time I left the house so I was told the cause was environmental allergies. The Benadryl wasn't helping. The nurse noticed my skin was patchy and swollen. Another nurse returned to the room and said this shot would help with the reactions. I was not told what it was till it was done and she mumbled the word Kenalog. Three hours later I was anxious and talking irratically. Pressured speech, I could not stop talking. I called Nurse Advice line, then told to call a Pharmacy Help Line, who in turn said to go to the ER but to not drive myself in such a condition. I was talking as if I was on speed or manic. The ER said to go home it was just an anxiety attack. I took 2mg Clonzepam to calm down and sleep. In the morning, the symptoms returned. I called the hospital pharmacy and was told to go in immediately to see my doctor, that it is a steroid and causes psychic reactions. My regular doctor didnt have an opening so I saw a different doctor who wasn't familiar with my normal personality. She said she saw nothing wrong no matter that she couldn't get a word in unless I physically put my hand over my mouth. She sent me to a Nurse/psychiatrist next door to her. He said there was nothing wrong also. I had to keep repeating myself, speeding along, stuttering because I was talking so fast, telling him I was going 100 miles an hour in my head and out my mouth. I thankfully had an appointment with my psychologist a few minutes later in a different part of the hospital. I see her weekly. She immediately saw my change in mood and personality and called the clinic nurse/psychiatrist and told him to prescribe clonzepam. I did some reading about kenalog 40 injections. The clinic doctors didnt have the same list of side effects as their own pharmacy. I should never have been given the shot because I already have an emotional/mood problem and have epilepsy. I have to increase my anti-convulsants for at least two weeks and watch my mood very very closely. Some days I "fly" then "crash" now. This is all new, extreme symptoms of an already existing condition. This Urgent Care Clinic nurse was told all these things by me, repeatedly because of all my allergies to drugs, daily convulsions and counselling I already undergo for PTSD. I was never seen by a doctor that day or counselled. I will never take a steroid again based on the information I now have on its effects on psychiatric and seizure conditions. I am already disabled because of daily seizures and now I have even more daily seizures. These mood swings and seizures will be abnormally high for over 3 weeks I was told by the doctors but the more reading I do the longer I find that the steroid will cause side effects. Epileptics or those with a low seizure thresh hold, anyone with psychiatric conditions, emotional problems such as panic attacks or anxiety, PTSD, depression, Please use caution with kenalog. My friends are very helpful and supportive during this time. They can see the emotional impact the steroids are having on me. They will tell me I am speeding and I say "sorry, its the 'roids talking" Now, I will be watching my butt, too. Its been 7 days since the injection.

I had the shot in September 07. I agree that it is scary to read all these posts. about two months ago I noticed a small "dent" on my lower back. I though little of it, thought it was just a dimple from exercising. after months it has persisted and when you push it it feels like there is just nothing there. I googled it and was both relieved and newly concerned to find this. I have an appointment with the people who gave me the shot, but realize there is little they can do, at least they will know. I feel helpless and am scared it will continue to grow...just don't know what to do.

I had a Kenalog injection in two trigger points (one on the right side of my spine in the shoulder blade area and one on the right side of my spine in the lower neck) on March 27, 2008. Prior to the shot, I was suffering from numbness in my right arm and leg, shooting pains and loss of motor skills in my right arm, severe muscle spasms in my back and neck, tightening in my chest and back, severe migraines, night sweats and hot flashes, vertigo/dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and chest pains to name a few. Since the injection, I have noticed an increase of heart palpitations, dizziness, severe migraines, blurry vision, excessive weight gain, severe hot flashes, tiredness, and have had trouble sleeping. In the last two weeks, I have noticed a quarter sized indentation where I received the shot in my shoulder blade area and a baseball sized indentation where I received the shot in my lower neck area. I was not made aware of ANY side effects to this shot and will DEFINITELY not get another one. It is only a month later and I have not felt any improvement in my symptoms that I had before or after the shot. I received the shot, as my doctor felt it would help with what they think is a spazzed muscle in my back shoulder blade area near the spine. The doctor who gave me the shot stated if it didn't help, they would try giving me a cervical epidural, which has its own set of scary risks! I am beginning to think I will have to live with my symptoms for the rest of my life!

I myself had this shot kenalog and marvin about 8months ago, got it for chronic back pain, i suffered from herniated disc, degenarate spine, it's no fun getting old. i'm 34 yrs old mother of 16 & 6. i was diagnosed may 2007, from, insomnia, migraine, stiffness of back, sciatica symptoms, depression.
i thought the shots was the answer. it really didn't do nothing for me, but i remember the shot was painful, and they bruised a little, but there was one on my tailbone that bruised last night months, didn't think of anything bad, until i started to notice the white, dented looks like tunnel going in, it sore around it, and it's getting bigger and bigger. Yeah so many things going through my head, is this cancer, some kind bone desease. I see my Dr. next week, and i will ask him for MRI and what can he do to fix this problem...if anyone has any info or in LA< CA.pls forward to me. its good to know i'm no alone and going crazy... thanks

I was on the way to work about 5 months ago and i was rear ended at a stop light. I was a little sore but since I work at a doctors office I signed in as soon as i got to work just to get an x ray of my chest from the seat belt. Thank Jesus I was fine but a a month later I was still having pain in my left shoulder blade. One day at work a provider there saw me rolling my shoulder around as if I was in pain, he offered me an injection repeatedly stating that it would sting for a few seconds and then I'd feel like a new woman. I put aside my EXTREME fear of needles to get the injection because I knew I still had several hours to work. After the injection my back never stopped hurting that night i just tossed and turned. People at work make fun of me because my chair sits almost completely forward but i try to tell them it is my back. well it is now 3 months later and 2 days ago i saw a different provider at my work for depression and anxiety problems. during the end of the visit i made a comment about my back after looking at it one time she had 3 other doctors in there with us all gasping at what they saw. My office manager promised to take care of all of my copays and deductible for plastic surgery and physical therapy to repair the crater in my shoulder blade. But is that enough? I mean to my knowledge they can make it LOOK better but I will always have pain and i can never regain that muscle back...its scary. I mean I'm only 21 years old! Any to all of you I have my "consultation" with my plastic surgeon on the 31st so i will keep you updated and let the ones of you that are curious if it is worth it or not. Thanks for listened.....

I was having Kenalog injections into my knee. On the ninth injection within a years time,with a few Aristospan injections in between, my knee to my foot blew up. Tripled in size, and the skin was bright red with purple marks all over the skin from my upper shin to the ankle bone. I had a big depression in the shin too, which I can not figure out because the injection was into my knee.
I went to my GP who sent me to the ER to rule out a blood clot-ultrasound.
NO blood clot. I was given no medication, nothing, and it was very painful.
Actually, I saw three doctors and not one of them seemed to care. One doctor said, "Steroids are Powerful Drugs" I do not know if this reaction was do to an infection, some side effect, I have no idea. The swelling eventually went down within six months=long time. I still get purple round marks on the skin at the shin, and sometimes my ankle swells. The skin gets red and white marks mixed into the already rash looking skin.
I asked many times what the cause was to this all, and it was like no doctor would say anything negative about the doctor that gave me the injection.
I also discovered that Kenalog is used off label for Epidural Steroid Injections and can cause Meningitis, Arachnoiditis, bowel and bladder dysfunction and more adverse events, because neurotoxins are added to the steroid to make the compound that is injected into the epidural space. Asking other people if their doctor ever told them the drug name they were getting injected by their doctor before this procedure and each and all said "NO."
This is also true for the drugs Depomedrol and Celestone Soluspan. All three drugs are used off label for epidural injections. Neurotoxins do not belong in the spine! If one gets a dura puncture-FOR GET IT!

I have been receiving Kenalog injections in my deltoid for allergies from my m.d. each fall for the past 4 years with no incident. Six weeks ago, Nov. 19 2007 I went in for the same symptoms and received the same injection of Kenalog in my deltoid once again. This time it seemed to be unusually painful but I thought it was just poor placement of the needle and did not think much of it. Now after six weeks I have developed a depression/ indentation in my shoulder at the site of injection that has grown to the size of a golf ball and is lumpy and soft even when I flex the muscle. It also has discoloration with splotches on the skin. It still aches and is getting more painful. After visiting my doc. today he seems concerned and claims he has no idea what it is and is sending me to the labs for more testing. In the mean time this is very strange and costly. After finding this web page it makes me wonder how could he have no clue as to this side effect? I am a otherwise healthy 30 year old male, except now I have a very weird looking shoulder.

My Kenalog experience has been horrible! I had two in January '07 but had an IUD in at the time so I chalked the side effects (excess facial hair, weight gain, moodiness, depression, etc.) up to that. I had my IUD removed in March and a couple of months later things improved. I thought it was all the IUD.
Fast forward to September '07. I had two more Kenalog injections Well it was horrible. I had every side effect I think except for the indentation. My husband and I were also trying to get pregnant and I had no idea these shots could do so much damage to my cycle. I am not ovulating now and had almost no period for two months and now I cannot stop bleeding. It is so disheartening.
I don't know if I would go through it ever again since the results don't seem to last long term for my pain anyway. I just wish I had read more about it before I had two in a row done.

Hey all, I have posted several times on here. I am devastated about my tissue loss in my forehead. I am trying to pursue a lawsuit against a plastic surgeon in Michigan. My doctor tried to cover it up by immediately injecting me with a filler at MY COST and telling me it would last 5 years. Well guess what, 11 months later it disappeared and I got my medical records and found it it was cause she injected me with KENALOG 40! I only have one more year to file a complaint and so far this is hard. We really need to figure out a way to start a class-action lawsuit against bristol-Meyers-Squibb. Keep calling them, every little complaint helps!

These doctors could care less about us! I have had to be put on anti-depressants because my situation is right in the middle of my forehead. I am disfigured from a small procedure.

One surgeon I went to mentioned how hard it was to utilize Kenalog 40. It has to be diluted PRECISELY or else it will most definitely 'cause atrophy. This has to stop!!!!

I had kenalog shots in my facet joints 4 weeks ago and have felt terrible since. After ten minutes of having them I passed out and was later told by the nurses that I had had some kind of fit. They put it down to me being allergic to the anaesthetic but I now think it was the Kenalog. My symptoms over the last month have been tiredness, "spaced out" feeling, weakness, stomach pain, blured vision -especially in my right eye and depression. Will I ever get better?

We have all been victimized here or we would not be on this web sight.We either have never ending periods, aches n pains, depression,or disfiguring atrophy.I am very suprised how many of us there are,almost a new posting daily.Why hasn't anything been done yet?Does somebody need to die first?It is an outrage that that this drug is bieng so widely misused on unsuspecting innocent people.Had any of us been forwarned about the side effects we would not be here right now.There needs to be a class action law suit against the drug company and doctors need to be held responsible for their neglet in not warning their patients.I plan to do everything in my power to get compensated for my disfiguring injuries due to KENALOG.We all need to take a stand and not be victims anymore!

I have had Kenalog for the past three years as my hayfever is awful and nothingelse seems to work. However last year I had a dent in my hip for several months, I had no idea what it was and worried it wouldnot go away. After what felt like ages it slowly started to get shallower untill it was normal again. I also suffered from depression quite a while after the shot. This is my last year of having it as I think the side effects are too strong. I have recently tried accupuncture and it seemed to help.

Second shot has not worked as well and I'm having a bout of depression that I haven't had for 15 years! Headaches, also.

What's another option for calcification of the hip bones with bursitis?

Although I have been having injections for my severe allergies for a couple of years now-four of them each month-I began having chronic allergy related sinus infections. My allergist suggested Kenalog for the infections and as I was rather desperate for relief and trusting that he was suggesting a safe sollution, I had the shot. I have experienced some unexplained joint soreness and some tingling of the extremities but the most severe and most disturbing is the over-whelming depression. I'm usually pretty good natured but since about a month after having the shot I have been severly depressed at times-almost to the point of suicidal. I could not understand what was happening to me until I started researching Kenalog. I realize that all people react differently to medications but I hope anyone considering Kenalog will read these messages!!

I can tell you that Kenalog shots have been a miracle for me since an auto accident in Oct. of 2002 that injured my sciatica and made it difficult to function. Since my kenalog injections of only 2cc.'s every 3 weeks, I can function almost normally, however I have noticed an increase in difficulty sleeping and depression, but all in all, I would recommend Kenalog shots over the alternatives of walking with crutches and a cane and not sleeping at all some nights because of the pain.

I received kenalog for planters faciaitis...one shot in each foot. I also received an injection in the buttocks over a year ago...for edema of the legs. Each injection served its purpose, but both times I have experienced vivid dreaming, strong emotional swings (anxiety to what I would call depression), and headaches due to tension in my neck (related to anxiety??). I will not take another shot unless it is absolutely necessary...I hate feeling like it makes me feel. I cannot wait for the medicine to pass through its active existence in my body. I asked a nurse and doctor about such reactions to Kenalog and they confirmed that it is very possible for people to experience such side effects.