Steroid injections, are anti-inflammatory medicines used to treat a range of conditions such as joint pain, arthritis, and sciatica. If you’re having an injection to relieve pain, it will usually also contain local anaesthetic. This provides immediate pain relief that lasts up to a few hours.
They can be given in several different ways, including:
- into a joint (an intra-articular injection)
- into a muscle (an intramuscular injection)
- into the spine (an epidural injection)
The injections normally take a few days to start working, although some work in a few hours. The effect usually wears off after a few weeks or months. During this time the steroid is released very slowly and locally. The amount passing into your blood, let alone milk is very small and insignificant to the level that can be given orally. There is no need to interrupt breastfeeding after a local steroid injection.
E.g. Depo-medrone with lidocaine™ (methylprednisolone with lidocaine),
