wasting from steroid injection

[sofa weight]

I have tendonitis in many joints most of the time because I have ehlers-danlos syndrome and only just recently found out that I have it. Because I never knew I should be extra careful with my joints, I kind of pushed myself and as a result, I now end up having to get many steroid injections. However, one of my elbows, which has only ever had 2 injections, has started wasting kind of a lot. I had one injection in the fall and another in early march. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that it had turned pink and then as time went on, I noticed that the subcutaneous tissue was disappearing and I could see my epicondyle in detail. So, I realized that the soft tissue in my elbow was wasting away.
I am wondering if anyone knows if the tissue that is wasting away might come back eventually if I don't get any more injections. I am hoping that it will because my elbow is starting to look pretty icky because of the wasting. It's like Skeletor elbow.
Does anyone have any experience with wasting of joint tissue from steroid injections?

[sofa weight]

I think that my pain management doctor likes to keep stuff in the same class. Also, darvocet and vicodin both have tylenol in them and taking lots of tylenol over a long period can kick the heck out of a liver.
My main pain medication is a fentanyl patch and the morphine is in the same class as the fentanyl and neither are hard on my liver. Also, I only take the morphine when I really have to. It's not an every day thing to take morphine. then again, morphine isn't nearly as strong as the fentanyl patch. There's nothing wrong with my liver and I don't drink alcohol, but I take so many medications, its best not to overtax my liver too much. I take a lot of pain medication, but it's not as much as I used to take. when Iwas still able to work, I took more pain medication because working was so painful. Now that I don't have to try to survive a workday in pain, I don't have to take as much pain medication. I am in more pain now, of course, but I can deal with pain some pain as long as I don't ahve to be expected to be civil to anyone around me. My cats don't understand what I'm saying, so they love me no matter how cranky I am.
I am in aquatic therapy and now and starting some PT to try to stabilize my joints some in hopes that it will help to reduce the many nerve compressions I keep having. the physcial therapy hasn't helped with the pain any. If anything, the swimming makes it a little worse because I can't come to terms with my limits yet. I used to be really strong and did competitive judo and weight lifting. So, not being able to do even as much as my wimpy 65 year old mother is a little bit of a really big adjustment for me. It's hard to go from being the person who would open up all the hard to open food jars to not even being able to drink from a liter of soda without using both hands. So, I am constantly overdoing it and then constantly ending up totally unable to use some joints. It is also partly for this reason that I keep my pain medication at as low of a level as I can deal with. if I don't feel pain when I do things, I'll do too much all the time.

[txsilver]

There are mixed reports regarding vitamin c, but some say it helps with the condition.  Which form do you have?  
I understand what you mean about acclimation.  I agree it is important to walk a fine line with pain meds, but you also want to get the pain under control as it can take on a life of it's own.  Have you tried darvocet or vicodin?  Morphine is a big jump up in the pain med hierachy.
Has the doctor sent you to physical therapy?  That may also help you manage your pain.

[sofa weight]

I am on a fentanyl patch, celebrex, neurontin, and morphine when all that isn't cutting it. I am not taking vitamin C, but someone else mentioned that too the other day, but I can't remember what it was in reference to. So, I am on a hefty helping of pain medications, but still sometimes I am kept up at night with pain. However, I am keeping the fentanyl patch at the lowest possible dose so that I end up being completely without pain and then injuring myself further as a result. I also don't want to have to keep increasing the dose due to acclimation

[txsilver]

Autoimmune conditions are hard to get diagnosed and the more rare they are the tougher it gets.  Heaven help you if you get more than 1 condition at a time!  Doctors are taught if you hear hooves look for horses not zebras.  Sometimes we are unfortunate enough to actually be dealing with a zebra.  Getting a doctor to look at zebras can be tough.
Do they have you on NSAIDs?  Are you taking vitamin C?  If you are still in pain, is the doctor adding something to relieve the pain?

[sofa weight]

Thanks for the response. I guess I will put in a call to my orthopedic doctor to see what he thinks. I haven't seen him since I found out why my tendons and stuff are degenerating so much. Maybe knowing what is wrong with me, he might have some idea of a treatment other than a couple of hours a week in the pool. I feel like I am going to mush, but I can't seem to do anything without hurting my joints. It's getting frustrating. Now, having my elbows go all skeletor on me is kind of icky on top of it all.
I agree that it is hard to find anything about prognosis for the atrophy. I have looked and looked trying to find an answer so that I could avoid anothertrip to teh doctor. It seems that I have gone from many years of doctors saying that they don't know what is wrong with me or that there isn't anyting wrong with me to doctors saying that there isn't anything that they can do for me. What century is this?

[txsilver]

There is a lot of information on the web about the side effect you are experiencing.  It is a rare side effect.  I was not able to locate information on the prognosis for those experiencing atrophy.  You should contact your doctor immediately to explain what has happened and find out what you can expect.  I would definitely not have any more injections if I were you.  Please let us know what your doctor says.  My heart truly goes out to you as I know the frustration of experiencing side effects from the treatment that is suppose to help you, not make things worse.