Hay fever Steroid Injections
Injections are performed by an experienced GP with your safety as their priority. You have to be over the age of 21 to have this steroid injection. You CANNOT have this injection within 2 weeks of the Covid vaccine.
For your own safety, we can only provide you with a MAXIMUM of 2 steroid injections in 1 year. We will always encourage you to try all alternative treatments first and if you have to have a steroid injection, we would only recommend 1 per year. If you do choose to have 2 injections in 1 year, there HAS TO BE a MINIMUM duration of 3 MONTHS in between each injection.
| PLEASE NOTE – STEROID injections are ‘OFF- LABEL’ for hay fever. This means that this medicine can only be prescribed/ administered by a Doctor after careful consideration of other options available. PLEASE ONLY book for this if it is your LAST RESORT to control your hay fever symptoms. Our Doctor WILL REFUSE to administer the injection if it is not used as a last resort or you have any medical condition which could be exacerbated by a steroid injection.. |
Hay fever can be one of the most debilitating of diseases, especially when you have tried everything available from the chemist and your NHS GP.
Here, at The GP Surgery, we do provide a service of administering a Steroid Injection (such as Kenalog) privately for severe Hay fever or other Allergy symptoms.
However, we will only have your welfare in mind when we ensure that you have tried everything else before resorting to having steroid injections that could have potentially significant side effects. Your doctor will go through your medical history fully and ensure there are no contraindications to having a steroid injection before administering you with this.
Please read below for some of the potential side effects of having this injection, before making an informed decision as to whether you should go ahead with this procedure.
| Consultation | Price |
|---|---|
| Cortisone Injection & Consultation with GP (40mg of Triamcinolone [Kenalog])- [Under 75kg] | £85* |
| Cortisone Injection & Consultation with GP (60mg – 80mg of Triamcinolone [Kenalog])- [Over 75kg] | £105* |
| Consultation with GP with no injection administered | £55** |
| * = £10 Surcharge for Weekend appointment |
| ** = £9 Surcharge for Weekend appointment |
We would ALWAYS recommend the 40mg Triamcinolone injection alone as this will normally give you adequate relief of your hayfever symptoms and minimise your steroid side effects. However, if you are heavier than 75kg, you may choose to have the higher dose to ensure adequate relief of your symptoms.
The injection works by suppressing your immune system and hence will reduce the inflammation in your body caused by pollen and other allergies. People who persistently take steroid injections are prone to more infections as their immune system can become weak. Hence it would be important to avoid people with infections such as chicken pox and measles, where possible.
Reasons why your GP will not give you the steroid injection-
Examples include if you have:
- Glaucoma.
- An Infection or have been exposed recently to significant infections (including tuberculosis).
- Diabetes or Epilepsy or High Blood Pressure or Heart problems.
- Psychoses in the past.
- Osteoporosis.
- Recently suffered from any form of cancer.
- A bowel disorder, recent bowel surgery, or a stomach ulcer.
- Taken medication that may interact with the Steroid injection.
- Been breastfeeding or are currently pregnant.
- Never had chickenpox before (increases the risk of you getting this).
Side effects to steroid injections-
Your doctor will go through these with you. Side effects are very rare, but it is important to be aware of them before you make a decision on having a steroid injection. Examples include:
- Adrenal suppression and increased susceptibility to infections.
- Weight change.
- Thinning of bones.
- Diabetes or activation of Diabetes.
- Fluid retention and heart problems and high blood pressure.
- Psychiatric and psychological problems.
- Local reactions – abscess, pain, skin colour change, fat pad atrophy.
Steroid Treatment Card-
Your doctor will give you a Steroid Treatment Card after your injection.
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CARRY THIS CARD WITH YOU for 3 months after your injection, as it must be shown to any of the following persons:
- Doctor or Nurse – before having any surgery or emergency treatment or if any new treatment is prescribed.
- Dentist – before having any dental surgery.
- Pharmacist – before buying any medicine.
- Optician – it is advisable to have regular eye tests.