Hayfever Treatment Consent Form

Kenalog Injection for Hayfever Treatment Consent Form

Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.

Serious effects (tell a doctor straight away):

Steroids including the Kenalog injection can cause serious mental health problems. These are uncommon in both adults and children and include the following:

• Mood changes, mental health disorders, feeling dependent on the medicine, trouble sleeping.
• Feeling depressed, including thinking about suicide.
• Feeling high (euphoria and mania) or moods that go up and down.
• Feeling anxious/irritable, difficulty in thinking or being confused and losing your memory.
• Feeling, seeing or hearing things which do not exist. Having strange and frightening thoughts, changing how you act or having feelings of being alone.

Serious cases of anaphylactic (i.e. allergic) reactions and anaphylactic shock including death have been reported. If you notice any of the following, contact your doctor immediately:

• Swelling of the face, lips or throat
• Breathing difficulties
• Skin itching, redness or a rash

Common effects (may affect up to 1 in 10 people): 

• Increased risk of infection
• Injection site reactions
• Headache
• Joint pain

Uncommon effects (may affect up to 1 in 100 people):

• Changes in blood chemicals causing fluid retention
• Heart failure or irregular heart beat
• Weak bones (osteoporosis), bone fracture, poor healing of broken bones or destruction of the ends of bones, decrease in muscle mass, muscular weakness/discomfort, muscle or bone pain
• Thin/fragile skin, rashes, stretch marks, bruising, sweating, flushing, increased hair growth, itchy bumps, loss/darkening of skin colour
• Indigestion, stomach pain, stomach ulcers and perforation, bloating, increased appetite and weight loss, inflammation of the pancreas/oesophagus, stomach bleeding
• Eye problems including inflammation, glaucoma and cataracts, blindness, bulging of the eye, damage to the cornea or white of eye
• Irregular periods/ postmenopausal women may also experience vaginal bleeding
• Fungal or Viral eye infections
• Yeast infections e.g. thrush
• Tiredness and tingling, increased pressure in the brain
• Less tolerance to carbohydrates
• Mild form of diabetes with no obvious symptoms
• Inadequately controlled diabetes mellitus, high blood sugar
• Pain, swelling and worsening of the pain in the injected joint
• Impaired healing
• High body temperature
• Treatment with steroids can stop the body from producing some hormones and may slow or stop children’s growth
• Hormone production by certain glands may be increased or decreased
• Vertigo
• High/low blood pressure
• Abnormal blood clots
• Longstanding chronic infections such as tuberculosis could be made worse

*Please Note 1: for women who are planning a pregnancy, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or anyone who has a current infection, treatment may not be suitable. Please consult with a Doctor.

*Please Note 2: the effect of this medication varies from one person to another and the desired outcome cannot be guaranteed.

*Please Note 3: one injection of Kenalog 40mg costs £80, a second injection may be given at a discounted price ONLY if it is given within 14 days of the first dose.