Doctors Appointment - what should I ask?

craftyuk

I am beginning to suspect that I may be starting to suffer from some form of arthritis in my ankle. I had an operation on my ankle for a rare bone disease 21 years ago. I was told about 5 years after that that I was showing some signs or arthritis but nothing was really done. In the last 10 weeks or so I have been suffering increased pain in the ankle and often sharp pains in addition to the stiffness and lack of mobility in the joint ever since the operation. It is very painful if I do lots of walking and walking downstairs is really hard.

I have made an appointment to see my GP at the end of the next week to see what they say, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to diagnose it on here, but I really have no ideas what I should be telling the doctor and what questions I should be asking.

Can anyone advise?


craftyuk

elnafinn

Hi craftyuk

Just wished to welcome you to the forum and hope to see you posting on the other sites. We are a large crowd on here and if you posted on the LWA you would receive a good welcome and advice from fellow members.

I would suggest you relate to the gp what you have said above and hopefully he is on the ball enough to perhaps suggest an xray, offer pain relief and inflammation meds, perhaps offer a course of physio/acupuncture. Ice and heat packs often help with pain and swelling and elevation of the leg when sitting.

The helpline will answer your question soon,

Look after yourself,
Elna

helpline_team

Hi there Crafty,

You might want to clarify with your GP whether there is any record already of known arthritis in your ankle. If not then the GP may want a confirmation x-ray. However they may well be able to diagnose Osteoarthritis by examination and observation.

We can send you information on recommended self-managemnt - core treatment always includes weight loss if necessary and strengthening exercise.

If you e-mail us your full name and postal address to helplines@arthritiscare.org.uk we would be happy to send you more infomation (do tell us that we wrote to you on the forum about ankle oa).

hope that helps
Guy

craftyuk

elnafinn wrote:

Hi craftyuk

Just wished to welcome you to the forum and hope to see you posting on the other sites. We are a large crowd on here and if you posted on the LWA you would receive a good welcome and advice from fellow members.

I would suggest you relate to the gp what you have said above and hopefully he is on the ball enough to perhaps suggest an xray, offer pain relief and inflammation meds, perhaps offer a course of physio/acupuncture. Ice and heat packs often help with pain and swelling and elevation of the leg when sitting.

The helpline will answer your question soon,

Look after yourself,
Elna

Thanks for your advice Elnafinn, I will try that forum to. I do have problems taking anti inflammatorys which may cause problems if that is the best treatment method, but i gues there is no point borrowing trouble.

craftyuk

craftyuk

helpline_team wrote:

Hi there Crafty,

You might want to clarify with your GP whether there is any record already of known arthritis in your ankle. If not then the GP may want a confirmation x-ray. However they may well be able to diagnose Osteoarthritis by examination and observation.

We can send you information on recommended self-managemnt - core treatment always includes weight loss if necessary and strengthening exercise.

If you e-mail us your full name and postal address to helplines@arthritiscare.org.uk we would be happy to send you more infomation (do tell us that we wrote to you on the forum about ankle oa).

hope that helps
Guy

Thanks for the information Guy. I'm not sure if there will be anything in my background notes as I have moved round a bit and mostly I don't tend to bother the doctor when I have ankle pain and have always self treated - I am very prone to sprains and strains. However, that is a very useful question to ask.

Thank you

craftyuk