Just diagnosed .

cheshirefay

Hi all,
I am recently diagnosed with OA although have had problems since my mid twenties . At that time I was having low back and neck pain and was told after Xray that I had age related arthritis ! :shock:

After 20 odd years of living with pain I have recently had my second xray which shows severe OA with total joint space obliteration in my feet and similar in my hands. I also limp from the pain in my right hip .

I am waiting for an appointment which may be a while but wondered what to expect . The GP said I had to choose to see a Doc who specialised in upper limb or I could choose lower limb. This seems very odd and I wondered if they will only address their speciality area ie hands or feet and what happens about the rest?
I also wake every morning early with such severe pain which starts in my back and shoots down the front of my legs , does anyone else get this? could it be related to the hip pain ? I have had a few blood tests over the years and occasionally it shows neutrophilia but I am not sure if this is related to the OA . Hope this is not too long and rambling for my first topic . Glad to have found this site xx

marion1952

Dear Cheshirefay

Welcome to this forum, although sorry to hear about your OA. I am not too experienced with OA as I mainly suffer with RA, but there are lots of peple on the forum who have considerable experience of OA and I am sure they will be along soon and will be able to give you some help/advice.

Best wishes

Marion

speedalong

Hi cheshirefay, and welcome to the forum.

I have never heard of having to choose which consultant to see. But I have OA in the hips and knees only .. so this wouldn't apply to me. I would settle for whichever is giving you most problems and then tell the consultant about the other pains you are having and if it is out of his re-mit he should refer you to a colleague,

In my experience, they will look at and probably repeat the x-rays and then either offer physio, meds or surgery or a choice or a hierachy of things to try.

In the meantime I would go back to your GP and describe the pains you are getting in your legs and ask for some painrelief- as that sounds horrible and there is no reason to suffer needlessly.

A lot of us folks use heat bags/ice to help with symptoms and ibrufen gel is good for some.

Your appointment shouldn't take too long to come through - and if you are really suffering ask your GP to ring the hospital and bring your appointment forward ...no harm in asking.

Keep us posted.

Speedalong

dorcas

Hi Fay and welcome to the forum. it's always good to have new peeps join us but not good to have arther.

you've had great advice already and I'll not repeat what's been said.

I'm not really surprised that you'll be seen by different specialists...especially if surgery is the likely option. I've had surgery on hands, elbows, back and foot for PA) and believe it or not didn't just see different specialists but had to attend different hospitals!
when you think about it though it does make sense that we have specialists for different areas and reassuring that you will then be seeing the best in their field!
The only comment I would make is that you shouldn't have to chose between upper or lower.....if you need attention for both then you should be referred to both. Yes you may have to eventually make a decision about if/ what surgery to have first...but that's a different issue and you haven't even been seen yet! ask the doc if he means that he would prefer to refer you to one specialist first followed by the other? and why??

You must have suffered considerably with OA and I'm sorry it has taken them so long to actually do something. :?

nice to meet you and ...you definitely were not rambling!!! I think I might hold the record for that. :oops:

Iris x

sharmaine

Hi Cheshirefay

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry I can't help with your queries as my OA is in knee, shoulder and hands. When I went to the GP they only focussed on my knees (mainly because that was the most painful). Hands get stiff and sore but they're not as bad as the shoulder and knee. I had a TKR ten weeks ago.

Has your GP prescribed meds to help with this pain or do you have to wait to see someone else?

I hope you get some answers soon and relief for the pain.

Regards
Sharmaine

cheshirefay wrote:

Hi all,
I am recently diagnosed with OA although have had problems since my mid twenties . At that time I was having low back and neck pain and was told after Xray that I had age related arthritis ! :shock:

After 20 odd years of living with pain I have recently had my second xray which shows severe OA with total joint space obliteration in my feet and similar in my hands. I also limp from the pain in my right hip .

I am waiting for an appointment which may be a while but wondered what to expect . The GP said I had to choose to see a Doc who specialised in upper limb or I could choose lower limb. This seems very odd and I wondered if they will only address their speciality area ie hands or feet and what happens about the rest?
I also wake every morning early with such severe pain which starts in my back and shoots down the front of my legs , does anyone else get this? could it be related to the hip pain ? I have had a few blood tests over the years and occasionally it shows neutrophilia but I am not sure if this is related to the OA . Hope this is not too long and rambling for my first topic . Glad to have found this site xx

frogmorton

Hi fay

Pleased to meet you You are very welcome her

I take it you are Fay from Cheshire??

I think that the GP may be able to help with that pain you are getting - maybe its some nerve pain? Due to the joints/ They might try something like gabapentin/pregablin for it?

Do keep us up to date how you get on.

Love

Toni xx

marion1952

Hello Fay

How are things? Any news about your appointment yet?

Marion

cheshirefay

Hi all,
Thanks so much for your replies , it really does help to know there are others out there who understand what it like to live with this disease.

I have not heard anything yet from the hospital , I had to phone to try to make my own app but they only make them four weeks ahead and they were booked up for that time. I have been given a shadow app (what ever that is) and will be sent an app when one comes available.

It is good to know that there is treatment available ,I had thought that OA was something that had to be "lived with" so was relieved to find out that there were things that could be done to help with the symptoms.

Fay x