Heat Spray Don’t Work?

AnandLeo

I had mild rheumatic problems for a long time and recently it appeared in one of the hips and gave constant trouble. It extended to the legs and pain in the lower leg was sometimes quite annoying. This is not arthritis and I have no arthritic problems with joints in the hip or legs. I took the prescribed tablets regularly but pain in the leg was a problem. So I asked for a prescription for pain relieving Heat Spray. Doctor said "gels and Heat Sprays don’t work, they are a waste of time". He said "keep taking the tablets". :???:
I think this is a grey area and the doctor’s opinion may be a good one or mediocre.
My question is how can the GP say Gels and Heat Sprays don’t work, if they are a Billion dollar industry. :?:

…..when applied to the skin, works by causing redness and heat to be produced. This distracts the brain from the original pain and therefore reduces perception of the pain.

That is a placebo!

dreamdaisy

What tablets were prescribed and for what condition? Perhaps a freezing spray would be better, some people find relief from heat, some from cold. I don't bother with sprays, I use frozen peas when necessary as they're cheaper and last longer. The brain does play quite a part in pain perception, distraction and visualisation techiniques are a good way to reduce perceived pain. DD

lindalegs

Sprays, gels or creams have never worked for me because they don't penetrate deep enough into the joint. I'm afraid I agree with your doc.

It's a billion dollar industry I would think because people want them to work and they are beneficial for muscular pain.

AnandLeo

lindalegs wrote:

Sprays, gels or creams have never worked for me because they don't penetrate deep enough into the joint. I'm afraid I agree with your doc.

It's a billion dollar industry I would think because people want them to work and they are beneficial for muscular pain.

My problem is purely a muscular pain. :roll: :???: :sad:

lindalegs

AnandLeo wrote:

My problem is purely a muscular pain. :roll: :???: :sad:

Sorry you're suffering. :sad:

You could possibly ask your doc if it would it interfere with the tablets he's prescribed if you bought some over-the-counter ones just to try and see what he says.

dreamdaisy

What about massage therapy? That could help to un-knot tense muscles, shift the build-up of toxins and could also help the GPs tablets (whatever they are) to work better. My masseuse is a sport's one (not some namby-pamby beauty therapist who flutters her fingers over you) and she does make a great difference to both the muscles and the joints. DD

AnandLeo

dreamdaisy wrote:

My masseuse is a sport's one. DD

I think it’s the sports that agitated the dormant problem. My Golf instructor said it’s good for your groin. Since I started practising golf I had funny feelings in the thigh area, and after about a year the pain in the hip became evident that spread to the rest of the leg. There may be good and bad in the exercise I get. Hopefully in the long-term it will be for the better.

AnandLeo

AnandLeo wrote:

I think it’s the sports that agitated the dormant problem. My Golf instructor said it’s good for your groin. Since I started practising golf I had funny feelings in the thigh area, and after about a year the pain in the hip became evident that spread to the rest of the leg. There may be good and bad in the exercise I get. Hopefully in the long-term it will be for the better.

Whoops!
Sitting down for about 5 hours a day in front of the computer and also sitting in buses and trains that actually causes the pain especially in the leg. However, golf also may have played a role as suggested above.

bubbadog

How about trying a 'TENS' machine, they work well for muscular pain. You can buy them these days from boots, they are alot cheaper than they used to be. My OH uses mine on his back and leg pain that he gets from work, he's a carpenter and joiner so gets alot of muscle pain from lifting heavy things and bending. And it seems to help him.

prefabkid47

Unfortunately the efficacy of a product is not necessarily related to the fact it came from a billion dollar industry........... :!:

AnandLeo

bubbadog wrote:

How about trying a 'TENS' machine, they work well for muscular pain. You can buy them these days from boots, they are alot cheaper than they used to be. My OH uses mine on his back and leg pain that he gets from work, he's a carpenter and joiner so gets alot of muscle pain from lifting heavy things and bending. And it seems to help him.

We are all over the place. Some of us are doing exercise bending and lifting things to loosen our muscles and joints. You are telling some others get pain doing that and have to do some other exercise to compensate. :???: :eek:

dreamdaisy

I don't think there are any cross-purposes here at all. The majority of people on here have some form or another of arthtritis, which means joint degeneration, bone damage, loss of cartilage, bone grating on bone etc. You are talking about muscular pain (which some could recognise as fibromyalgia perhaps) we are suggesting things which may help but not telling you that they will. If you know which things aggravate your condition then cut down on those activities, ensure you don't stay in one position for too long, keep reasonably active to keep your muscles viable, take some dullers to remove the edge of the pain and try massage to ease the muscles. A sports massuer is differently trained to a beauty type, mine has a thorough knowledge of anatomy for starters. It takes time to find out what helps and what hinders and we are all different in that. DD

stickywicket

AnandLeo wrote:

We are all over the place. Some of us are doing exercise bending and lifting things to loosen our muscles and joints. You are telling some others get pain doing that and have to do some other exercise to compensate. :???: :eek:

One thing that you will read on here a lot, AnandLeo, is 'we are all different'. That's because it's true. Arthritis is a whole family of diseases and the treatments - even the medication - that works for one person doesn't for another.

Exercise is usually helpful but the exercises have to be tailored to the individual's need. Someone in a flare should exercise extremely gently and under supervision: when not flaring the same person can exercise more vigorously and even do extra things.

As the wife of a golfer and the mother of two others I'm a bit surprised it has been suggested as a good exercise for the groin. It may be you would benefit from a one to one coaching session in which you explained your difficulties to the coach and he/she could tell you how to play certain strokes without causing muscular damage elsewhere. My husband does this from time to time (because he recovers, forgets, gets carried away and regrets). Your physio should also be able to give you exercises that will work to correct whichever muscles are being over-stretched.

But heat treatment, rubs etc? I'd doubt it, with the possible exception of an infra-red lamp.

julie47

Gels and spray didn't work for me.
The spray probably just took my mind of the arthritic pain because the spray made me red, hot and itch like crazy.

I have a electric heat pad and that does help but....you can get too warm

juliepf x

elnafinn

Hi there

Why don't you buy a gel or whatever of your choice and see how well it works for you as you presumably think this is the solution for you. You have not told us what meds you have been prescribed although DD asked you in an earlier posting.

If they work for you you can let your gp know. Otherwise change your gp.

Good luck.

Elna x

AnandLeo

prefabkid47 wrote:

Unfortunately the efficacy of a product is not necessarily related to the fact it came from a billion dollar industry........... :!:

First of all the question raised in my original post implies ‘If the Gels and Heat Sprays for rheumatic pains don’t work for their intended objectives how can possibly tens of millions of sufferers of rheumatic pains of all conditions spend billions of dollars. It begs the question pharmaceutical industry cannot con people to that extent if they are absolutely useless. I presume pharmacists can sell these products because they satisfy some of the customers to some extent like temporary pain relief of some of the rheumatic conditions, which is satisfactory for some of the people.’
Secondly, the statement “Unfortunately the efficacy of a product is not necessarily related to the fact it came from a billion dollar industry.......” is a safe counterargument readily anticipated in response to the commonsense question raised in the thread.

The explanation given above “…. Some of the sufferers of some of the rheumatic conditions….” Can be equally used to discuss the issue of “efficacy” of the product.

dreamdaisy

They work for some and not others, perhpas it all depends on what ails you, how serious it is and on how keenly you feel pain: one man's mild ache is another's torture. I take it you've heard of the placebo effect? If someone thinks something is helping them and they are willing to buy it then why not? DD

AnandLeo

lindalegs wrote:

AnandLeo wrote:

My problem is purely a muscular pain. :roll: :???: :sad:

Sorry you're suffering. :sad:

When I first went through the pain in the leg I was anxious of it especially the long lasting effects. Like most victims of injury, pain and disability we get used to certain abnormalities we develop during our lifetime.
I use gel and a spray which seems to work ephemerally. The pain is not a debility. It’s an annoyance. Thank you for your sympathy and sharing views of my problem. I seem to be getting used to it as an ongoing distraction and having to take medication.
By the way when I am pain free sometimes I feel I am missing something. Something like masochism. It is the whole business of pain and the rigmarole of taking and applying pain killers that bother me.
:oops: :P

barbara12

Hi
Just wondering if you have had the area xrayed, my hip probs started when I was going to the gym, and like you it was a strange feeling in the groin.
X-rays showed arthritis in both hips, I do find ice helps..

AnandLeo

After exhausting further help from the GP apart from taking Naproxen regularly, I dropped into the NHS Walk in Centre after a bout of pain at the end of the day. I told her the whole story in brief and she said forthwith it is Sciatica. I had researched on the Internet on leg pain and knew about Sciatica. In fact just to please myself I hoped my problem is not Sciatica but muscular pain. NHS nurse told me I need physiotherapy and have to go back to the doctors and ask to see a physiotherapist. I made an appointment and saw the GP and narrated the purpose of my visit. Doctor asked me to lie on the couch and asked to raise the right leg which is normal. Then he asked me to lift the left leg which is affected leg. He might have been relieved more than I was that I didn’t have any problem of lifting both legs. I passed the Sciatica test. I could also bend down and touch the toes or floor without much problem. I said I do these things as exercise. Doctor said Sciatica is what we call trapped nerve and people who got that ailment cannot lift the leg as I could due to pain. He said I don’t have Sciatica and don’t need physiotherapy, but recommended going to the swimming pool.

However I found on the Internet that symptoms of Sciatica include:

Sciatica is often characterized by one or more of the following symptoms:
• Constant pain in only one side of the buttock or leg (rarely can occur in both legs)
• Pain that is worse when sitting
• Burning or tingling down the leg (vs. a dull ache)

Since my pain continues everyday peaking by the end of the day, and seems to be aggravated by sitting down on hard chairs like normal office chairs I am not sure whether I have mild effect of Sciatica or it is just muscular pain.
I have numbness, tingling and dull ache, but does not prevent or impede walking, running or practising golf.

I am bracing for long haul of pain – god knows for how long.

dreamdaisy

Well, if it's not impeding your walking, running and golfing then surely that is a good thing. I reckon the vast majority of us on here struggle with the first item on that list and as for the others, well, all I can say is that my running and golfing days are long gone. I empathise with the 'long haul of pain' (I am fifiteen years in and counting) but from the sounds of it I reckon you are probably coping better than you realise. If it's muscular then maybe massaging the affected area will help, if sitting for too long aggravates matters then get up and walk around on a regular basis and see if that eases things, even perhaps use a stick at the end of a long day (but hold it in the opposite hand to the affected side). Sometimes there is not a great deal that doctors can do until things worsen and I hope you are not in that category. I wish you well. DD

cebeem

Although you say the pain is not impeding your ability to do activities it could still be the activities that are causing the pains later.

My hands are my problem and some days (rare ) I feel able to get on with things opening jars, typing using scissors etc ..but when I come to relax in the evening the pain kicks in and its all a result of earlier activity.

In the early days it takes some figuring out what is triggering the pain.
Maybe keep a log of the days and try to find a pattern.

AnandLeo

cebeem wrote:

Although you say the pain is not impeding your ability to do activities it could still be the activities that are causing the pains later.

Sooner or later I’ll find that out. :roll:

As advised by the doctors I went to the swimming pool yesterday. As usual no physical impediment what so ever, except of course I can’t swim far pain or not. Same as my ability to run half a marathon has reduced to about 5 miles at my age my weak swimming ability has also reduced by about half. Yesterday after the swimming exercise I thought I felt better. However as you insinuate today pain is worse. :oops:

I do keep a diary of all these things like an aide memoire. :!:

AnandLeo

cebeem wrote:

Although you say the pain is not impeding your ability to do activities it could still be the activities that are causing the pains later.

Following painless physical activity, the posture that is mainly sitting on an office chair, bus or train seat, that brings the worst symptoms of pain is causing increased level of pain. That is similar to saying it may be the activities that cause the pain.
But it is fair to say that it is not activities that cause the pain, but the physical activities and what causes the symptoms of pain which is (in my case) sitting on a hard seat are incongruous.
In my opinion and doctors who have encouraged me to swim, activities are good for general fitness and health, increase the blood circulation and reduce the overall level of pain in normal daily life.
Indeed benefit of physical activity may depend on exactly what the ailment is – such as arthritis or joint pain, muscular pain or sciatica and such like.
I am shouting like this because I believe my problem is mostly a muscular pain that the medical profession does not take seriously, and I intend to go on full monty doing these painless activities especially the swimming even if it is a challenge for me.

AnandLeo

As I posted earlier I had to stop taking tablets I was prescribed for muscular rheumatic pains because of adverse side effects. I said I have taken to rely on Paracetamol which is no better or worse than prescribed medicine for the ailment.

How Paractamol works
Paracetamol works as a painkiller by affecting chemicals in the body called prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are substances released in response to illness or injury. Paracetamol blocks the production of prostaglandins, making the body less aware of the pain or injury.

Now this is not a placebo. It does have a biomedical effect. But it does not deal with the root cause of the problem. It reduces the confidence in the remedy.

stickywicket

Anandleo, I don't think anything yet invented deals with the root causes of arthritis. Those of us with auto-immune varieties do, nowadays, have Disease Modifying meds which do just that - they modify it, hold it back somewhat. That's it. If causes are unknown we can't deal with them. Osteoarthritis sometimes sets in as a result of a previous injury, but nothing can attack the cause ie the injury. Stuff is as it is. I'm happy for anything that will reduce pain and help to keep me mobile. The rest, arthritically speaking, is, I think, cloud cuckoo land.