A bit of a moan

desjumeaux

I am still a bit new to this OA.

When I wake in the morning, it really hurts, in fact it wakes me up through the night. Top of my legs, hips, back, neck. To move is agony.

I get up take pills move about a bit and it gets easier as the day goes on.

Is this normal, I still have this feeling that the Dr has misdiagnosed.

I am taking codine and gabapentine all through the day, it eases it but it doesnt go away.

This has come on over the last 6 months, and it has changed my life.

Will it go away, and I read about Flare Ups, does that mean it will go away for weeks at a time and then come back. If it does, do you get any prior warning that you are having a flare up.

This is a bit of a ramble, but its early morning and I am in agony.

Just wanted to hear what other people experience.

marrianne

I am very sorry you hurt so much especially in the mornings ,what ever happens you must protect and conserve your joints as much as possible gently stretch and move about try to keep your muscles strong ,less strain on the joints ,I am not to sure about flares and osteo .......a recent addition to my r/a .........I think it stays pretty constant so pain control; and keep as well as possible in other ways .Amytripiline is very useful at night helps with sleep and pains but I found it took me at least 3/4 weeks before I felt the benefit also you might have to put up with a dry mouth and feeling a little groggy in the day ,Hopefully you will get some much better info on here I wish you very well and I am sure you will feel better soon Marrianne

barking1

Hi sorry you are having a bad time i to have been diagnosed with oa in my spine (facet joints) and hips i have been having a bad time recently with the pain and like you i am awake through the night as i stiffen up and become uncomfortable, but i am waiting for a pain clinic appointment . it looks like you need to go back and get some better pain relief and maybe get reffered for a rhumie appointment to get things moving i really hope you get sorted soon sending a cyber (((((((( ))))))) Jane

PollySid

I have OA in various places, mostly my back and legs/feet.
It can be bad when you first wake up. It depends with me how I am laying when I awake.

I was on my front the other morning and couldn't move. I had to do very small movements, first an arm, then a leg, then the other arm, until I could turn over and roll out of bed. It was agony.

Usually though I wake up on my back and although it hurts and I am very stiff I can shuffle to the bathroom ok. I have sticks in the bedroom in case I need them. (I have a bungalow so no stairs thank goodness).
I have just come through a bad couple of weeks where I kept seizing up at the slightest exertion - half hour ironing, sorting a drawer out etc.

The only way to handle that is either not to do much, or in my case - take an 8/500 Coco as well as the 30/500 when it is bad, and use my wheat bag. I only take 1x300mg Gabapentin at night but have been once or twice taken one in the morning too if it is really bad.

I awoke this morning more painfree than I have for a long while. Up until now (9am) I haven't taken a Coco, but I know I will need one sometime this morning or the afternoon will be bad. (it is now 9.40am and I have taken it)

You ask if it will go away, then come back. In my case the answer is no - it never goes away completely. You get used to it I suppose and you are able to block out a certain amount of discomfort as your brain begins to treat it as 'normal'.

There are days when you can't cope with it anymore, you have had enough and just want it to go away and be who you was before this 'nasty' came into your life. But it is now part of you and you will adapt and find ways of coping and loving your life and realise that there are still a lot of things that you can still do - so concentrate on those things.

With OA I think it is (just)?? a case of pacing yourself, knowing your limitations and taking appropriate pain medication.

barbara12

Hi Des
This sounds typical of OA , I have it in my back hips and 1 knee and now my hand has joined in the fun
It does wake me up in the night, but I take amitrytalines...sorry spell check has not got any idea what I am on about, they help me sleep, stiff in the morning then things pick up a little, but sometimes they go worse.
Iv not a clue what each day will bring, but I have learned to make the most of my good days .
It is a struggle to get the right diagnosis, there are over 300 types of Arthurs, so I suppose it is hard for the GP to know everything, even the rheumys struggle.
Wishing you well with it all

stickywicket

It does all take a lot of getting used to, desjumeaux so go easy on yourself and give yourself time to adjust. It does change your life. This doesn’t mean that it’s all going to be downhill from now on. Far from it. However, when you ask ‘Will it go away?’ my honest answer would be ‘Not in my experience.’ However, mine is mainly RA but with OA added on.

I’ve always associated flares with my RA rather than the OA though the levels of pain with OA can fluctuate. A flare, for me, has always been when things get worse. They eventually get back to what is normal for me ie a tolerable level of pain. I think you might be confusing a flare with a remission. That’s when it all gets better for a while – no pain at all - but, again, that is something that I only associate with the RA and, indeed, only with the very early years of RA.

Marrianne has given you some good advice. It’s all about keeping pain to a level you can handle so that you can stay as active as possible and do stuff you enjoy doing. Sometimes that means finding new hobbies or new ways of tackling old ones. Anything that grabs your interest and distracts you from the pain is good. You’ll get there.

desjumeaux

thank you everyone for all the advice and suggestions, its been really helpful
it has cleared up some of the things that have been going round my head.


thank you once again.

bubbadog

Morning's and late evenings are usually the bad time for me, Always stiff and achy when I get up, I usually get up before the alarm because the pain is like a living alarm clock saying 'wake up I'm sore and I want you to know!' It takes till late morning till all meds are working for the pain & ache to ease away. And it all starts late evening after I've taken evening meds and well into my sleep that the pain starts to comr back and wakes me early hours of the morning sort of saying 'hey just wanted to remind you that you have alot of pain!' and it then throws my sleep about. So your not alone and alot of us will understand what your going through.