hello everyone :)

jamieaspence

Hi everyone, Im new on here but would just like to chat about my problems and hopfully meet a few new friends. Im jamie, im 28 and im disabled ( only on a stick thou, keeping my mobility as long as possible!!) in 07 i was a healthy young man working as a mechanical enginer after qualifiying the old fashioned way, through an apprentership. But in march 07 i had an accident while lifting and prolapsed my L3/L4, and L4/L5 i had a problem there at 12yrs old through rugby but recovered fine and had always working in heavy industry in very physical roles. After this accident i lost my job as medically retired and so i started down the slippery sloop of dispair. I did get a lot worse in the next 6 months, but i didnt receive any medical intervention or physio just LOTS of PILSS ( sound familiar?) in 08 me and my partner and step son moved to north west wales and finally got some help and after 4 yrs here im at a deadend. Ive been told that due to my accident doing a lot of damage in my Lumber area and due to being left for adds without help was diagnosed with chronic pain syndrome. and I have been told from MRA scans that i have the spine of a 60 yr old miner at 24!! and tat there is ostification in the L3-L5 joints ?? But this has not been acted on really but had some blood tests last week for a med's review and it seems that i have a high sedemtaion rate test score (srt) of 23. Im not sure if that is good or bad but ive got to get some more bloods done next monday for further investigation. Im just a bit concerned as im on some hefty med's for my back any way with little relief, Im on 220mg morphine salts and tamazapam for when i cannot move due to stumbles etc, and im left to manage myself. Ive had a nerve root injection and 12 facet injections ( 6 each time L3-L5) and a chordal epidural as weel with very little improvement. Ive also been in gabapentine and pregabaline in the past but the releif i got from them was not great so was chaged to fentinal patches and then due to inconsitancies in dosagae delivery onto 110mg Zoromorph 2 x daily. I have had to change alot of my hobbies as i used to playfor a chapionship brass band a a tiuba player and play darts at super eague level and match fised for ££ but have had to stop these as well as losing my career. I have started to struby a Bsc in biology and chemistry to get a job in the pharmacutcal industry as i have seen the lack of effective and non damaging drugs for effective pain relife and hope to study this area. thats right ifi have to do it the long way im gonna!! I was just wondering if anyone on here coud shed some light on what to expect next. There is a long history of osteoarthritis in the family for past 5 generations and my mum (56) has jsut been diagnosed as arthitic in her hands, My pain is bad in the morning but worse with cold wet weather ( i know wales in a bit wet) and gets worse when i exert myself a bit to much and i have limited mobility due too pain and in very stiff in my spine in general. If anyone can shed some light for me i would be very interested in your comments. Thanks for reading Jaime :-)

stickywicket

Hello Jamie and welcome to the forum. You have had a lot to contend with at a young age. The fact that you have had to give up so much that you enjoy doing shows that you are adaptable which helps a lot with any form of arthritis.

Good for you, that you wish to retain your mobility as long as possible! I wonder, though, if two sticks might be better than one. Might you be putting pressure on bits of your spine by only using one? I ask as someone who has relatively few spinal problems so I don’t really know what I’m talking about :roll: . (I have RA, and consequent OA, in most other joints but my back’s not bad.)

I think you will find more ‘back people’ if you re-post this thread on the Living With Arthritis forum. There are quite a few about but not everyone looks on here.

dreamdaisy

Hello, it's nice to meet you and I am glad you have found us.

Cor, lumme, you have had a lot to contend with, haven't you? I think for those with OA they can get 'left behind' to deal with things on their own as there is not a great deal to be done apart from pain medications, possibly anti-inflammatories, exercise and then eventually surgery if that is a possibility.

I don't have back problems but my knees are shot to bits and the ankles are not that far behind. I use two crutches as they give better support than just one stick, and I have now graduated to a four-wheeled rollator for longer outings: it has a seat which is an essential nowadays. I began with an auto-immune sort of arthritis and the joint damage that has caused has led to the OA, and yes I find the damp weather afffects it, I think it's something to do with air pressure. There is a new strain of thinking in that OA, like the auto-immune sorts, has a genetic factor to it; you say that a number of generations of your family have it and this would support that claim. I admire your spirited attitiude to things and I hope you manage to qualify in your new career. I wish you well. DD