Frustrated with just OA

Jenny1
Jenny1 Member Posts: 17
edited 26. May 2014, 07:24 in Living with Arthritis archive
Hi all,
It's been a while since I've been on here but my joints are still playing up.I have thoracic and lumbar degeneration. Have kneecap arthritis and it's started in the rest of my knee.
My feet hurt quite a bit too. I went to a second rheumatologist recently and for the first time my ANA was negative. So I am in the just OA club. I was told by the assistant doctor if I went to bed earlier my muscles would be less sore and was discharged. I have had a lot of lower back pain recently and since that appointment I had a private MRI which has shown lumbar stenosis due to bone spurs. I am in my thirties and at times find it overwhelming that I am running into trouble with some joint or other all the time and have to have a lot of physio to keep mobile. I work full time and spend the weekend recovering. I am doing all I can to eat well and keep active. I just feel this can't be right but there is no support. Is this the common experience with OA?.

Comments

  • Numptydumpty
    Numptydumpty Member Posts: 6,417
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    :o:( so that would be the end to all our problems, just go to bed earlier! if only we'd known sooner! :lol:
    It really does beggar belief!
    Numpty
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Unlike you I have two kinds of arthritis and of the two I prefer the OA because it is more honest in its presentation. Mine is in both ankles, both knees, both hips and is beginning to affect my neck and other upper body areas. The ubiquity of arthritis is its downfall; there are around eight million arthritics in the UK, the majority of which have OA. It is a degenerative and progressive condition and nothing can be done about it in the usually better understood medical terms (take these pills and it will clear up) until joint replacements become an option (and that's only if it's in the right sort of joints).

    Yours appears to be spreading and it may be time to begin considering some changes, especially regarding work. What do you do? DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    It is quite difficult to get the head round but, yes, OA is a bit of a cinderella. The perception is (wrongly) that it's just something old people get and I doubt it attracts much research funding. Like DD, I have a foot in both arthritic camps. The RA is controlled by meds which can bring their own problems but the resulting OA I just have to deal with by exercise, a good, healthy diet and pain relief.

    It's to your credit that you continue to work full time but maybe the time has come to see if something should change. We each have to live with our disease(s) in our own way. It seems to me you have done your best to keep going and you're now struggling to do so. Can Occupational Health help you in your workplace? Could you do fewer hours or change jobs? Lateral thinking might be required.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Jenny1
    Jenny1 Member Posts: 17
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I know if only I had known about going to bed early was the answer would have saved me a fortune on physiotherapy.I have been to occupational health and I got a good chair to sit on and that helps. I am eating healthy and keeping active. My GP wants me to go to pain management but not very keen on that. I try to avoid taking too much medication. I guess what I'm finding hard is how isolated I feel.It's hard to explain that the sore back never goes away so I keep it to myself.At the same time I don't want to belittle your pain as I know RA is much more difficult. It's good to have a moan though.
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I think you have hit the nail on the proverbial head, Jenny. Pain of any kind, but especially chronic pain, is isolating and that is a big part of the problem. And also a good reason for the popularity of this forum. We none of us want to be bleating on about it, day after day, to our families, friends and work colleagues. Yet we can't get away from it ourselves. I think, for our sanity's sake, we all need an escape valve - someone and / somewhere with whom we can just be ourselves and have a moan before taking up the cudgels again.

    Pain clinics do divide people but many have derived help from them. They don't just prescribe meds: they also teach techniques for dealing with pain. I guess we need all the help we can get.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Numptydumpty
    Numptydumpty Member Posts: 6,417
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Pain is pain, is a pain :cry: who can measure it?
    All you can do is keep on keeping on, we are always here, and we do understand (((())))
    Numpty
  • bubbadog
    bubbadog Member Posts: 5,544
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    We are all here for each other to help and support one another as much as we can. Pain is horrible full stop but we can't just stop and become depressed as that's letting Arther beat us! So we get up dust ourselves off and keep going any which way we can! (stopping now and again to take 5 and catch our breaths! :) )
  • DebbieT
    DebbieT Member Posts: 1,033
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I'll start by doing this ((((Jenny))))
    You sound like you need some hugs & these virtual ones are all I can offer.

    I have OA & Psoriatic (PsA) so a foot in both camps for me too. Unlike many tho mine seem to have developed along side each other not one causing the other later. I was diagnosed with both in 07 aged 37yrs.

    Please don't think ure pain is any less important or relevant because it's caused by OA rather than an autoimmune type. I tell my Fibromyalgia group that ALL pain is relevant especially to the individual living with it!!

    Any type of chronic pain should never be ignored or belittled by Drs, friends & relatives. I don't think ul find a single forum member who hasn't whimpered & felt beaten down by it at one time or another, sadly!!

    I hope you change your mind about going to the pain clinic. They can offer not just medication but pain management techniques & courses as well as alternative therapies at some clinics :) The courses are real eye openers to how pain works & therefore how we should best treat it as an entity!! Staying ahead of pain, it seems, is key.

    I do understand many people's fear of pain medication. I certainly don't advocate walking around like zombies or high as kites, I definitely couldn't live like that myself but wot I do say is this ... Our conditions, OA etc, are for life so pain management & therefore, at some point, pain medications will become a part of our lives too. People talk of addiction I talk of dependence .... It's a slightly different view but it's one that my Drs certainly understand & agree wholeheartedly with!!

    Some food for thought I hope :wink: Don't fear the unknown, we're all in it together with you!! Lean on us wen ever you feel the need.

    ((((Hugs))))

    Xxx xxX
    Healing Hugs
    Debbie.x
  • Sarah01
    Sarah01 Member Posts: 192
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Jenny,

    I second everything Debbie has written in her post. I have OA in 1 hip now after my THR and just had it confirmed this afternoon that I have OA in my right knee. I was diagnosed with OA last year aged 41yrs. It came as one hell of a shock as I thought you could only get OA when you were older. How wrong I was and after spending months researching OA and chatting on here, I came to full understand that OA or even RA can affect a person at any age.

    I took medication for months, sometimes it worked, other times it never took the edge off. I learnt to deal with it and know when my body was telling me to ease up and rest for a while. I have never been offered an appointment to a pain management clinic. Every time I speak to my GP it's the same thing "do you need more pain killers???" I have weaned myself off the pain meds and only take them as and when I absolutely need them.

    We all suffer with the pain from Arthur, whether it is OA or RA. Everyone is different with how they feel the pain. Some days I had niggles, other days I was crippled with pain. I got so depressed after my THR as I couldn't cope with the pain. Thankfully I had lovely people on here who supported me. Now I am back at work and although I have OA in the other hip and in 1 knee, I keep on going despite the pain as I know they will get sorted in time. As Bubbadog says "we get up and dust ourselves off".

    As you have already read from other members we are to help and support you whenever you need us :)

    Take care
    Sarah x
  • Beelee
    Beelee Member Posts: 14
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Jenny1 wrote:
    Hi all,
    It's been a while since I've been on here but my joints are still playing up.I have thoracic and lumbar degeneration. Have kneecap arthritis and it's started in the rest of my knee.
    My feet hurt quite a bit too. I went to a second rheumatologist recently and for the first time my ANA was negative. So I am in the just OA club. I was told by the assistant doctor if I went to bed earlier my muscles would be less sore and was discharged. I have had a lot of lower back pain recently and since that appointment I had a private MRI which has shown lumbar stenosis due to bone spurs. I am in my thirties and at times find it overwhelming that I am running into trouble with some joint or other all the time and have to have a lot of physio to keep mobile. I work full time and spend the weekend recovering. I am doing all I can to eat well and keep active. I just feel this can't be right but there is no support. Is this the common experience with OA?.

    Hi jenny I have just started writing on here and one of the things I found most painful was the muscle pain in my calves and thighs, they felt like they were so knotted and tight I could hardly move and they kept me awake most nights. I took myself to my Physio a young woman who has treated me for other aches and pains, she does acupuncture and massage. When I saw her she strapped both of my ankles to take some of the pressure off my knees (don't know how this works but it did). I leave the strapping on and go and see her every 3 or 4 days and she rewraps them. She also did some deep massage and acupuncture. My muscle pain want away entirely after the first visit. I am going to continue seeing her for a "tune up" every few weeks In future and hope this helps me. I don't know if you have somewhere close to where you live that you might be able to get something similar.
    I think whatever helps is worth a go.

    I should say however I am still on 25mg of prednisone for another week and then slowly coming down, it may be that this is also why I am in a better state.

    I hope you get some help.

    Birgit
  • Jenny1
    Jenny1 Member Posts: 17
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks again for the kind words and virtual hugs!. I was very upset at the way I was treated at the rheumatology clinic.The doc has obviously never spent the night awake with a pain in a joint. I go to physio and have been to an osteopath too. Found that very good for muscles. I also have an underactive thyroid and since getting that treated my muscle spasms are much less severe. The joint pain is still there though.I keep mobile and am losing weight which will all help. It is the end of the working week and I am exhausted. Work is very stressful at the moment so it's hard going but I will keep on keeping on. Will chat to my GP and see what I can do with my back because it is very bothersome. Glad to be able to relax for the weekend. Hope you all have a good weekend :-D.
  • celebrationb
    celebrationb Member Posts: 134
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    hi I have oa in my left leg and trapped fermal nerve too. as everyone has said pain is pain, i have a good family but docs hopeless. Its not nice being in pain/discomfort all the time. I was told in nov last year about having oa and its been a struggle but with the great people whi understands here it helps.( it dont say pain i think discomfort is better) but it can be very very bad at times.
    Life goes on with or without pain.