So much pain and don't know where to turn

junopug

Hi guys. I'm new here and am just hoping I could get some advice.
I have bad osteoarthritis of my spine and sciatica along with M.E. I suspect by the level of pain I am in right now something else has happened. I'm usually quite strong when it comes to pain. I take very strong painkillers. .oxycontin and gabapentin.
And I take them on an as needed and am very careful to make sure I have narcotic pain relief holidays,as a way of trying not to continually need a higher dose.
This pain feels more acute though if that any sense? I've lived through flare ups but this feels more extreme than that. And my legs feel like they want to give up on me all the time. They are so weak.I have to drag/crawl to the loo.

I feel stuck though,I'm overweight and as such have massive feelings of guilt and not being worthy of help. I hardly ever go to the Dr's and I'm not under an kind of specialist as I had my diagnosis,some steroid injections with the ultrasound (didn't work) and no follow up.
What do you think I should do? Are you allowed to call an out of hours Dr? Do you think they will say it's got this bad because I'm fat and have brought it on myself? I've given birth twice with hardly any pain relief and would take that pain every time over what I'm feeling now. I'm only 35 and my 89 year old nan has a better quality of life than me.
Would so love some advice.

dan x

Dancing Girl

Just want to say sorry you're in so much pain atm. Don't beat yourself up, the pain is bad enough in itself Perhaps out of hours could help you though, definately worth a try. x

stickywicket

Hello Dan. It's good to meet you but you do sound to be in a bad way right now and I'm sorry about that.

If it's OA that you have it would be unlikely that you'd be under a specialist as they normally only deal with auto-immune forms of arthritis. Steroid injections are very fickle things – they work for some and not others. So it's normal to be treated by your GP for what you have and you seem to be treading a careful path with the strong pain relief. 'Pain relief holidays'? How does that work out then? How long can you cope without them?

We're not qualified to diagnose anything, but weakness in the legs just doesn't sound like any arthritis I've had. (I have RA and OA.) I've really struggled to walk due to pain but not weakness apart from the weakness of joints giving way.

You've been very honest and upfront about being overweight but please don't feel guilty about it. Guilt is such a useless emotion. Being overweight certainly plays a part in OA of the knees but I don't know if it does, or not, with the spine. I think if you have spinal problems coupled with weakness in your legs you really should see a doc. Are you allowed to call an out-of-hours one? Of course if you feel you need to but how these services operate varies from one part of the country to another. I think your first port of call should be your own GP's surgery. The answerphone will probably give instructions about what to do if the surgery is closed. If not, you could try 111.

Please let us know how you get on.

junopug

Thank you ever so much for your reply and your concern. With the pain relief holidays I stop taking the narcotic strength painkillers for up to a fortnight and that then helps to keep my tolerance a little lower and stops me having to always ask for stronger and stronger doses.
Sadly at the minute the pain is so bad nothing seems to be even touching it. There's nothing as lonely as 3 am when you're lying in bed with the entire night stretching ahead of you and nothing to relieve the horrible grinding pain.
I wish I could lose the weight but at the moment with my mobility being at almost zero it's just not coming off.

I was enquiring about the out of hours doctors as earlier I really felt like I just couldn't cope and have heard people mentioning docs being able to come out and give a pain killing injection.
After taking some of my breakthrough meds I don't feel quite as out of control. I'm still in a considerable amount of pain but I'll be able to last until surgery opens and I'll go then. The other thing I forgot to mention was numbness and pins and needles in my legs,has anybody ever had these?

Thanks for listening again. It means ever so much.

Danni x

Megrose489

Hi Danni. Sorry to hear that you're in so much pain and hope that you can see your GP today. If it's difficult - our surgery runs on a triage system - I would push for an emergency appointment and mention your pain and the pins and needles. I had these symptoms, including the weakness, a few years ago and my problem turned out to be a prolapsed disc. My big toe was paralysed, too. Obviously, this is my personal experience, but you really need to see your doctor. Do let us know how you get on.

Meg

stickywicket

Firstly, well done on getting through the night but, yes, please do ensure you see a doc today. As Megrose has said, this could be nerve pain and, although it might simply be a matter of different meds, it should be properly monitored.

Have you ever had physio? Not being able to move around is bad for us in many ways. Perhaps a course of physio would help you to get more mobile. You could also ask your doc about a referral to a Pain Clinic. They teach lots of techniques for dealing with pain.

Your weight is clearly preying on your mind. Why not, for a start, just stop buying cakes, biscuits, crisps and chocolate? I find what I don't have in the house I can't eat

Please tell your GP about the numbness and pins and needles. That's as important as the pain. Then get back to us and tell us how you got on, OK?