Back after a reprieve...

ouchpotato

...but back with a vengeance! Hello everyone, I haven't been on the forum for quite a few months; I had a nice break from pain (well, not totally but a good reduction) over the summer but it's back worse than ever and I'm climbing the walls.

The pain levels had been increasing slowly, but then last week the whole house was hit with the norovirus. The sickness itself was fairly short lived, but I was in bed with it for 24 hours as every time I moved I felt nauseous again. But when I did get up the pain went through the roof. It felt as if someone had my hips in a vice, crushing pain in both of them, and accompanying groin, thigh and lower back pain. That was a week ago and I am still crippled with it, and back on 2 crutches. I can't bear the pain, I think I scared my little girl when I broke down crying a couple of days ago.
To recap, last year's MRIs and X Rays showed OA in the hip and spine, along with a ruptured disc and spinal stenosis. I also have OA in shoulder, elbow, knee, foot etc but those are manageable. I'm at my wit's end.

I'm on amitriptyline at night for the neuropathic pain, and 30/500 cocodamol which I try not to take regularly but at the moment I am popping them like smarties. It got so bad that my son wanted to go and get me some cannabis as he couldn't stand to see me like it.

I have a 4 month old grandson now, and cannot lift him or take him out of his cot which is heartbreaking...I'm only 45. And my daughter got engaged recently and wants me to go wedding dress shopping with her tomorrow and the thought of it makes me want to cry.

Not sure what I'm hoping for apart from a friendly ear and a place to vent!

Thanks

x

stickywicket

Hello again, ouchpotato. How lovely that you had a good summer but I'm sorry things have now taken a downturn. Maybe the bug itself, plus the enforced bedrest, took its toll on your joints. I hope your little grandson has managed to stay free from it.

Forget the wedding shopping if you're not up to it. Try another day. I'm sure there'll be time. What you can't do, you can't do and that will keep. And don't worry about not being able to pick your grandson up. I never could with mine but I could hold him when someone placed him in my arms, and play with him, and talk to him, and I did Come to think of it, I was hopeless at picking up my own sons but we all survived.

Of course it's OK to vent on here. Far better than with the family. We can't do much on the practical front but we can all empathise.

lulubell69

Welcome back.
Sorry you having a difficult time, me too. I sometimes think that you get so used living in pain, you tend to forget what it's like to live a normal life. I've been awake for over three hours now, still in bed. Hubby just gone to work. I'm working my way up to getting out of bed. The pain and stiffness is very often overwhelming. Let alone the fatigue. However, this is so normal to me now. I'm not complaining, it's just so different how it used to be. I'm your age with children so I can empathise.
Incidentally, was it you who wrote a book. If so, how did it go.
Hope you are felling better soon.
Lesley

dreamdaisy

It's nice to see your name again, unlike you I had a miserable summer due to the good weather setting off my PsA, now I'm back to the usual levels of dross with the OA. :roll: Don't overdo the cocos, it may be time to get something stronger from your GP to tide you over until you've readjusted to how things (in my experience) usually are. DD

bubbadog

It was nice to see your name on the forum, glad you did get a reprieve for the summer but now Autumn is here and it is bringing the damp cold weather with it which means hibernation time! Sorry you had the dreaded norovirus! I've had it once a while back and it's still in my memory because of how sick I was, me and the toilet became well acquainted! I hope you can find away to go shopping with your daughter because I'm sure she will want to do and only you, maybe she can rearrange it so you can get your strength up to do it. I hope you feel a little better soon & it is good to see you back.

ouchpotato

Thanks everyone. Sticky...my grandson did escape the bug, in fact we think we got it from him as he had the norovirus vaccination prior to us getting ill, and it is passed through into a baby's nappy. So I think possibly my daughter caught it that way, and then passed it on. So thankful that it was short lived. My 10 year old daughter also escaped it.

Lulu, I'm sorry you are suffering too. When I say I had a pain free summer I think what I should have said was that I had a summer where the pain was at a level that was 'normal' for me and manageable (because what choice do we have but to manage???) But this latest flare has knocked me for six. I'm hesitant to call it a flare as I didn't think OA flared, but who knows? Yes, it was me who wrote a book...I did complete it but it turned into more of a therapy for me (exorcising the past) so it will stay confined to my memory stick I think! But I have lots of ideas floating around in my head for another one so I will let you know!

DD, How awful for you, not benefitting from the heat of the summer. I have heard of quite a few people who say the summer is perhaps more cruel than the winter for them. I have to say that, despite the reprieve, I dislike summer and much prefer the autumn. I like to layer up, have the heating on and use hot water bottles. I have tried to lay off the cocos as much as I could, although in the process I did wonder if it was worth it because my day was so much harder yesterday without. However, by 6pm I'd had enough and had to take them. I don't know what else I can take, as I am unable to take anything morphine based.

Bubbadog, I didn't go shopping with my daughter but there is plenty of time - they have only just got engaged and I don't think we will see a wedding for another 2 years. They are moving into their own place next week so all their money will be tied up in that. I am going to miss them terribly - she is the first to fly the nest, and also I have had my grandson living with me since he was born so that will be a terrible wrench. Her partner has also been with us since the baby was born, so in one fell swoop my family will be halved! And my son is rarely at home - he is at college and working, and when he's not doing either he is at the gym or skating so it will be me and my youngest daughter rattling around.

I'm feeling a bit better today, although my back and hips are feeling very unstable if that makes sense? And if I move suddenly the pain floors me. But some of the intensity has gone, so I am grateful for that.

Stay safe in the wind today everyone.

x

barbara12

Hello ouchpotato
I am glad to see you had a good summer pain wise..I really do feel for you I have a couple of unstable disc and stenosies in my back ..has well has the hips..but I am older so count myself lucky that I had done most things before arthritis hit..I have 3 GC..and looked after the two older ones for many years. but now we have the baby and like you I cant lift her..I take pregabalin for my back pain and it does help but you have to up them slowly..I have OA and do have flares but they are short lived unlike people with RA..is there anyone that can help out and give you some me time...and have you seen a pain clinic at all...sorry Im not much help but at least I understand... hope thing get easier for you soon..(((())) xx

stickywicket

ouchpotato wrote:

...my grandson did escape the bug, in fact we think we got it from him as he had the norovirus vaccination prior to us getting ill

:? Are you sure? I didn't think they'd come up with a vaccine yet for norovirus. Anyway, hopefully you're all over it now.

I'm glad you passed on the shopping trip. There will be plenty of time for that. Why not do some preliminary searches online so you have an idea of what you're looking for and where.

As for losing half the household in one go – well, there are two ways of looking at that. Remember the old joke – you're not losing a daughter, you're gaining a bathroom And skype is brilliant.

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better today

ouchpotato

Sticky...my mistake, they give babies a rotavirus vaccine via oral drops, not norovirus. But whatever it was it was horrid!
I have to admit it will be nice to have the house back to normal - there is barely room to turn around at the moment with all the baby stuff! They aren't moving far, a 25 minute bus ride, so I will soon get the excitement of visits instead!

dreamdaisy

The hot weather is renowned for improving osteoarthritis symptoms so it's little wonder that you had a better time whilst it lasted. I've never like summer, when I was young severe asthma ruined it for months, year after year (this was pre-inhaler days, they hadn't been invented) and now I'm old and decrepit the PsA ruins it. It's a case of mind over matter, I might mind but that doesn't matter.

For what it's worth I don't think that OA flares in the same way as an auto-immune. When the PsA flares it affects all of me but when the OA kicks off it does so with increased pain levels (which eventually return to the norm). It will be good to have your house back, having a bit of space around you is always lovely! DD

stickywicket

You were all very unlucky to get the rotavirus. It's usually just small children who get it hence the vaccine.

Half an hour is no great distance. As my Mum used to say “It's lovely to see you come but it's lovely to see you go again.”

barbara12

Hello ouch
Hope you are all feeling better..its horrible my youngest son and the baby have been laid up with the virus...they visited today so I have been wiping round with the antibacterial cloths.. x