On the OA drugs roundabout....

Ladybrown

Hello again - it's been a while since I posted (mostly, I think, because I have been trying to ignore this stupid disease [OA in knees - and I have just turned 40 but surgeon says they are the knees of someone in their 70s].

It's been a funny old time here and I think I need to be trying to readjust again :-( I'm sure lots of you can empathise with my recent drugs experiences (co-codamol and amitryptaline: fine but not enough on it's own, ibuprofen: tummy probs, naproxen: photosensitivity, gabapentin: all very pleasant but no pain relief, celacoxib: pins and needles in left hand and foot, currently trying Etoricoxib and hoping for the best) - it feels bit like a roundabout and I was wondering if anyone could recommend anything I can suggest to my newly acquired (not very sympathetic) GP?

I did try a hyaluronic acid injection earlier in the year and all I can report from that is a horribly stiff knee for the best part of a week and no pain relief!
In the meantime, I have just had a particularly unpleasant telephone consultation with the GP who said that 'people like me' should accept being disabled and I stop trying to maintain my teaching career - I kid you not, he actually said that I should try to be more like 'people who get their legs blown off in Afghanistan', find an opportunity and take up a new career. So I'm going to see if Prince Harry is looking to go on any Arctic exhibitions in the near future ;-)

Anyway, aside from taking a day off (just couldn't face the classroom the day after), I'm now trying to figure out what to do next. GP tells me that 30% of people regret a knee replacement (not convinced by that at all) and I know that I am considered too young for that (not to mention it scares me - almost as much as the fireworks scare my dog!), so I wondered if anyone has any suggestions? I'm doing my best not to be upset at the moment (although, hilariously, my dog's response to the hacking sobs which resulted from the telephone consultation in which I was basically told to 'man up' was to confusedly climb on me and hump me....).
Any suggestions gratefully received

Slosh

Firstly can you change your GP?

Secondly if you have not already done this can you ask to be referred to your school's Occupational Health team, or request another appointment. They will be able to make reccomendations for reasonable adjustments that can be made. I've ben to them about 4 times now and find them really helpful and supportive.

Also have you invesigated Access to work? If you contact them via job centre plus and you are eligible they will arrange for you to have a work place assessment and wil make reccomendations for equipment and modifications, as you work in a school any provision has to be part funded from the school's budget but it might be worth investigating.

daffy2

Goodness your GP really overstepped the mark there didn't he, I'm not surprised you ended up in tears. His choice of example to 'persuade' you to change career wasn't well chosen either - those injured in Afghanistan frequently do their utmost to stay in the forces and continue their career.In any case a change of career(assuming it were possible) isn't going to magically make your health problems go away - you'll still have OA knees to deal with and a need for pain management. It sounds a bit as if he doesn't know what to do to help you and doesn't want to admit it. As Slosh says can you change GP?

dreamdaisy

What a fabulous GP - not. :x What arthritis does he have? How many joints has he had replaced? Twerp. All theory and no reality. Double twerp. I'm not fond of people who pull figures out of thin air and apply them across the board, I daresay there have been those who regret a replacement, I know one lady who does ( I see her occasionally) but I have little empathy for her because she refused to do the post-op exercises. She thought she knew better than the surgeon and physios so has messed up an expensive procedure through her own stupidity. Many more, however, have gained a new lease of life once they've had the operation and more power to their elbows (as well as their knees ).

My cousin's wife (55) is on her third revision, having had her first at the age of nineteen but that was due to bone cancer. This may have to be her final one because they are running out of bone in which to insert the new joint. I am still waiting for my first but have now concluded I won't bother because I prefer the devils I know. The truth about OA is that nothing does what we want it to do in terms of pain relief and replacements won't happen until a certain level of damage is reached. We have to adjust what we do and how we do it, and we have to learn to live with the pain.

Pain is an affront, an intrusion. It grinds away at us making us cross and tired, we have to make more of an effort to achieve what we used to do without thinking because of the blasted pain. We alter how we stand and move and sit so it starts affecting other joints because we are throwing those out of kilter. It is the ground elder of our lives. We understand that it's the body's alarm system but unlike toothache or an exploding appendix the source of the trouble cannot be instantly removed thus sorting the pain.

Are you using any walking aids? They won't take all the pain away but they can relieve some of it. I've been on crutches since 2002 (never lost them after an open synovectomy) and have now graduated to a rollator. Not quite the look I envisaged having in my early 50s but what the heck, it helps me get out and do more. I worked for seventeen years, steadily deteriorating all the time, but was fortunate in that I was self-employed so could tailor things to suit. Come 2011 is all got too much.

Your future is in your hands, you can decide what is best for you. I would lodge a complaint with the Practice Manager about Mr Rude then ask around friends and neighbours to see if they can recommend a more kindly GP. DD

hileena111

What a dreadful doctor. How unsympathetic he is......I wonder how long his patients stay with him???
Can you change to another GP...either within the practice or a completely different one.?
Next thing is your practice manager.....I'm sure he would be shocked if you told him what you have just told us.
I have OA but its hips not knees and have problems after
the 2nd replacement. I'm going round in circles trying to find a medicine that will ease the pain of this fracture {which is permanent}
Good Luck....I think a new GP and then the Practice manager ...even if you do go to a new GP I think the Practice Manager should know how he treats patients

Love
Hileena

frogmorton

Gosh

What a nasty experience!

I am so so sorry and offer you a HUGE () hug.

I am on the same anti-inflammatory as you are now trying. I do get the odd mouth ulcer/taste change on them, but otherwise they do help a bit.

Only other things worth trying are heat and cold, both of which you could try if you haven't already. You can get both in 'patch' form over the counter so are 'portable' and you can carry on WORKING if you want to!!!

Honestly it's all very well him saying you shouldn't want to carry on working but really???? :shock: :shock: incredible....

I am so sorry

Love

Toni xx

emmaadams

oh my gosh he certainly has a poor bedside manor !!!

i can only agree with what every one else has said and to change your GP and inform the practice manager of his horrid remarks ..

have you tried an ibuprofen gel ?? i too have OA of the knees and i find this works a little better for me as i cant take the pills due to stomach problems . i am also on gabapentin im on 2400 mg each day . if and when you get a new GP would it be possible for him/her to increase the dosage ? as it goes up to 3200 mg daily is the max allowance for it ??


i hope you feel better soon xxxxx

Ladybrown

Thanks for the advice all. I'm going to finish writing my complaint this week and ask to have a proper discussion with someone at the surgery because I keep getting different advice and it's just plain confusing. I'm working on the theory that perhaps the doc was having a bad day, but even so.... I've been put back a bit after the sudden passing of my uncle the day after I posted (and if there's anything to help me keep things in perspective, that's it - he was only 48). I do have crutches (a set at home and a set by my desk in case I have a bad day or a wondering kneecap incident at work), but I am starting to realise that I need to use them more perhaps than I do. Lucky for me my post-16 students are very supportive and always check that I am ok (quite sweet, really). I've also decided to get a few mobility aids for the house (bath steps and the like) because there is no point struggling, is there?

Work-wise, I am hopefully in a better position and will request to have my lessons in appropriate rooms - it's a big college and sometimes I have to change buildings, although the students understand it takes time. I am hoping to hear in the next week or so whether I will be in a post which reduces my teaching time by 30% so that I can still keep my income in the short term (might as well pay off as much mortgage as we can!) and not give up the career I love! I've also found a microwave in work so I can take my little re-heatable knee pad in, hurrah!

I'm finding the new anti-inflammitaries good, so fingers crossed :-) Hopefully I will get a new GP at the practice who has a little more sympathy, and I think I will hang around the boards here a bit more again - I do find that reading and chatting here helps

Onwards and upwards - and thanks for all the school-specific advice Slosh!
xx

Slosh

Glad to hear things are starting to improve, and glad to have been of help. I ultimately applied for a reduction in hours under flexible working time law and had the support of my union in this. It has meant a drop in pay, and the compromise of giving up my role of Inclusion Manager / SENCO which I loved but was really stressful for a new one linked to reading intervention and making use of my dyslexia training.

Hope you manage to find a more supportive GP as it makes a huge difference.