I was always told by medical people "lose weight and that'll help your joints, your pain will reduce and your mobility will improve".
Well so far from my perspective, this is all great big fat whopping lies. My ankle (which I had operated on last July) is absolutely awful at the moment and is again keeping me awake at night. My other joints have well and truly joined in the party - a party to which I am sadly an unwanted participant.
I have another follow-up appointment 11th January for my ankle (following my op last July) and will now have to update the consultant with the facts as they are so it'll not be a positive experience for the consultant sadly.
My joints always flare in the winter so I'm not overly surprised, but what has taken me aback rather, is the intensity of the pain, stiffness and especially with my ankle the spasms of pain which are coming from deep within the joint.
However, there are a lot of people a lot worse off than myself, I remind myself of that daily and continue to count my blessings. Apologies for the moan, I don't often give in as you know.
Hope you are all as pain free as possible.
GraceB
Turn a negative into a positive!
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I still think you are to be commended for sticking to your diet and losing the weight. You've done so well and I think it will help you in a lot of ways, maybe just not right away. So give yourself a big pat on the back. I for one, admire your accomplishment!
Be kind to yourself and you have best wishes from me.
Anna
Melanie
My ankle is still absolutely chronic today and is just not settling. It'll be interesting to see what the consultant thinks when I see him on the 11th.
It's going to be a busy time for me as 8th Jan I have my pre-op for my gallbladder op; 11th is my orthopaedic consultant follow-up from my ankle surgery last July; and then of course 16th Jan I'll be waving goodbye - with the help of a general surgeon - to my gallbladder and that day can't come quickly enough for me.
Thanks again.
GraceB
All I know for certain, courtesy or Arthritis Research UK, is that those who are overweight are more likely to get OA, that losing weight slows down cartilege damage and inflammation and that exercising arthritic knees helps to preserve them.
Whatever it does or doesn't do for the OA though your weight loss will surely help to prevent other problems arising so has to be good. The fact that you've persevered over Christmas and despite the gall bladder problems shows your determination. That must be good even if it doesn't seem to translate into less pain.
It's quite possible that you would have had problems with pain anyway, simply because you've been having considerable other health issues. Being fearful(not surprisingly) of the pain of your gall bladder has probably sent some very unhelpful messages to your arthritic joints, and now you have the stressful anticipation of the op.
Well done on your continued weight loss - it will have benefits, even if positive effects on pain levels aren't among them at the moment, not least of which is that the medics won't be able to dismiss your difficulties so easily under the 'overweight' cop out!
I shall plod on with the weight loss and in the meantime have resorted to heat, tubigrip around the ankle, my anti inflammatory gel, keeping the ankle moving and resting it.
If it's still this bad on the 11th when I see my ortho., cons., at least he'll see it when it's really playing up.
GraceB