Fed up with constant pain !!

Sars4185

Hi , sorry to moan . I have OA in my rt knee steroid injection doesn't work and hoping the consultant will let me have a partial knee replacement. I try to live as normal life as possible but the constant, grinding pain is just so disheartening! I take co codamol but at work I can't as it makes me drowsy. I suffer at work on my feet all day as a nurse and when I am home just want to rest it with ice. I try to be as active as possible by going to the gym but even that is getting more restrictive due to my knee deteriorating. Night time i amlying awake due to the pain . Sorry to moan , my family are understanding but you lot know what it's like . When we have bad days we have bad days !
Thanks for listening
Sara

[Deleted User]

Hi Sara,
you have come to the best place, as you say we all understand what a bad day is like. Sorry to hear that you are having so much pain in your knee. It is good that you are keeping as fit as possible but being in constant pain is miserable. We have a section of our website on managing pain which you might find useful here is a link https://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/living-with-arthritis/managing-pain-and-fatigue
I am sure some of our members will have some ideas too. Hope you are having a better day today
Best Wishes
Sharon

dreamdaisy

Pain is the bane of our lives, it grinds away at us, wearing us down and trying our patience to the nth degree. What strength of cocos do you have? I have the 30/500 and am fortunate that I can cope with taking them but maybe there is an alternative that can help you through the day. Obviously your work involves a great deal of standing and walking, have you tried wearing a knee support for short periods whilst at work? This can ease the strain on the leg muscles but one has to be careful not to overuse them because the leg muscles can become 'lazy' this increasing the stress on the joint. DD

ouchpotato

It gets you like that, doesn't it? If I had a penny for every time I said that exact same thing!
Nobody understands how soul destroying constant pain can be, unless they live with it day in and day out. It's exhausting!

I have been on cocodamol for so long that they no longer make me drowsy, more's the pity as insomnia is another bump in the road for me. Do you take NSAIDs? I can't take them, but before they gave me tummy issues I found them better than painkillers.

Hope you feel better(ish) soon.

Sars4185

Thank you for the support, I really appreciate it . Family and friends are good but they don't know what you go through and I am always gritting my teeth pretending things are normal . I have tried nsaids but give me palpitations. I take co codamol 30/500 which takes the edge off for a couple of hours . I have found sleeping with a small pillow under my knee helps .
Thanks for your support, how do you all cope with pain ?
Sara

stickywicket

There was a topic on this some time ago as Arthritis Care were asking us for our own methods. I was pleasantly surprised at how many agreed with me that distraction is one of the best methods. Basically that means anything that you can really get lost in whether that's watching sport, reading a book, doing puzzles etc. After operations I find I can postpone the next round of pain relief just by distracting myself in various ways.

Exercise, too, is important. Sometimes we feel it's the last thing we need but when we're in pain we use muscles and joints differently so some very useful ones aren't used much at all and consequently don't support the aching joints. I learned, when my knee was really bad eg after going round the supermarket, that what I really needed (and hated) was to do my quad exercises. It never made the knee good but it always made it better.

TheLordFlasheart

I too am living with OA (left knee), and I know how you feel when the pain is constant and no matter what you do, it can be hard to cope.

My techniques for managing pain range from raising my leg with an ice pack to help reduce any swelling, to simple distraction - I find either listening to music or reading (or both) helps. I can do both of those on my train to and from work.

Arthritis can at time feel like an univited guest who refuses to leave!

ouchpotato

I agree that distraction is a great tool to have. I have a portable DVD player next to my bed with the entire box set of sex and the city, along with both films, and Bridget Jones! If I wake up (or can't get to sleep in the first place) I watch some of those. I also always take a hot water bottle to bed with me, which is easily moveable to wherever hurts the most (I have most joints affected so it's whichever one is screaming the loudest).

I also use voltarol gel a lot, which can take the edge off.

I can't be cold as that just exacerbates things, so I make sure I am always warm - yesterday I bought a whole pile of disposable hand warmers and gloves which you can still use a touch screen with.

It sucks, it really does, but if you can find humour in whatever way you can it helps!

dreamdaisy

I've learned to ignore it, I learned early on that if I focus on what's hurting where it seemed to increase in its intensity so I don't. My steady but low intake of cocos helps and that leaves me room to manoeuvre for the properly bad times (as opposed to the usual every-day nonsense). I dimly recall my early days of one affected joint and I think that made things worse because the rest of me was OK. Now, twenty years on, I have two kinds of arthritis plus fibro and pain is my default setting (as no pain is my healthy husband's). To my way of thinking forgetting about being pain-free has made life a deal easier to manage, I'm no longer frightened of pain and refuse to let it get the better of me, why should it? DD

Sars4185

Thank you for your comments, I will definitely try distraction. I know I did too much yesterday walking the dogs so I plan to ice and rest it today. I am seeing consultant Wednesday, fingers crossed he will finally agree to a Pkr . I have tried everything thing else which has done nothing and my knee is seriously affecting my work and home life .
Sara

dreamdaisy

Always stop when you think you can do more is my rule-of-thumb. Arthritis affects all areas of our lives, not just our joints, which makes it so pernicious and difficult to live with. Good luck on Wednesday, please let us know how you get on. DD

Sars4185

Thanks DD😄
The consultant has agreed for me to have a TKR due to the OA affecting my quality of life.i am a bit apprehensive about it but I know I need to have it done .
Sara