Hello

Otherhalf

Just joined this forum and wanted to say hi.

My wife has just been diagnosed with Arthritis of the hips. Early days so far but she is experiencing some pain. I want to find out how I can help her and what can we do to ease the pain.

Regards Paul

[Deleted User]

Hi Otherhalf
Sorry to hear about your wife I too have osteoarthritis and know how your wife feels but I have just had a hip replacement,the pain was not good before.
There are a lot of people on the forum who understand and will be sympathetic to how you feel.Just look on the different forums and see which one you would like to communicate in.You can also ring Arthitis care and chat to someone if you prefer the telephone number is on the web site
All the best Christine

stickywicket

Hello Paul. What a kind, thoughtful post!

I suggest you get your wife to check out our Living With Arthritis tab on the above, grey menu. There's lots of good advice.

I've had two hip replacements as my osteoarthritis arose because of damage done by my rheumatoid arthritis (Still with me ). One of the problems with arthritis is that it kind of doesn't follow the rules. We expect pain to tell us that there's something wrong and then we go to the doc who makes it better. Arthritis isn't like that. Yes, there's something wrong but the docs can't make it better and, to some extent, the best thing we can do is plough on through the pain. Exercising the joints does hurt but is necessary because it makes the muscles supporting the joints strong and strong muscles mean less pain. Of course, there are limits. All of us on here know when we've done too much as we get 'payback' but, generally speaking, keeping going is good. So is a generally healthy diet and keeping the weight down. However, this is probably something best dealt with by the patient themselves. It probably wouldn't be good for a relationship if the partner took charge

Unfortunately, arthritis affects everyone in a household not just the person with the aches and pains. We all deal with things in our own ways. I, personally, hate it when people do things for me that I'm perfectly capable of doing myself but I do love it when eg my sons and even my young grandsons think up ways of including me in activities I might not otherwise be capable of.

I guess, mostly, it's about talking to each other. It's all too easy for the person with the pain to clam up so as not to inflict it on others while the 'others' also clam up because they feel they have no right to complain.

Would your wife like to join us on here? Or have a chat with our lovely Helpline people? You're both very welcome.