OA Advice

kazzab456

Hi

I have OA in my right hip and in my ac joint of my left shoulder plus cubital tunnel in both arms which mean that I don't really sleep at night due to the pain/discomfort and because my OA is in two different parts of the body I'm seeing two specialists so there's no consistent care plan in place.

I saw my hip consultant last September and he just said you're too young for a hip replacement come back in 12 months and he didn't discuss anything else with me re pain relief etc. My hip pain has recently gone really bad and I'm now struggling with walking. I had a Pain Clinic appt last summer and they've shown me how to do accupuncture and I'm taking codeine and paracetamol together as and when needed, which is mainly at night because I'm worried about being addicted to it if I take it during the day but I'm now finding that it's not strong enough at night and I need to re-think my medication options.

I'm at a loss as to who to contact to discuss my medication I'm not sure if it's best to see my gp now or wait until my appointment at the pain clinic at the end of August. I'm at the stage now where I really need pain relief but I'm paranoid about becoming addicted to painkillers as there's been a lot of bad press about drug addiction recently.

Sorry for the rambling post...

Thanks

frogmorton

You poor thing

GP would be my suggestion too. Are you taking an anti-inflammatory as well as the painkillers? If you can take it ,(ibuprofen upsets my stomach as does diclofenac), it can really help. People who take anti-inflams regularly often take it with a proton pump inhibitor, (PPI!!! alright another tablet really), which protects our stomachs.

I am like you sacred of addiction to tablets and also the opiate types make me woozy. So I have my tablets in patch form. They stay all the time and I never feel desperate for pain relief nor 'out of it'.

Don't worry about rambling, (although your post was perfectly readable to me!), we all do it from time to time.

Love

Toni xx