No help from Doctors and too young to be taken seriously.

JCR2951

Hi,

This is my first post as I have only just heard about this forum.

My name is Jess and I am 24 years old; I have been suffering with Osteoarthritis for just over 1 year now. It all happened out of nowhere; I stood up to make dinner one night and got excruciating pain in my foot, the next day it was swollen and I could not put any wait on it. I went to the doctors several times over the course of a few months, and they just kept telling me that I had probably broken a bone in my foot and that I was too young to be suffering arthritis. After countless blood tests and x-rays, they finally sent me to the hospital to have an MRI scan and referred me to the Rheumatology department. The doctor was extremely unhelpful and referred me to the Lower Limb Clinic, they looked at the MRI results and informed me that I did have a form of Arthritis. The Lower Limb Clinic then referred me back to Rheumatology, who said they couldn't help me and re-referred me back to the Lower Limb Clinic. Luckily after a year I was able to have a steroid injection into the joint of my toe, which has sort of helped, but I am still getting a lot of pain.

I am now getting pain in my fingers and my other foot (the exact same pain, but no swelling). I went back to the doctors to tell them about my pain and they told me that I am just sensitive to pain and that I need to eat more vegetables!! I also suffer with depression and anxiety and just feel so down a lot of the time. I used to be very active, but I now find myself unable to do a lot of things that I used to do. I do not know what options I have left - the doctors won't help and the hospital just keeps passing me around departments. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I just want to know that I have support, but I am not being offered any. Also, if you suffer with OA, which hospital department do you go to? I am hoping that I can ask to be referred to the correct department. I have been given no form of pain relief either, just basically been told that I have got to deal with it.

I am sorry for the long post, it is just nice to vent sometimes! Especially to people who will understand what I am going through.

[Deleted User]

Hi and welcome - don't worryabout venting your anger 'better out than in'
take a look at
https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/
we on here have all sorts of experience/advice and are very supportive - any questions just ask
Al

JCR2951

Thank you very much!

stickywicket

Hi Jess and welcome from me, too.

You do have to put up with it but not on your own. You have us now and we all understand the pain of arthritis.

I can understand the rheumatologist discharging you. They only deal with inflammatory forms of arthritis such as rheumatoid and psoriatic. It's GPs who deal with osteo and that sounds to be what you have,

So, you need a sympathetic GP. Is thereanother one in the practice? You don't have to only see your named GP. Find a good one

Mod Al has given you a useful link about managing pain. The docs can only prescribe pain relief and anti-inflammatory meds. They do help but we can get too dependent on them so anything we can do for ourselves is good whether it's a healthy diet, losing weight, exercising etc. It all helps.

You have posted here on the 'Young People's Forum' but it's always a very quiet one. Why not join the rest of us on Living With Arthritis and / or Chit Chat

JCR2951

Hi Stickywicket,

Thank you so much, it is nice to know that I am not alone with this. It is so difficult to discuss it with my friends sometimes, as fortunately, none of them have suffered with arthritis or anything similar before.

Thank you for that information, I was not aware that it would be my GP who deals with it - I will go back again!

I have managed to have a look at the link, and it is very helpful. I only use paracetamol when the pain gets too much to cope with, as I do not like using pain killers all the time (I just did not know if they could prescribe me something for when the pain does get too much).

I do exercise as much as I can (I tend to walk everyday) and I do lead a healthy lifestyle - which I imagine does help.

I will have a look at those - thank you for the recommendation and for taking the time to write back to me.

stickywicket

You're very welcome.

Yes, GPs deal with OA and you can certainly be prescribed something stronger for the bad days.In addition to pain relief there are also NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs). These work by lowering the inflammation and can be very good but, if you were taking them for any length of time, you should ask for a stomach-protecting med to go with them as they can do damage to the stomach.

Good luck with it all