New member

jaybees

Hello all🤗

Anna

Hello to you @jaybees!

Why don’t you tell us a bit more about yourself and why you’ve joined the online community so we can give you a proper welcome?

Anna : )

Mike1

Ditto!

frogmorton

Hello @jaybees

Welcome to the forum from me too. Everyone here is lovely and so supportive do just ask away anything we might be able to help with.

jaybees

Thank you for your welcome , I'm hoping for some advice re pain control and would be interested in what others have found helps. I'll have a look around before I ask too many questions !

Chris_R

Hi @jaybees

Welcome to the forum. I see you would like some advice on pain control but you don't say why,is it for Arthritis? or something else.It would be good if you could clarify and tell your story to us .On this forum everyone has a story to tell on their journey of Arthritis and how it affects them and how they get on with their daily living working through pain and disability.

Maybe this link will help you.https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/exercise/exercises-to-manage-pain/

Take a look round the forums and see if you would like to join in with the chat.

All the best and do keep in touch Christine

Jules70

Hello and welcome 😀

jaybees

Hi again, I have degenerative disc disease in my lumbar and cervical spine which has worsened in the last two years as I get older ( only 64 though ! ). I also have some numbness in my legs at times and pins and needles in my left arm due to compression of a nerve in my neck. I have tried different medications and therapies and had steroid injections but nothing seems to help much or has unpleasant side effects. I am on anti depressants due to the frustrations of not feeling able to live how I want to. I do exercise when I can and am trying to lose a stone or two but it's not easy and I feel guilty that I probably could help myself more.

I have increasing pain if I am standing for more than a few minutes , (generally ok if walking ), and find it difficult with housework and any sustained positions such as reading and using the computer ! I am currently taking Paracetamol and codeine which doesn't help much and occasional Diazepam for spasms. Recently I have been getting more pain in my right shoulder and also in my hips at night.

Phew ! I think that's it, sorry to be so miserable. Life isn't too bad most days as long as I limit myself and rest between activities. I would be grateful for any suggestions on what has helped others with similar problems.

Thanks to all who have welcomed me, I hope that this will be a place where I can find support on my bad days when I get a bit fed up.🙂

Chris_R

Hi @jaybees

You will always find support and understanding on this forum ,everyone is ready to give advise and help in any way they can.

We all get days that we need help with and need just a spark to lift us up,https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/exercise/exercises-to-manage-pain/

Versus Arthritis has a new Exercise plan just out that may help. This is the link.

Hope it helps you to manage symptoms and pain.

Christine

Lilymary

Hi @jaybees , sorry to hear you have so much to put up with. Occasionally feeling miserable is part of the territory, we all know how it feels, so you don’t need to apologise for it. I can also understand how this leads to depression, but arthritis itself can also cause fatigue, so it gets to be a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.

Have you tried meditation or mindfulness? It can be a good way to calm your mind, and slow your body down so it gets a chance to heal itself. Pain and depression can make the body tense up, and it’s really helpful to let it all relax. Medical research is now realising how it can benefit us physiologically, mentally and emotionally (there is a subtle difference between the last two - depression isn’t about feeling sad, it’s about brain chemistry and how it processes stimuli, including pain). So it can also help how you manage pain. If you find being in one position uncomfortable, you can try walking meditations.

Have you been to a physio to see whether you can benefit from massage, or to tailor an exercise programme to stretch out and strengthen the muscles around the affected areas?

I have OA in my hips, and probably my knees. I’m waiting for a new hip and downing handfuls of cocodamol and anti-inflammatories meanwhile. The effect on my lifestyle has been hard to deal with sometimes, as well as learning to live with, and adapt around, the pain, so you have my sympathy. I confess I’m rubbish at doing the exercises, although my job keeps me active and I like to potter in the garden. I found most of the actual exercises were too painful, but I know I should try them again. I don’t meditate as much as I should, but always feel better when I do, and just simple mindfulness exercises have been helpful when the pain suddenly flares up. (Some “Anglo Saxon language” can help too!)

doing things that take your mind off the pain is also useful, for me a bit of light gardening works, or my job, but whatever you enjoy and feel up to is worth finding time for.

I hope some of these tips are helpful, but there are loads of lovely arthritis warriors on this site, with support, tips, moans and giggles.

jaybees

Hi, thank you Lilymary, sorry to hear of your problems but I guess that's what helps us understand each other on this forum and makes us feel less alone. I live by myself and now with lockdown affecting us all to a greater or lesser degree I have more time to myself and to dwell on my problems. I don't see myself as someone with arthritis and find it hard to accept the limitations.

I have seen various physios over the years as my problems originally started probably over 30 years ago with occasional back trouble from working as a nurse and I had a whiplash injury which is now catching up with me.

I was diagnosed about 4 years ago when my back was worsening and I had a MRI scan of my spine, although my doctors are sympathetic and helpful up to a point, I realise that my ' wear and tear ' type of arthritis is rightly not thought of as serious and it's my responsibility to cope with it.

I do pilates type exercises and stretches advised by a physio which I try to do each day, need to do for longer and more often though. I've also done CBT which helps a bit when I remember to do it ! I live near a farm so am able to do a bit of daily local walking along country lanes which definitely helps to calm and relax me and I visit the pigs who always cheer me up !

Like you say if all else fails a bit of **** helps and sometimes a glass of wine too !

I will try not to moan too much and hope I can offer some support to others. 🤩🍷

Lilymary

“I don’t see myself as someone with arthritis”. I know how that feels, going from full speed without even thinking about it to having to plan everything you do - how many things can I carry at once so I don’t have to go up the stairs twice, not having another cup of tea because it means hauling yourself into the kitchen, carefully working out how close I can park to minimise how far I have to walk, literally plotting my route across the car park to limit the number of steps involved, it’s mentally exhausting.

I’m glad you’ve had a go at CBT and doing what your physio advises, it’s a hard discipline to follow other people’s advice sometimes. My decline is down to genes and abuse, I climbed one mountain too many (I may have to sue Julie Andrews!), but I can’t even do low level local walks now, I just creep into the village from time to time or do a supermarket trip. My job keeps me on my feet a lot, but there’s a lot of standing still and looking at stuff involved, so I can just about go all day at that, and then I’m wiped and in pain for a few days.

I lived alone most of my adult life, (I married very late!) and mostly I enjoyed it, but I must say having a (mostly) sympathetic and supportive partner during this nonsense has been a godsend at times. But we lasses are made of strong stuff, and I always felt being alone was vastly preferable to being with a nitwit (putting it politely). Cosset yourself, you deserve it. Xx