Where do I start 🤔

Jolly101

Hi everyone I'm not sure if I'm even doung this right lol. I have today been told I have osteoarthritis in both hips and my spine I'm so confused as where to start the pain is being kept under control with co-codamol Diazepam and oramorph GP basically said help thy self diet exersice life changes etc but how can I work with this pain (NHS 8 hours on feet) can anyone tell me what to do first or good diets self help sites to look at thank you

Chris_R

Hi @Jolly101

Welcome to the forum,you say you have been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in your spine and hips,and on medication Oromorph and Diazepam for pain relief. What a lot for you to take in. I have a few links for you that may help.https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-oa-of-the-spine/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/media/1328/diet-and-arthritis-information-booklet.pdf

Hope all these links help and give you hope.Meanwhile just keep on posting on our forums,we all understand what you are going through.The most popular forums are Living with arthritis chit chat and vals café.

All the best please keep in touch.If you want to talk to some one we have a helpline telephone 0800 5200 520.

Take care keep safe Christine

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/lets-move-with-leon/

Jolly101

Thank you for you reply yes it has been a bit to take in still at a loss tbh I'll be okafter a bit more research thanks again for the links

Chris_R

Hi @Jolly101

Glad the links were helpful to you.Hope you chat on the forum soon it will be very benificial for you

Please keep in touch Christine

Lilymary

Hi @Jolly101, sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I’m a relative newbie to this too (in both hips, diagnosed in March). Getting the hang of what your body needs and can still do takes a bit of mental adjustment. Take it slowly, try things out a bit at a time. I take as few pills as I can get away with (cocodamol, naproxen and amitryptilene), but if I’m having a busy day I dose up and allow for recovery time over the next few days. It’s often a good idea to take a few before you go to bed so you’re not kept awake with the pain too much. But I find the condition itself is surprisingly exhausting, so learning to manage not only the pain but also energy levels is important. Avoid “boom and bust” if you can, try to get it on a level, but allow your body plenty of time to rest.

try the exercises on this site, some are specific for hips, or Let’s Move With Leon. Tbh they haven’t worked for me, I guess everyone’s wrecked joints are slightly different, and I find the exercises aggravate the pain, but my job has me on my feet a lot too, so my muscles aren’t in too bad shape anyway. But staying as mobile as possible by a combination of stretches and strengthening is important if you can do it. If it’s hurting though, it’s best to step it back a bit, it’s not like someone healthy building up fitness and pushing through the pain, in our case pain is indication of damage and inflammation and more exercise will make it worse.

They jury's out on whether diet is significant, but a good balanced diet will help your body fight back and keep going if nothing else.

I hope that helps as a starter, but there’s loads of knowledge and experience on this site, so keep reading around, join in when you like. LM x

frogmorton

Hi @Jolly101

Lovely to meet you and welcome you to our forum. I hope you will find it as supportive as it has been for me over the years.

This is VA's information about diet so worth a read:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/diet/

My own opinion is that the best thing we can do is keep as active as we can and not be overweight if at all possible as it makes sense it is going to hurt our joints more.

The other thing which helped my SIL was changing her footwear. She works at Amazon (she knows all about being on her feet for manay many hours at a time like you!) and wears skechers I think. might have been hotters and got insoles for her other shoes too. She can now enjoy her days off without spending them in agony recovering dosed up to the nines.

Take care and keep posting!