Just been told I’ve OA

Trishgem

Hi All,

Have just been told Ive got OA in left thumb and big toe, my right knee, my neck and right shoulder....tendinitis in both elbows and plantar fasciitis in both feet. Am only 56 but after an hour of gardening I feel like I’m 86 ! All of this started with menopause...is HRT supposed to help ? Are people normally under the care of rheumatology team when diagnosed or are you just managed by your Gp. Am having more bloods next week then will be prescribed Naproxen and a PPI to protect stomach. Heat and exercise both he,p but I a little fed up being in pain most of the time. I am also very double jointed so I wonder does that impact on my joints too. ...Trisha

frogmorton

Hi @Trishgem

Nice to meet you. Sorry about your diagnosis.

Not sure whether the menopause is relevant or not in getting Arthritis, but hormones are very powerful things for definite.

To be fair In 1841 ".......the average newborn girl was not expected to see her 43rd birthday....." (Office for National statistics) My own GP said we had outlived nature and really shouldn't be seeing the menopause! If you think about that maybe our poor old bones weren't meant to be around this long too!?🤔

I'm glad to hear you are still doing your gardening etc because l am a great fan of the use it or lose it principle (if it is one!!).

I see you are having bloods done maybe to check that you don't have an inflammatory type of Arthritis - I presume you were diagnosed by your GP's examination and maybe X-rays?

You are quite right OA is generally dealt with by our GPs until we maybe require surgical intervention then an orthopedic consultant for the duration of that treatment. Then we get discharged back to our GPs. The days of being 'Under Mr so and so' are long gone.

Take care and do join in this forum is a very supportive place to be 🙂

Lilymary

Hi @Trishgem , nice to meet you. Sorry to hear you've collected so many arthritic joints. That sounds miserable. Sometimes I think we could play arthritis bingo, scoring on affected joints. Winner gets a free trip to a physio. Sorry, I'm not not underplaying people's suffering, but my body seems to collect new medical conditions as a hobby.

I'm not sure how much hormones play a part in arthritis, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it did. But it can be genetic, age related and triggered by injury or repeated wear, so sometimes it's really hard to see where it came from in each case. But I guess by the time our hormones conk out, we've done a bit of damage to our bodies anyway.

I've got very open shoulder joints but the OA hasn't crept in there yet, to my knowledge. Mine is worst in my hips, but my knees play up sometimes too, but not bad anough for further investigation and/or diagnosis yet. I hope your consultation with the rheumatologist is helpful, and that the naproxen works for you. I've been on this for about 8 months now, along with cocodamol, I'm never pain free, but it just about keeps me functioning, albeit at a low level.

Gardening is great for getting active while taking your mind off pain. I can lose myself in the garden (mentally I mean, it's not that big!) for hours, while getting a bit of exercise and outdoor air. But I tend to lose my balance a lot and find myself doing more harm than good crashing through the undergrowth, at which point I give up and go in!