First post

magicpainter

Just thought I'd drop by, have OA in hands, ankles, hips and shoulders all x-ray/MRI be diagnosed, Crept over me the last 10 years, 62 years now,slowly restricting and changing y life as it does,Pain levels and chronic fatigue increased accordingly, now pain is high level, mostly use paracetamols, can't use ibuprofen, offered amitriptyline 10mcg, not keen on side effects, felt very spaced out, and reading long-term details has put me off. I have not had much support from my GP, just says I need to live with it. I know there is no cure. Some people seem to get referred to rheumatology, pain clinics, I wonder if I can try and get a different doctor who is more empathetic to arthritis. I only managed to see a physio and then podiatrist because I saw nurse practitioner, as again I was being blocked, by GP , who said it was pointless why is this? However primarily I would like to get pain levels down. I did manage to get blood tests arranged shortly via an online Dr, as I want rule out other factors ...oh dear I've off loaded quite a lot, and I know many are far worse, but thanks for this community forum and hope to find a more positive pathway 🙂

YvonneH

Hi @magicpainter

It's lovely to meet you, welcome to your Online Community.

You have widespread osteoarthritis which started around 10 years ago and you managed OK to start with but now the pain and fatigue are gettting worse. Your GP isn't helping but you have seen physio and podiatrist.

I'm hoping now that you have got all that down you will feel much relieved already and I can say that I am in very much the same situation as yourself - I started at 45 and am your age now. Re - your doctor, there are lots of times your named GP might not be your preferred doctor - if you are in a practise with more than 1 GP just ask to see a different on until you find on who has an interest or empathy with people with OA. It would be helpful to see a pain clinic, they help with a number of ways to deal with pain, not just drugs and some of those will I'm sure, be helpful to you. I use distraction a lot, my joints like warmth so I sit with my legs up in the evening with a cosy blanket, a cat or two and even a microwave hot water bottle!

Here is our link on pain management

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

and here's the one on OA in general

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/

Now you must keep posting, because that will help you to manage your pain and fatigue too, chatting with others in the same situation as yourself, find out what works and try out a few things. I'm looking forward to reading yor next post.

Take care

Yvonne x

Lilymary

That’s such a shame that your GP is so negative. You’re right, many forms of arthritis are a life long condition, but there are things that can be done to help you along. I’ve been to many docs in our practice (mostly because it’s so hard to get an appointment with anyone at all, and my fave GP moved away), and the difference between them can be huge. Do go for a second opinion, sometimes practice websites give a brief summary of their docs specialities, so see if you can seek one out that specialises is this sort of thing.

Mike1

You need to see a different GP and also demand to be referred to a Pain Clinic.