Constant pain

MattBen123
MattBen123 Member Posts: 4
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:05 in Living with arthritis

I’m in constant pain in my feet and knees. I have pain all over my body and I am finding it hard to cope with.

Has anyone any advise please

Comments

  • Anna
    Anna Moderator Posts: 1,081

    Hello @MattBen123, and a very gentle warm welcome to the online community,

    To be in constant pain in your feet and knees must be a real challenge for you. Do you know what the pain is caused by? Whatever your diagnosis, your GP should be able to guide you into treatment or at least prescribe some sort of painkillers that might help take the edge off it.

    Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about yourself as I’m sure our members will want to support you and give you the benefit of their experience to help you deal with your pain. You’ve come to the right place - we’re a friendly bunch and we’d love to get to know you. We’ve all experienced pain as a result of arthritis so we do sympathise with you.

    I look forward to hearing from you,

    Anna : )

    Need more help? - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm


  • It’s been really hard this year, as it will have been for most people, I started in January with the pain in my back, shoulders, neck and ribs. I wasn’t coping very well so my GP put me on Prozac. The pain escalated as well as sweating really bad and feeling dizzy to the point of not being able to stand up. I was very frightened. Then one morning I woke up and the bed was wet through and I couldn’t move. I had gone stiff. My husband phone the GP and someone came out and sent for an ambulance. With COVID on the horizon they didn’t seen all that interested even though at that time I started having seizures. After about a week I was discharged and was given a referral to the Rheumatologly dept. I saw them in June and they say I have a lot of wear and tear and as I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 20 years ago they are going along with that. I am not convinced I have ever had fibromyalgia but have had to go along with it. My ribs and neck are still aching but not as bad as they were. My feet and knees are the worse at the moment I can’t stand up without being in lots of pain. I’m at my wits end. This time last year I was fine.?yes I did have a few aches I don’t expect not to at 64 but not like this. I am very frightened it hasn’t finished yet and I’m going to end up never leaving the house again. I have always been active and don’t drive. I walked everywhere and loved it

  • Shell_H
    Shell_H Member Posts: 548

    Hi @MattBen123 - I can see why you are worried. If your Rheumatology referral has left you with a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia - whether or not it is correct - your GP should be supporting you. "Wear and tear" is also often associated with Osteoarthritis, rather than Rheumatoid Arthritis. If I were you I would be going back to your GP and saying that this is where you've been left - what's next? You need a referral to a pain clinic at the least as these are specialists who deal with chronic pain and could help you. Your GP could also look into if you have Osteoarthritis as well / instead of Fibromyalgia. If your GP isn't helping you then ask to see a different doctor. There is nothing wrong with going to another doctor (whether at the same clinic or a different one) if your current GP isn't helping you. There are a few specialists who can help you if your GP would refer you.

    Pain is a difficult symptom to adequately describe and get doctors to understand where you are coming from. They are used to people exaggerating how bad things are. So i'd try keeping a pain journal, showing what it stops you doing and when it hurts and where, then use this as evidence to the doctor.

    You haven't said, but I would use paracetamol and ibuprofen (they are safe to take together) - especially an hour before bed to give you some help to lessen the pain before you try to sleep. It's also important to stretch (as you can without pain - don't push yourself into pain, that's not good for you) as this can help with stiffness. Building up stretching slowly may help. Warmth treatments also help with stiffness and pain - wheatgerm bags, hot baths or showers or similar can help relieve some pain.

    Here's some information on Fibromyalgia, take a look at "What does the future hold for me?" and below - there is a lot of information on what other treatments you can use and what you can do to help yourself. These treatments would be applicable even if it turns out it's not Fibromyalgia. nothing there is specific and they would all be helpful in this case.

    Do keep us up to date with how you do and join in across the community - we are all friendly and understand what it's like to be in pain.

    Lovely to meet you,

    Shell

  • Lilymary
    Lilymary Member Posts: 1,749

    The feeling bad and dizzy may have been the Prozac, it did that to me years ago so I binned it. (I should have discussed this with my GP at the time, but ai didn't, ”don’t do this at home” applies). Have they looked into polymyalgia rheumatica?