How can I make it more bearable ?

Saira

I have been told a few times over previous years that I have mild arthritis. However I don’t know if it’s bevause I have become a little bit more active over the last few weeks or because the arthritis was eventually going to tear it’s ugly head I now have quite a severe pain at times in my left knee.

This pain has come on all of a sudden from last weekend. I have tried using heat and resting the leg and doing mild exercise and using arnica cream and now I have taken to drinking turmeric tea which seems to have helped a bit so I can sleep at night.

I just wanted to know if there is anything else I could do as I know what the doctors will say and in fact even if they referred me to trauma clinic they will not carry out surgery as I had another problem on the right leg and they refused to do anything about it.

chrisb

Hi @Saira  

Welcome to the Versus Arthritis forum. 

I see that you suffer from arthritis and have recently incurred severe pain in one knee. You keep active and have tried a variety of treatments to help relieve your symptoms. 

You may find these links to articles on our website useful:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/knee-pain/

 

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-knees/

 

I hope that other forum members will be able to offer advice to help manage your condition. 

Best Wishes

ChrisB (Moderator)

Lilymary

Hi @Saira , arthritis is a degenerative condition so it’s quite possible that your knee has moved on from “mild” damage by now. Your increased activity levels may have set off the pain. Certainly I find that with my hip. My arthritis came on very suddenly, by which time it was so bad I needed a new hip as soon as it was diagnosed. I’m amazed it got so bad without me realising until I tripped over one day and set the whole thing off.

It would be worth going to see your GP again and considering pain relief and maybe referral to a rheumatologist to find out what’s going on. Meanwhile have a look through the links that Chris has suggested, which you may find helpful.