Loss of fath in medicaton

Tennyson52

Hi My name is Tina and I’ve had RA for 16 years. I’ve had one knee replacement, waiting for another. I’ve yet to find any affective medication, apart from steroids. Has anyone found benefits from alternative therapy? Would love to know , thanks

Aj_x

Hiya,

Thank you for contacting the Online Community Forum. How are you finding it with your one knee replacement? Has it made things a little bit easier for you?

I will post a link on here regarding knee replacements and alternative therapies and hopefully there will be something on there that will be helpful for you.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/surgery/knee-replacement-surgery/

Stay safe.

AJ_x

Lilymary

Hi Tina, while I don't have RA, I do have OA in hips and probably knees (not sufficiently far gone to x-ray). I haven't tried alternative therapy, but equally I've never seen anyone on here reporting that it has worked for them. There's certainly no harm trying, apart from the damage to your bank balance.

But most of us will say that painkillers alone don't do the job, they just take the edge off the pain and keep us functioning to some degree. It may be worth reviewing these with your GP, or ask to be referred to a pain clinic.

Meanwhile, I have certainly found a few of the tips on here helpful, particularly distraction and mindfulness, which take your focus away from the pain. General exercises to stop your entire body tensing up can also be helpful - try the "Let's move with Leon" routines on this site - they can be as gentle as you need them to be, and they're great for stretching out your body, exercises to support your aching joints, and getting the circulation going again. There are also exercises specifically arthritic knees (below), which might help you.

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

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

stickywicket

Hi Tina,

I'd endorse all that @Lilymary has written but maybe, as a longstanding RA patient (5 replacement joints), I can add a bit.

I'm not aware of any alternative therapy or supplements that can dampen down our overactive immune systems which are the cause of the problem with RA. Only DMARDS can do that. I wonder which you have tried and why they failed. Sometimes we just have to persevere until we find the right one, or the right combination, for us. Have your inflammatory levels always been high regardless of which DMARDS you were taking? Or, when you say they are ineffective, do you mean you still have pain?

Unfortunately, it's not the same thing. DMARDS can keep the disease progression down but damage done is damage done and so pain is, necessarily, the ground elder/continuo (choose your own metaphor😉) of our lives. @Lilymary has some good suggestions on how to deal with it.