Newly diagnosed - short-term pain relief

BobhipOuch

Hi Everyone,

newly diagnosed male in 30s with OA in both hips. I have follow up with physio in next 30 days hopefully. I have many questions, but have quick one relating to pain relief.

i read up on NHS website about the condition and they link to this website. I read various articles on here which were helpful - with one of the specifically on pain relief. It mentioned a capsicum gel as something to manage pain. I duly put in e-consult form to my go surgery to request it on prescription. My request wasn’t answered by my normal GP, but by another doctors at the surgery. I presume they were on call to respond to e consult queries.

they mentioned they would recommend or prescribe capsicum cream as it wouldn’t help me. They did not expand to say what they would recommend or prescribe and I had no chance to respond.

Any advice? Does capsicum help others will similar condition? Should I ask for alternative pain relief? This is just to get me through to physically appointment and next GP appointment.

chrisb

Hi @BobhipOuch and welcome to the Versus Arthritis forum. 

I see that you have been recently diagnosed with OA in the hips. The next step in the process is some physio which will hopefully help you manage your symptoms. 

I don’t have any experience myself with capsicum cream but I’m sure there will be forum members who will be able to share their experiences with you. 

I suggest your next step is to assess any feedback you receive from our members and then ask for a call-back from your normal GP to discuss pain relief options; perhaps call on a day that you know he/she is in. It can be frustrating when you lose continuity. 

I would normally signpost you to some relevant articles on our website but it sounds like you’ve already performed an extensive search yourself. I have however found a fairly old forum discussion which might be of some use:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/13112/capsicum-cream

I hope you receive some useful feedback. 

Best Wishes

ChrisB (Moderator)