new sufferer arthritis

owdcodger

self diagnosed cause doctors are not seeing patients,its in my hip travelling down to shin.i thought i had a good pain tolerance level,but this is agony,never had pain like it can't even get round my flat.looking for any help,especially pain killers[over the counter]respect to all you sufferers

PeterJ

Hello @owdcodger and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that that will be your experience as well.

I understand that you have pain in your hip and travelling down to your shin and that you are looking for help with pain. I know that it is difficult to see a doctor at present but I would suggest that you should go and see one as there are many causes for pain. In the meantime I have put a couple of links in to articles on our website which might be useful.

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

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

Please have a look around the website and I am sure that others will connect with you to share their thoughts as well.

With very best wishes

Peter

owdcodger

thanks for your reply peter,just read those two links,now, not sure what i have.does arthritis start gradually or instantly,went to bed sunday gone i was fine, got up monday i could not put my foot on the floor

nicholaj

Not a doctor but suspect you have sciatica. That can come on really quickly. Usually caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve from the lower back. Can take a while to go.

owdcodger

yes i never thought of that,thanks

stickywicket

From one owd codger to another😆 - if it's sciatica (and it might be. I've had it) it really needs the right exercises asap. Have a look here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sciatica/

However, I do think you need a proper diagnosis. Where I am, docs' appointments are a bit rare but we have some brilliant nurse practitioners .And telephone appointments can be useful. I had physio prescribed by phone and it really helped..

I do hope it is sciatica and so potentially curable but do get it checked out.

Fif

There's also some good YouTube videos with exercises for sciatica. Take a look at this one - I found it quite useful. https://youtu.be/sp8tyANEbc4

Jona

From one owdcodger to another I agree with stickywicket our nurse practitioner is amazing they can give you a phone consult and send medication to a chemist, I used to lean over my cooker switched off of course in an L shape for relief but I now use resistance bands and my old faithful tens machine it is though as you so really painful my best friend these days is my hot water bottle but you can use cold as well but please call your surgery and ask to speak to a clinician

good luck

Jona 😊

owdcodger

thank you,to all who responded,i have acted on your advice,and i will keep you informed.again i thank you all

owdcodger

got a phone appointment and diagnosed sciatic ,sent anti inflammatries,,that were usless.so i did what jona said and bought a tens machine along with exercise so all good for now..we had a 5 day holiday booked that we almost cancelled,,thanks jona the tens saved it