Hi

ScoobyRos

Hi all, I was involved in a car crash approx 21 years ago which broke almost every major bone in my body. Now, all those broken bones seem to have turned arthritic at the same time and I am a mass of pain. Not getting any help from GP - yet! I need to get a f2f appointment to discuss. Because of covid I have only managed to get telephone appointments (different doc each time) and have had some body part x-rays. Unfortunately, after each xray I just get a text saying “just arthritis, no further action”. I find this really annoying as no doctor is joining the dots. Must make that appointment!

I can’t take tramadol, cocodamol or codydramol - they all make me doolally to the extent that I can’t function. At present I take celebrex (celecoxib) and have been on that since the accident, I am thinking that it’s no longer helping.

I don’t sleep properly because of pain.

I have really bad pain in my right foot and ankle (is also pinned), left knee, spine (now degenerating where it was broken and have 5 bulging discs), my left shoulder (is also pinned), and my neck.

anneb82

Hi @ScoobyRos

Welcome to the online community and thank you for joining us. I hope you will find this a safe and friendly space to continue sharing with us all.

So you really have been through the wars starting with a car crash 21 years ago which left you with major broken bones. Those bones now all seemed to have developed arthritis in at the same time. You have had xrays but after each one have spoken to a different GP who have all said the same - its a bit of arthritis. You've not been able to get a face to face appointment due to covid but no one seems to be connecting the accident to the current joint problems. You can only take certain pain medication because they make you completely unable to function. You are in a considerable amount of pain and are having difficulty sleeping.

Like you said in your post, its really important to get that face to face appointment so you can talk to a GP, especially since your current pain medication isn't making much of a difference to you. I think it has to be a case of keep ringing the surgery until you get that face to face.

Ive included a couple of links below that may be of use to use as well as our helpline details. They are open Monday to Friday and it may help to talk to someone.

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

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

https://www.versusarthritis.org/get-help/

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Please do let us know how you are getting on.

Take care

Anne (Moderator)