Ostroartraitis kill me and GP preskrishen

Ina
Ina Member Posts: 3
in Living with arthritis

Hi

Knees thigh heels palm the most difficult thing is this contact with GP each time the doctor prescribes a different therapy, tramadol made me addicted and GP now fights my addiction and not pain. I can not stand at work, it plunges me into fear of lack of money. I cry every day from pain and hopelessness, and the hope for the GP simply dissolved. I'm completely alone!

I feel that I can no longer stand at work, my legs just don’t go. I don't know who to turn to for help. GP put me on tramadol and now every 2 weeks I knock out these medicines on the phone. Now they said to drink tramadol while working, but not at home, how is it possible if it hurts at home and addiction. Who can help me!

Thank you so much

Ina

Comments

  • anneb82
    anneb82 Member Posts: 317
    edited 9. Apr 2022, 14:46

    Hello @Ina

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

    So it really sounds like you have been having a very hard time of it at the moment. So you have Osteoarthritis and your worst areas are your knees, thighs, heels and palms. You have had tramadol in the past but became addicted to it. You feel like your GP no longer tackles your pain and seems to focus on the addiction side. You are no longer able to stand up at work which makes your fear that you will loose money. You really feel like you are alone with this.

    I really feel for your situation and really want you to know that you are not alone! I know how hard it at times and how hard it is to just get through every day when you are in so much pain. It makes it more complicated and can worsen your symptoms when you have that amount of stress baring down on you. Please know that now you are a member of this community you will never be alone in this again. We will always be here to listen and support you when you need it!

    With regards to your current situation, I would strongly suggest that you push your GP so that you can have a face to face appointment where you can sit down with a doctor to discuss this all and especially how you are feeling. There must be more that they can do, whether that be to try a new medication or to refer you to the pain management team, you shouldn't be going through what you are. We all have to fight for the care we disserve and I 100% believe that you can do this too!

    I've included a couple of links below that I think might be helpful to you so please do have a look when you have a moment.

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

    Please do let us know how you are getting on and please don't forget that we are here for you whenever you need us!

    Take care

    Anne (Moderator)

  • wazz42
    wazz42 Member Posts: 233

    Dear @Ina

    Welcome from me too. I too have osteoarthritis (OA) and am on tramodol. I see you say you are addicted, I was worried about this too but it is not the case for me and may not be for you.

    I consider myself to be dependent on tramodol, which means if I miss doses or decided to stop taking it I will face withdrawal symptoms. However I can still take it to help me manage my condition and it still works for me, maybe slightly less well than initially, I can’t remember!

    To be addicted we would be thinking about the drug all the time, taking more and more when we could, maybe cajoling the gp to get more etc

    Here is the info from .gov on the subject

    https://archives.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/tolerance-dependence-addiction-whats-difference

    There are other meds you could use instead, and if you are addicted you should be weaning off tramodol gradually, supervised by your gp. I'd think about seeing a different gp at you surgery, explaining your situation and find out what your options are.

    If work doesn’t know about your condition it could be sensible to tell them so they can offer adjustments so you can still do your job successfully.

    Hope this helps Ina

    xx

  • Ina
    Ina Member Posts: 3

    Thank you, I'm very strong, but I'm tormented with GP and have been tormented for 3 years now. I think if the doctor had heard me earlier, I would have avoided acute arthritis and operations. Now the pains interfere at work, at home I try to cope, but at work it is terrible pain and tramadol does not help, if I take more pills when it hurts a lot, then I call the GP ahead of time and ask for tramadol again. She says why are you taking more why is it that I am so tired of proving why I need tramadol even though the doctors prescribed it to me and now my brain is exploding just thinking about GP. I am from Latvia, I speak English well, but it is difficult to talk to the doctor on the phone every other week. You can only get through to the doctor from 8 to 9 in the morning ... I work on the night shift, I don’t sleep to get through to the doctor, then if I get through the doctor asks every time why, how much tramadol I drink every two weeks and so all my life arthritis will not leave my life . Tell me, maybe there are groups where you can meet to discuss problems related to life with arthritis, face to face. It turns out that it’s difficult to find a doctor who helps to find, the state’s help is only PIP (I’m 53 years old) but it’s not possible to get it if I don’t die (I tried) I can still work, but it’s not at full strength, sometimes it’s just that my legs don’t go or the pain is such that it’s easier to die ( it's at work) if a little help from the state I could work less PIP is designed to help working people and the questions asked are such that I have to not walk and lie in bed to get a PIP. What remains for young people who could still work for nothing or leave work and live on unemployment benefits. In my case, I can’t on universal credit, I live with a partner and for two a month there should be 700l, but it is. I'm just looking for information looking for someone who can help figure it out I need advice on how to live on if the pain is for life. I asked the GP and she is lying, no physiotherapy will help and the specialist said with arthritis to live a lifetime. I'm confused who to contact? Who speaks the truth helps? For two years I could not get the GP to send me to a pain clinic, for 3 years they did not send me to a specialist until I stopped screaming. Sorry for writing so much im fool

    Im sorry

  • alexander1
    alexander1 Member Posts: 70

    Hi it is really tough and if you don’t have it you just don’t understand. There are different opiodes than tramadol. They can also give naproxen for inflamation and I have 30mg amitripoline at night to help me sleep through the pain.

    have you been referred to orthapedics team in hospital if not ask to be referred they are the specialist. They could be offering to steroid blocks.


    you can also change your Gp surgery if really unhappy. I have stayed with mine for now but the service is great and my family have all moved. I am staying for consistency.


    good luck but there are more options out there

  • Lilymary
    Lilymary Member Posts: 1,751
    edited 9. Apr 2022, 22:16

    You need more to fight this than just drugs. People on here generally find that pain killers don’t completely take the pain away, they just make it a bit easier to bear.

    You don’t day whether your pain is in your hips or knees (or elsewhere?). There are useful sections on this site for exercises to help specific conditions, (eg knees, hips, ankles etc) which aim to build up the muscles around the affected joints, which can reduce the wear on the joint, and also to keep the joints mobile. Physio can help, T least a little, you but you have to keep doing it for a few months before you will feel the benefit. Don't give up.

    Do read the link on “Managing Your Pain” that @anneb82 posted, I found it really helpful.

    Can you ask your employer to adapt your work station (eg more opportunities to sit down) or how you do your work to take the pressure off your legs?

    As for your GP, ask to be referred to a rheumatologist, physiotherapist and pain clinic. There is more to managing osteoarthritis than just prescribing pain killers. If you feel your GP isn’t listening, ask to speak with a different GP in the practice. Some GPS really aren’t very sympathetic with arthritis sufferers. Arthritis may be, for some, a life long condition, but it can be managed better than what you are currently being offered.

  • airwave
    airwave Member Posts: 579

    When you say you’re on your own, that’s exactly the position most of us are in once we leave the surgery, enduring pain is a state of mind, especially in those dark hours it can seem to be without time limits and without calendar markers in our lives, never ending.

    Taking up a hobby or past time gives us the opportunity to insert those markers into out lives and we soon adapt our lives to enjoy more of what we like and in doing so distract ourselves from that never ending nightmare of pain. Surreptitious use of painkillers, local analgesic creams, heat and of course our own mind control which we learn gives us the opportunity to divide and control our time.

    Have you asked to be referred to the pain clinic? I suggest you use this forum and search out specific details of how to deal with pain.

    its a grin, honest!

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