New diagnosis of degenerative meniscus and osteoarthritis

JacquiK

Hi there. Just had the above diagnosis for my right knee. Pain has gradually increased over six months, but two months of daily physio to strengthen thigh muscles, plus paracetamol and ibuprofen (tablets and gel) haven’t helped so I’ve now had a steroid injection into the knee. Now waiting to see if this helps but it is difficult limiting my walking as we have four dogs. If the gel injection doesn’t work, I am considering having a ‘cushioning gel’ injected into the knee. Has anyone tried this and what were the results? I hadn’t realised how painful the OA could be and that it would keep me awake at night. Any advice would be appreciated on how to manage this.

Poppyjane

Welcome @JacquiK to the online community

You have recently been diagnosed with degenerative meniscus and osteoarthritis in your right knee. You are waiting to see if a steroid injection will help and wondered if any one has experience of a cushioning gel injected into the knee. Trying to cope with pain in your knee, four dogs to exercise and not sleeping well makes your life sound pretty hectic !

I attach an article about the research that is ongoing about gel injections which I hope you find helpful and a link about being newly diagnosed and ways of dealing with sleep problems.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/complementary-and-alternative-treatments/types-of-complementary-treatments/flexiseq/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/august/how-to-adapt-when-you-ve-been-diagnosed-with-arthritis/

There are numbers of members who have experience of knee problems and I hope that they will soon share their ways of coping with you. Meanwhile do browse round the community pages which give loads of support and discussions on a huge variety of topics, especially the Life with Arthritis section.

We look forward to hearing from you again soon

Take care

Poppyjane

stickywicket

Steroid jabs are a bit hit and miss. They work for some people sometimes but I think the more we have the less they work. If they do work you can hope to get about 3 months respite from them.

Gel injections? Do you mean hyaluronic acid? We've an older thread with several responses and some good links. I'll look it up and get back.

By the way, I don't think physio exercises are meant to make things better, just help to prevent things getting worse quickly.

stickywicket

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/51301/hyaluronic-acid-injections-on-nhs

JacquiK

Thanks for the info. The gel injections are a new thing apparently. It was realised that a gel used to soothe painful joints in horses (yes!) could be useful for humans. I asked an Orthopaedic Surgeon about these and he said they had a similar gel, which wasn’t available on the NHS and was about £500 per injection. I need to carry out further research.

stickywicket

Quick tip. Find out the name of the gel then google its name with Pub Med alongside it. That way you get independent, peer reviews which you can trust.