44 year old stage 2 arthritis

ade123456

Hi my mother had a bad hip and father diabetes. This week I found out I have grade 2 arthritis in knees and 1 hip and also diabetes with blood sugar at 8.6, I will take medication and I am on a diet for first time in my life ( 5ft 11 89.5kgs) . I worry about not being able to cycle, I don't mind the odd pain, it's all livable, I just try to find out my expectation of knee surgery, I can't. When will it come to the point I can't cycle and need a walking stick. I feel I'm too young and I'm worried ....will I be ok for the next 5 years? Will it stay the same or just get worse and worse? Thank you

noddingtonpete

Hello @ade123456 and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that you will find that as well.

I understand that you have arthritis in your knees and 1 hip. Any exercise is good but arthritis affects us all differently so only your GP or consultant can say what the near future holds. Have a look at the following articles from our website.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/your-experiences/hints-and-tips/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-of-the-knee/

Please do keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and I am sure that others will connect with you to share their thoughts and experiences as well.

With very best wishes

Peter (moderator)

ade123456

i have read all the above, what i'm looking for is a percentage, so say after 5 years of arthritis, what is the percentage most people will have sever pain and need surgery? I see many years, is this 2, 3 or 10? is it guaranteed? if i loose weight and take medication, how much time will this reduce the severe pain?

stickywicket

We all like some certainty but I've never seen anything about percentages and I'm not sure how helpful it'd be anyway. We all seem to go at different paces. From what I've read on here, and from my husband's experiences, the healthier a weight and the exercise (some types of exercise are not healthy for arthritis as they put too much stress on the joints) the better things will be and the slower the deterioration. But that's not written in stone. Few things are with arthritis.

I don't think percentages would be at all helpful as some people start their 'arthritic lives' smoking, very overweight and very sedentary. My own knees needed replacing after I'd had RA for 20 years and OA for a bit less. My husband managed to get his arthritic hips round the golf course for years before they needed replacing.

Losing weight, if needed will help. Medication? I honestly don't know. Medication for inflammatory types of arthritis is designed to slow the progress of the disease. With OA it's just pan relief and anti-inflammatories. The latter might. Better ask your doc.

Certainly, cycling will be good for your knees.