Are you in constant pain

AngelaSmith123

I have psoriatic and osteoarthritis I am in constant pain. My knees are bone on bone, I have great difficulty walking, I’m asking if anyone has any advice for pain relief.

anneb82

Hello @AngelaSmith123

Welcome to the online community and thank you for joining us.

So you have Psoriatic and Osteoarthritis and suffer with constant pain. You have a great deal of difficulty with walking because your knees are bone on bone. You're wondering if anyone has any advice with regards to pain relief.

It sounds that you are having a hard time at the moment and I know how difficult it can be when you are in such a lot of pain. A positive you can take is that you now have us all here to offer you support and ideas about different things to try.

I have attached a couple of links below to information that I think will be helpful to you so please do have a read when you have the chance.

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

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

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

Now that you are a member, Im sure many of our other members that are or have experienced the same will be able to give you advice on what has worked for them also.

Please do continue to keep getting involved in the community and please so also let us know how you are getting on.

Take care

Anne (Moderator)

Trish9556

I use a tens machine in conjunction with everything else. It works alongside my meds on bad days and as a stand-alone on days when I just have low pain or niggles .

It also has a massage and EMS option. Not used the ems.

I use a tiny cross body bag with it as the belt attachment is useless. It's also great to keep everything handy in one place with spare pads and batteries for days out when I'm not sure if I will need it.

Trish xx

jamieA

Hi @AngelaSmith123

I was diagnosed with PsA in October 2020. By end of November that year it felt like someone had driven wedges into my joints - that's the only way I could describe the pain - and I ended up on strong opiods for a time. I was put on a biologic end of July 2021 and by the end of September that year it had kicked in fully. I've not experienced that level of pain since though I'm not pain free - it's a level of aching and soreness now with what I now recognise as flares happening irregularly. I've been prescribed capsaicin cream and lidocaine patches to help the individual joints as I really want to avoid strong painkillers. My knees are probably the worst joints at present and the rheumatologist has said they now have OA and the left will have to be replaced 'sooner rather than later'. I'd like to hold that off as long as possible. I am back to walking 50-60kms a week but only on flat surfaces as inclines and declines cause pain in my knees. I'm lucky as I have canal and river walks close by which are mostly flat.

I've had a couple of NHS 12 week physio online courses and I'm now on a free Nuffield Health Join Pain Wellbeing course. All of these courses stress the need to keep the joints moving.

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/59096/nuffield-health-joint-pain-wellbeing-programme

As well as the lidocaine patches and capsaicin cream I also wear elasticated knee supports and ankle support.

Could you ask your GP for a referral to a pain management clinic - if there's one in your area? Can you self refer to NHS physio locally or get your GP to do it?

I hope you get things under control soon.

frogmorton

Hi @AngelaSmith123

Welcome from me too.

Most of us who call in here are probably in fairly constant pain and cope in our own ways. @jamieA and @Trish9556 have given you their experience both of which are very different.

For me I have an arsenal of things to help and use them as needed depending how bad I am feeling on a given day. My starting point though is almost always my ever faithful microwavable wheatbag. I add my own (new) tens and finally medication as needed.

I was wondering though whether anyone has suggested surgery on those poor knees given that they are bone on bone😕

Take care

Toni x

Barbara1

I use a tens machine. It doesn't stop the pain but the buzzing is preferable to pain.

Tom

Welcome to the forum @Barbara1 .

This is a link to a discussion thread on Tens machines:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/30436/tens-machine

and this on various strategies for manging pain:

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

Good luck and keep posting to let us know how you get on.

Tom, Moderator.

Sheelee

I use a Tens machine too, and wheaty bags (hot and cold). But what also helps (hard as it is) is to try keeping moving now and again. From my experience, arthritis doesn't like being overworked, but also doesn't like being stationary for too long either.

Good luck,

Sheelee xx

Baloo

Pain seems easy to understand, if I do too much walking my foot will hurt and start limping badly, until I can rest up at the weekend. Ache on the other hand is weird. I come home at night and feel so stiff and achey every night that doing anything is a real struggle. I take paracetamol because I find on a full dose there seems to be a better chance I will feel ok. I believe the paracetamol deals with more than one kind of ache/pain so I get a better overall affect, but I'm also aware it doesn't kill the pain completely, otherwise I would't do as much to protect the hot spots. But no, it doesn't kill all the pain.

movingslowly

Depends what I think I need. Realistically I believe we all feel something. I'm guessing surgical nerve blocking would be the way to go to be completely pain free but that in itself would be fraught with perils.

So we're left managing discomfort and pain to the best of our ability.

Much like others have mentioned before me I switch things up and around to suit: heat from wheat bags, Tens machine, CBD, massage, ibuprofen gels, gentle exercises to loosen, if I'm getting nowhere with the above I roll out the big guns (analgesia)

I think it also depends on what I still have to do, eg,- I can't quit work mid morning to go home and have a bath or massage just because my neck, shoulders and hips are killing me and return to workplace afterwards 🙂 I have to keep going during those times and 'wing it'