Severe knee osteoarthritis

Marg008

Hello I have severe knee osteoarthritis and would like to get advice re relieving pain, exercise and basically talk to people who understand the pain of arthritis. I am older in my 60s and was diagnosed 2 years ago it seems to be getting worse my GP is not really interested when I ask for advice when I go for knee injection I am overweight and I know that doesn't help. Anyway be great to read other people's stories and how they help themselves.

Thank you

Poppyjane

Hello @Marg008 welcome to the online community

You have arthritis in your knee and would like advice and support from our members on how they manage their pain. Well ,you have come to the right place for ways of coping with living with arthritis. As well as some useful information from the VA website there is a wide variety of section on the community. The "Living with Arthritis" section is a good place to start, then "Val's Cafe"and "Chit Chat" are great places to make friends and learn new tips.

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

The exercise videos are very popular, some of these can be done from a seat and all can be done at your own pace. So why not give them a try.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/october/new-stretching-videos-to-help-keep-moving-and-manage-your-arthritis/

I attach a thread with lots of members thoughts about knee pain , relief etc. https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/53410/best-pain-relief-for-arthritic-knees#latest

I hope this is not too much information to deal with! Any questions do post again , we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Take care

Poppyjane

jonr

Welcome Marg08,

Poppyjane has provided some links which are agood read, there's a lot of content on the website about Osteo and Rheumatoid Arthiritis and its worth reading because so much depends on us as individuals to manage our own conditions which affects us all differently.

I presume you have had a formal diagnosis for your condition? If it's severe it's highly likely there is little of no cartilage left for any steroids to be injected into so these may have limited success anyway.

You mention your GP is unsympathetic, I had one of those too and the only course that is open to you I think is to call your surgery and ask to change your GP for someone who has some experience of dealing with patients who suffer with severe MSK conditions. If that doesn't get you anywhere then it may be necessary to change practices.

A 3rd option is to contact ConnectHealth, a company attached to the NHS to handle MSK cases on their behalf. They have a website and this link goes to the section where you can find your nearest practice. I would recommend you call them, explain you are finding it difficult to cope physically and mentally and your GP is unwilling to help so you would like to arrange an appointment to speak with one of their specialists with a view to being assessed:

https://www.connecthealth.co.uk/patient-information#facetwp-map

There's a gazillion other things I could write about, such as physio and pain management but I think it's important to get on the treatment ladder first with a healthcare professional who is willing to take you seriously. From there, everything else shoudl fall into place.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Jon