New member. Stage 4 OA in knee.

Kirstevans80

Hi everyone, I have just joined the site. A little background. Will keep it short. Had knee injury 21yrs ago which brought on OA. Had no to mild pain up until 18 months ago. Where after MTI, CT scan etc I have stage 4 medial and patellofemorall OA. Had arthroscopy and injection therapy in the last 3-4 months which have not helped at all. Now seeing a knee specialist in June to discuss osteotomy with patella replacement. It's been a very hard 12 months. I am 43 yrs old and I was very active and social before. But now I'm having to work from home full time and do not socialise much due to mobility issues. Feeling very isolated.

I do what exercise I can, but pain getting worse even with strong pain killers. Apart from the obvious physical symptoms the last month or so I am noticing it is having a very negative impact on my mental health feeling very low and anxious to the point I start crying for no reason.

Hoping by meeting those who suffer with chronic pain learn from others.

Chris_R

Hi @Kirstevans80

Welcome to the .online community,great to see you posting

You write that yu have been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in the knee due to a knee injury you had 21 years ago and are waiting for a osteotomy with a patella repacement,you are in a lot of pain at the moment even with pain medication.

here are a few links that may help

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

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-knees/

Hope these links help,please keep in touch and do go onto our forums to chat to others it often helps.

All the best Christine

frogmorton

Morning @Kirstevans80

I am so sorry to read about your knee and it's affect on you mentally as well as physically.

I know how you feel about such pain younger (although some here were much younger even than that - even children can get Arthritis) I had my first surgery at 39. No-one else in your age group it seems has been forced to slow down and these days medical issues don't seem to get sorted out quickly do they? Knees in particular seem to be very tricky with surgeons putting of 'real' surgical interventions as long as possible due to revisions being more difficult with knees.

I hope at least some of people's post surety stories and experience will reassure you about what's to come.

Mental health though gosh we talk about this here at least weekly if not most days! Not surprising again at all. What is more isolating and mentally draining than being in constant pain? It's well known that people with long term (chronic) conditions often suffer low mood. I have linked other people in to this before:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/october/how-does-arthritis-affect-mental-health-two-people-tell-us/

Take care and look after yourself and keep posting it really does help ((()))

Toni x

Lorraine_24

Good morning @Kirstevans80 just wanted to let you know you are not alone in how your feeling, I'm 10 years older than you ( was diagnosis with osteoarthritis around 12 years ago) and for 10 of those years it went from pain's and stiffness every now and again which 1 could handle ,but just over 2 years ago it seems to accelerate at 100 miles an hour and boom, has completely changed my life, I worked until my legs literally couldn't hold me up anything, I have grade 4 on in both hips and have both replaced the first one next month, but I really wanted to talk to you about feeling so low and down the whole time, depressed and like you would just burst out crying for any reason, but it's the chronic pain, living with it daily 24 hrs a day which does make you feel isolated, I think for ne joining this site and reading other people's posts has helped because I honestly thought I was only person feeling this way, nobody in arthritis the pain and all that goes with it better than people who have the same, my advice would be to push your gp to see what they can do to help and support you, in this day and age with all that's going on with NHS you need to fight for yourself and what treatment you may or may not need, it's tough because a lot of arthritis sufferers are basically just left to get on with it, my hips should have been done 2 years ago but with covid and everything else I've been left to the stage I can't walk my mobility has been taken away from me and the is more than enough to drive anyone into a depressed state, so please stand up for yourself and get any kind of help you can, it's tough but sometimes just coming on here and saying what is on your mind and how you are feeling helps because we are all in the same boat

Lorraine

cankman

Hello @Kirstevans80 i know exactly how you feel i have oa on the inside of my left knee and i am in constant pain that is getting worse by the week. I have been waiting for a High Tibial Osteotomy for almost 8 months now and i expect to wait at least 6 more. The gp prescribed me morphine patches 10 days ago after extensive well begging for 3 years for decent pain relief i also have oa in my lower spine which has gotten worse over a 12 year period. The patches i take are 10mg dose they are making a huge difference to my level of pain i also take co codamol and gabapentin. You have to get the right pain meds from your gp i have tried several strong painkillers and they all affected me differently but now i am in a much better place while i wait for my surgery, even my blood pressure is down. So try to be strong try to get the pain under control if you can and try to look forward to the surgery as the light at the end of the tunnel. no one knows about long term pain except those who go through it you are not alone.