Nothing seems to work

CarolO

Hi. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips and back over 12 months ago. I am also diagnosed with osteoporosis of hips and back. I’m on different tablets for pain and treatment for this condition but nothing seems to be helping with the pain. Any suggestions please. I’m at my wits end at what to do

Poppyjane

Hello @CarolO welcome to the online community

You have OA in your hips and back and in addition osteoporosis. You are on medication for these conditions but nothing seems to be helping with the pain. You are asking for suggestions, well we are glad you found us and hope that we can offer you support and tips on how to cope when you feel at your wits end.

There is a wide variety of discussions and and activities as well as a lot of useful information so I hope you will find time to browse round and sample some of our members posts. Meanwhile I attach some links which I hope you will find helpful.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/drugs/drugs-for-osteoporosis/

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

We are all being encouraged to keep our muscles and joints as flexible and mobile as possible so I hope you will join in with the exercise programme to suit you. I find the hips and back exercise video particularly helpful. I hope you do as well, be gentle with yourself when you first start and gradually build up your efforts.

Do let us know how you are getting on.

Best wishes

Poppyjane

jonr

Hi @CarolO,

Pain management is a tricky subject, Arthritis affects everybody differently and the wide range of "alternative" treatments available means it can often be a case of trial and error to find out what's effective, what isn't and in some case, what makes the symptoms worse.

Since being formally diagnosed with severe OA in both knees (and on the list for a double knee replacement), I've read up on what's out there which might help me and I've invested a lot of time and money in experimenting with lots of different things.

There is a lot of info on this website about treatment options but of all the things I've tried, these seem the most effective for me:

Acupuncture (I started with weekly sessions for 2 months, then scaled it back to once a fortnight and now only go monthly)

A TENS machine (I use this for about 30 minutes each day

A deep tissue massaging gun to soothe stiff tissue, muscles and tendons

Bromelain, Turmeric and Boswelia capsules as natural anti-inflammmatories plus I eat lots of Olives as they have a property similar to Ibuprofen in them

CBD capsules as a natural painkiller (also help with sleep)

FlexiSeq gel to reduce crunching and grinding

With this little lot my condition has improved immensely - decent pain management makes it easier to do the physio and exercise I need to strengthen the muscles around my joints so they are more stable. It's taken - and takes - a lot of hard work and dedication but it's so worth it.