Effective pain relief for osteoarthritis and bursitis?

Megrose489

I have OA in many joints - knees, feet, hands, shoulders, spine and also hip bursitis on both sides. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago. At the moment I manage with paracetamol during the day and I take one 30/500 Cocodamol + 1 500mg Paracetamol at night before I go to bed.

Last night I got into bed, then, after tossing and turning for two hours eventually got up again. I find some nights I just can't get comfortable and the pressure of lying down is quite painful. I also get flashes of nerve pain, particularly in my feet, legs and hands, which lasts for about 2/3 minutes before moving on to another part.

What pain medication are others on? Should I go back to the GP to ask about increasing the Codeine? Or is there something else which would be more effective? My GP is quite anti putting older people onto more medication because of the danger of falls, but I do feel that I need something. So fed up at the moment and very, very tired!

Loggiemod

Hi

My wife kept getting what she called electric shocks in her feet and read somewhere that this could be attributed to Vitamin B12 deficiency. She bought some raspberry flavoured B12 tablets and hasn't had teh problem since. As with all supplements what works for some doesn't work for others, but might be worth a try.

stickywicket

Hello again @Megrose489 . Good to 'see' you but sorry about the reason. You have suffered commendably silently for years and have clearly tried to manage this but sleep does help us to cope with the day ahead so, yes, I'd have a word with your GP or practice nurse.

I actually like the idea of not too much heavy medication as we are 'unstable' enough withough cloudy heads too. but there are other meds which might be more effective than codeine, especially for nerve pain. During one exceptionally bad period, I was on oxycodone by day (Horrible stuff. It dealt with the pain but i was barely awake) and a small dose of amitriptylene at night. That did help.

You could also be tested for B12 deficiency to see if that's a contributing factor. but do have a word. And let's know how it goes. Good luck!

Megrose489

Thank you Loggiemod and Stickywicket (nice to 'see' you, too). I had a blood test a few weeks ago to check for B12 deficiency and anaemia as I had a flareup of restless legs - which, again, led to loss of sleep. Everything was OK, apart from that fact that my haemoglobin levels were higher than they should be - I've got to have a repeat blood test in a couple of weeks.

I will take your advice and see the GP, though. Thanks again.

Baloo

Hi, I'm quite a fan of Paracetamol so I set myself to maximum dose of 8 a day. I wasn't too impressed by taking a co-codamol which is mainly paracetamol anyway, so I gave it up after one pill. If I understand it right, the co-codamol is only meant to simulate obtaining some exercise anyway, so I try to stay a little more active instead.

Whenever the tiredness takes me in the day I just kip out, if its safe to, and let the resting run its course. I don't feel pain while asleep, but If I can't sleep I get up for an hour and then go back to bed to finish off.

frogmorton

Lovely to see your name @Megrose489

Long time no see.

Horrible to see you are struggling though.

Is it worth asking if there's any slow release pain meds which might help? My anti-inflammatory is a 24 hour one.

I have also had low does amitriptyline at night in the past when things have been extra rough. I expect you've tried it already but I also had a steroid injection into my bursa twice for some it can really help. Not me sadly though.

Take care ((()))

Toni x

Megrose489

Thank you Toni. I hope that you're doing OK. I hadn't considered a slow release med, but that is a good idea to mention to the GP.

Yes, I've had about 6 steroid injections in the bursa overall and they did nothing for me at all either. I was on Nortriptyline 50mg for quite a few years, for nerve pain, but the GP took me off it as he said there was a possibility there is a link to dementia! To be honest, I'd been taking it for so long I wasn't sure it was doing anything anyway. But, maybe it was, if I'm feeling like this now. Who knows?

Anyway, I'll definitely be going to see him with my notes (I always take notes in with me of questions I want to ask - it probably terrifies him!).

Meg x

frogmorton

Hah! Scare him if you need to Meg! We don't have much power do we?

I had no idea about the risk of dementia either with nortriptyline. Blimey. I wonder whether it was 'masking' the issue a bit.

Best of luck and let us know what happens.

take care

Toni x