Newly diagnosed

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Verona2022
Verona2022 Member Posts: 2
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:11 in Living with arthritis

How did others deal with being told that they had osteoarthritis.

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  • Ellen
    Ellen Moderator Posts: 1,628
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    Good morning @Verona2022 Welcome to the Versus Arthritis online community.

    Everyone deals with a new diagnosis in different ways of course, but it is a very tough time for most of us.

    Can I suggest you read this information. It has been specially put together for people in your position:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/newly-diagnosed/

    and if you look to the right of this page you should see a blue tab which says popular tags. One of the tags is about being newly diagnosed. There should be some useful discussions in there too.

    Best wishes

    Ellen.

  • jonr
    jonr Member Posts: 398
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    Hi @Verona2022 and welcome,

    That first official diagnosis - such an awful scary time and I remember it well. "Your XRays show moderate OsteoArthritis in both knees". "What does that mean?" I asked. My GP who broke the news to me said "well, I can prescribe some anti-inflammatories and something to protect the stomach and I recommend you set up an assessment with our physio department". And that was that, no advice on what to do, what not to do, whether it could improve and so on.

    It wasn't until I found this site that I began to realise it would really be down to me to understand my condition and how to manage it and when I knew that, I could plan a way forward. Having a plan made all the difference - I could feel positive about my outcome and quality of life.

    18 months on and my condition has deteriorated, I now have bone-on-bone OA and am having the first of 2 total knee replacements this Thursday. Back then I found it difficult to walk downstairs to make a cuppa in the morning, 2 weeks ago I hiked 18 miles up and down Mount Snowdon. This is down to effective pain management and a great deal of physio, exercise and gymwork to strengthen my joints.

    There are programmes out there to help us - the 3 month Nuffield Health is one, the GP Referral Exercise Programme another and both are really good if specific guidance is what you think you need. I called the hotline here when I felt low and that's a great help too, the people on the end of the phones here are very supportive and positive, there really is a lot that can be done to help lead a healthy, active life.

    Good luck - we're all in the same boat and here to help

    Jon

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