Newly diagnosed with OA

garbo

Hello,

My name is Steve and I’m 48 years old since January I have been suffering with pains all over my body. At first the Dr thought it was viral pain and told me it should be ok and last no longer then six weeks. Finally this weeks after having x rays and seeing Dr it was confirmed I have OA in both hands knees and feet. I have been on naproxen and co codamol for a few months now (had to wait weeks for X-ray and appointment) but it doesn’t seem to do anything for the pain.

My Dr told me that it can’t be reversed but has asked me to try physio. I’m 6ft 4 and 19 stone and I don’t think I can run to lose any weight. My aches are all the time at rest or not and the thought of it getting worse frightens me. My very low mood and easiness to snap at people is really upsetting as that’s not my personality. I have been given Citalopram 20mg but have been told will be six weeks before I start to feel any different.

thanks for taking time to read this waffle any advice greatly appreciated

thank you

Chris_R

Hi@garbo

Welcome to the online community and thankyou for your imput so glad you found us.

just to reasure you all that you have said on your blog is not waffle it is your life and how you feel, you are just being honest which is most refeshing as people often hide how they feel. do go onto our forums and chat to others it is often of benifit to everyone and often makes you feel that you are not alone that there are others just like you.

Here are some links that may help

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

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/

Please let us know how you get on and do chat to others

All the best Christine

Denis68

Please feel free to ignore but this really does work for me in pain management.

A few years ago I heard a scientist discussing pain and they made the comment that pain is the bodies way of saying something is wrong.

I thought about this and started saying whenever my hip or leg hurt, ok I know there's something wrong I don't need to listen anymore. That was enough to reduce the pain to something I was aware of but not really affected by.

I know it sounds bizarre but it's really helped me

garbo

Thank you for your suggestion I will give it a try

john62

That certainly is a different approach but worth giving a try. Do you have to really concentrate for it work and how long do you feel the effect?

Denis68

Hi, I think I did need to concentrate a lot when I first started and need to give myself a reminder if I have a particularly bad jolt, usually when I try to bend too far. Mostly, it's now just become a state of mind and I don't really think about doing it I just do it.

I can't really say if there are levels of pain it wouldn't work for as I only have my own experience to go from. All I can say is that I went from taking paracetamol daily and ibuprofen at least a couple of days a week to genuinely not being able to remember the last time I took pain killers for my OA.

john62

@Denis68

Good to hear it works for you, mind over matter l suppose.

swimmer60

@john62

Was just going to post exactly that! When people complement me on how well I am walking 7 weeks down the line

it's what I reply. My doc said a positive outlook is the best indicator of a positive outcome.