New here with osteoarthritis

Rosemary

hi there, ive not posted before but have been feeling rubbish after a disappointing appt with rheumatology,the Dr made me feel i was wasting his time, i hadnt asked to be referred it was the hand clinic who referred me as i have multiple joints with arthritis and recent xrays showed it advanced in my lower back and started in my hips with mutiple facet joints affected in my neck my gp saying its spondylosis, my gp prescribed Etopan XL im not keen on using anti-inflammatories as they are not good for my stomach, I feel a bit left alone to get on with it. TIA for any advice i do use the versus arthritis website a lot.

Naomi33

Afternoon @Rosemary and welcome to the online community.

Sorry to hear your concerns about your recent appointment with RA consultant.

Sadly/unfortunately luck of the draw who we get and how they treat us and make us feel.

I have had a couple of negative nurses but I try and take notes and log everything and email my RA secretary if not happy with outcomes of appointments when upto it 😘

Hope this helps as you are not alone and I am sure others out there will agree and connect with you soon.

Best wishes and chin up @Naomi33

Baloo

@Rosemary

Sorry to hear about your appointments, maybe they was having a bad day 😊

One good thing is you have, is a proper diagnosis of Spondylosis which is absolutely worth knowing.

I am dreading the day it shows up in my spine, it's bad enough just having it in all the other joints.

I hope your Etopan XL is the right way to go.

frogmorton

Morning @Rosemary

I am so sorry that the Rheumatologist upset you. You are by no means the first and won't be the last to feel like that.😠

I think they get cross when people are referred who don't have an inflammatory type of Arthritis, but it was hardly your fault. They shouldn't have treated you like that at all it was really wrong.

It's really good that you do pop in here regularly and read even if you don't post often a lot of people do the same. You can get a lot of information this way.

Unfortunately Osteoarthritis is so very common that GPs do very much let us 'get on with it' usually until the arthritis has progressed so far surgery is an option.

Has your GP prescribed a proton pump inhibitor to take alongside your anti-inflammatory? Like omeprazole or lansoprazole? They can protect your stomach if they are hurting it. I think Etopan is a Cox 2 inhibitor so should be reasonably gentle on your stomach, but some of us do struggle with our stomachs I know.

Keep reading @Rosemary and keep posting we do understand no-one here will ever minimise your pain.((()))

Toni x