Depression ??

Hello do you mind me calling you ouch..
This really is normal, my story is I was training to be a fitness instructor, after many years at the gym, then my knee started to hurt then hips..a long story short I have had both Hips replaced ..but other joints have joined in...
Right back to you , go back to your GP,not easy I know, many of us have had battles with them over Arthritis ..make a list and say what you want to say, never mind you dont want to be seen has a moaner pain is pain..I was put on antidepressant in the early days and boy did they help me through a real bad patch, , believe it or not you do sort of get used to it ..and you do need help..good luck let us know how you get on..

I think you are displaying some of the classic symptoms of depression and need to see your GP. I was diagnosed with depression back in 2011 when the OA was confirmed, I happily accepted taking anti-depressants with the ambition of coming off them after a few months but my rheumatologist disagreed; her reasoning was that if I was mentally stronger I would cope better and I have to agree. I take a small daily dose of Citalopram, maintaining my mental health is vital given the physical challenges I face. Please make an appointment and chat things over with your doctor - and let us know how you get on. DD

I agree to, one of my meds doubles up as helping to reduce my neuropathic pain and as a mild antidepressant. I have also had some counselling (I know it's not for everyone), as while the depression does still push through at times I did go through a very bad time about a year after neck surgery which had not given the results I had expected, it did really help me understand and work through things that were feeding my depression.

I'm with DD in terms of considering a complaint, that response is unbelievable and with any ongoing health problem having a supportive and understanding GP is vital.

It might be worth investigating any local adult counselling/mental health services. Where I live there is a free to user service which you can self-refer to, is there anything similar where you live?

You mention a job, do they have an occupational health service you could request a referral to? They can signpost to counselling services and the report would be useful to show a GP. Some employers also offer access to a freephone helpline.

Finally, you can always call the Samaritans if you just want to talk to someone, they are not just there for people contemplating suicide and are there 24/7.

I think it was very brave of you to go back to your GP when you clearly didn't want to and were so worried about it. Well done you!

You say 'I feel none the wiser to why I feel so low'. I think, to the rest of us on here, it's very obvious why. I can give you several reasons – (i)You have arthritis. That's quite enough all by itself. (ii) You ' work long hours and it's quite physical work' (iii)You are taking strong pain relief (the patches) and they can cause depression (iv)It sounds as if your OH is not really on board with all this. That will create tension between the two of you and make you feel very alone with it all. (v) You may be menopausal. Those are just some perfectly valid reasons which spring to mind.

Your GP doesn't sound to have the perfect bedside manner but I'm going to play devil's advocate here so please bear with me and also bear in mind this is no criticism whatsoever of you.

He 'started coughing ( he apologised and said he was himself feeling under the weather)', If he is alone, with only locums, he must be finding life very stressful himself and would feel under pressure to come into work when he didn't feel well enough. (Just like you?)

'All the while I was talking my doctor was staring at his computer screen'. This is not good practice. I guess some people, even docs, are uncomfortable with eye contact though he should make an effort. Maybe he was trying to think, quickly, what he could do for you. To be fair, as he has referred you for both blood tests and an MRI, those are both pretty good results. Many people on here have to practically beg for either so at least those will help to shed some light on things.

You say 'He suggested my mood could be due to the menopause ? I'm 52 ? Not even sure if I'm post or pre menopause'. To be honest, what does the cause matter but, really? You don't know if you've been through the menopause? I don't think many of us post-menopausal females can say that

I wonder if you actually asked if he'd think anti-depressants might help.

'He then suggested I go home consider my life style options ( working socialising etc )' He has a point, you know. You do a hard, physical job and work long hours at it. If you read other posts on here you'll find virtually all of us have had to do fewer hours, go part time, change jobs and / or give up working completely. There has to be a work / life balance and, if we don't constantly work hard (pardon the pun :roll: ) at it then the arthritis and / or the meds will take it all away. We have to be adaptable – keep giving up some precious things in order to have a life and the time to take up other things which may or may not, eventually, become equally precious and hard to let go of.

You can, indeed, go back to enjoying your life but it won't quite be the same life as before. Sometimes we just have to take a leap (not that we can ) into the dark. There will always be pain but it eases quite a lot when we stop pushing our poor, beleaguered bodies to the limit every day.

You can't have your old life back. But you can have a very good new one and we'll help as much as we can.

And, just for the record, it's the easiest thing in the world to change your GP. Just rock up at the new one's surgery (preferably with a prescription to show what meds you're on) and they will do all the paperwork. You don't ever have to see the old GP again.

But to be honest it coming here seeing how other people mange reading the replays to my ramblings that makes me know I can do this
Yes it's not going to be easy and I might have days were I really can't cope but if I do I tell myself it's just a day not the rest of my life

Hang onto those thoughts. You have a great deal to cope with at present and seeing a way forwards will take time and energy that you don't have to spare just now.
I'm sorry that your relationship with your GP is not as good as you would like and I can understand you not being keen to make a change, but it might be that both of you have got into a rut - on the one hand you can't express yourself clearly to him and you feel he has a negative view of you and your problems, and on the other he finds it difficult to sort out the best way to proceed as it's not clear which things you feel need priority(that may have been behind his comment about not coming in with multiple issues to discuss). It might be that seeing another GP(so that neither of you fall automatically into the existing unsatisfactory roles) and focusing on one issue - make a couple of notes if you like to keep you on track and enable the GP to be clear about what you want help with- (the depression as that seems to be to the fore in your worries just now) might get a bit of progress.
Regarding the menopausal thing, it might be helpful for you to do a bit of fact finding, for various reasons, not least because at 52 it is an issue one way or the other. One is that women 'of a certain age' are too often seen by(male in particular) GPs as a collection of hormone related ailments which may block proper consideration of symptoms the patient is concerned about. Another is that even if menopause isn't directly/solely responsible, there is no doubt that it doesn't make things any easier when it comes to aches and pains and mood swings but at least you would have some idea about why you feel as you do! You would also be better placed to make decisions about whether you want to actively manage menopause through HRT for instance.
Things can and will improve, although not necessarily as you envisage initially,so try not to overthink problems. Instead make the most of the things that do go right, however small. A smile, a flower, a stranger holding a door open for you, are things to bank against the rainy days.