first post...hi!

rhodie
rhodie Member Posts: 2
edited 11. Jan 2019, 05:07 in Say Hello Archive
Hello! New here so I thought I would introduce myself. I am 45 and have had severe knee pain since my late 30's. Aged 40 this was diagnosed as Osteoarthritis. MRI scans and scopes since then show its fairly advanced and I have no cartilage left. I have started to get hip pain on one side now and am awaiting a scan.

I lead an active life, mum to three, work full time as a nurse sister, have dogs, horses so it's full on. The pain is getting quite bad now and I don't think I will be able to continue with the hands on nursing role for long so I am looking for a less full on role.

I have injections of an artificial lubricant into each knee every six months but it is working less and less each time (I was warned about this!). I take painkillers daily and when it's really bad have to take Tramadol. My joints crunch and I just feel more limited by this than ever before. I have been offered partial knee replacements but mentally I ma just not ready for that. I have come here just to hear about others situations, gain support, offer support and to see if there's anything else that I can do to help myself stay away from major surgery for a while longer.

Look forward to meeting you all.

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi rhodie,

    Welcome to the forum, thanks for sharing your story. It's hard to cope with the steady worsening of symptoms and the changes this brings to life. I'm sure you'll find many others on here who have found themselves in similar situations.

    I've attached a link to the information on the Versus Arthritis website about osteoarthritis of the knee, just in case there's anything you haven't come across before, or that's worth being reminded of again.

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-of-the-knee/

    Hopefully some fellow osteoarthritis sufferers will be along soon to share their thoughts & perhaps ideas to help.

    best wishes,

    Ann
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello, it's nice to meet you and I am sorry you have had to find us. I am in my twenty-first year of arthritis, I began in 1997 when I was 37 with psoriatic and then osteo was diagnosed in 2011. I was refused new knees when I was 52 due to my youth, a backhanded compliment if ever there was. :lol: Back then I was nearly bone-on-bone throughout, now it's total and as everything else has worsened thanks to the knees I won't bother.

    I think the major benefit of surgery has to be the reduction in pain levels and the increase of mobility: an added bonus is the slowing or complete halting of the progression of the disease to other joints. Once one joint is out of kilter we naturally alter the way we move throwing others out of kilter and thus the trouble spreads. I will never know whether a quicker diagnosis of my first arthritis would have avoided the arrival of the osteo but in my heart-to-hearts I suspect it would.

    In your situation I would opt for surgery ASAP because this is a condition that never improves and does not go away but I am fortunate in that I am a veteran of surgery and I'm not bothered by the prospect of having more: if this is a new experience for you then it must be very daunting. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    You are so in the wrong job for a bad knee aren't you! sounds as though your hip is getting cross now too.

    I know it's major surgery, but sometimes you have to weigh up the odds. If life becomes intolerable it might have to be an option...

    My own daughter had to have a new shoulder at age 19 (just!) because chemotherapy had destroyed hers. I wouldn't have wished for it for her, but blimey she is now a healthy 21 year-old in very very little pain and back living her life to the full :) I know she'll need the op repeated a few times in her lifetime, but I think it was still the right decision.

    Lovely to meet you

    Toni xxx