It's hello from me.......

Lindylootoo
Lindylootoo Member Posts: 6
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:04 in Living with arthritis
Hello. I've just joined and hope to get some advice from others on here as my hip arthritis is now becoming a problem and am currently experiencing my third flare up this year.

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi lindylootoo
    Welcome to the forum,flareups can be very painful,everyone on this forum has Arthritis of some kind so know what you are going through,we are all friendly and understanding and will try to make you feel part of the forum. The most popular forums are Living with Arthritis and Chit Chat.
    Best wishes Christine
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello back! I have two kinds of arthritis with OA in my ankles, knees and hips (elsewhere too but those joints seem more important!) Mine was diagnosed back in 2011 but I suspect it had been rumbling away, disguised by the other, for some time. I just didn't know it.

    I find my OA 'flares' when I have overdone things. Of the two I prefer the OA as it is more honest in how it presents and in what it does. I know it will be worse in the cold and damp (can't avoid that) and when I've been stupid (can control that but sometimes forget). The pain etc. is localised which helps me deal with it (usually heat and Voltarol). I take between four and six 30/500 cocdamol per day to dull enough of the sharper edges to allow me to get on.

    I've used walking aids since 2002 and am very grateful for the fact because now, despite the spread of the OA, I still have a good range of movement (ROM) in all my affected leg joints. I do my post-op exercises daily (no replacement ops, other leg stuff was done) and have done for 17 years, another contributing factor to the ROM. I can walk without the aids, admigtedly not for very long or very far, but it's good for me to do so as that works my leg muscles in a very different way which is beneficial for maintaining my balance and stability.

    Having been born with auto-immune issues back in the days before steroid creams and inhalers I am very used to living a compromised life because it has never been any different but if your hip is your first experience of your body letting you down it must be very hard. What has your GP suggested as a coursr of action? (I am assuming you have OA and it is GPs who deal with that). DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Lindylootoo

    Just a note to add to the welcome to our forums. As a sufferer of hip & permanent back pain, I can well understand how bad aflare can be.

    We have some pretty useful resources on our website, including one on hip pain :D

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/hip-pain/

    Do come back and tell us how you get on with coping with the flare and what worked (or didn’t!) to help with the pain.

    Brynmor
  • Lindylootoo
    Lindylootoo Member Posts: 6
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks for your replies. I'll certainly be looking at the forum and hope I can find some advice.
    When it comes to keeping active - how much is enough and how much is too much? Since being told I have arthritis (but before the flareups) and told to get fit, I have joined a leisure centre and swim three times a week, do at least one and often two fitness classes and walk with the ramblers most weeks and other walks - of around 3 miles, two or three times a week.
    Last year, I also spent ten days on a walking holiday in Spain - I suspect that was a bit too much and may have contributed to the deterioration.
  • oddbody66
    oddbody66 Member Posts: 15
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Lindylootoo,

    I'm new here too, thought I would say hello.

    I am 2 1/2 weeks post total hip replacement surgery (right hip), and doing ok, though I worked myself into a state about some post-op pain... :? (see earlier post).

    Like you I am interested in finding the right balance of exercise, though now I am going to be taking it very easy, I think, for quite some time, which I suspect I will find hard - although I'm not remotely sporty, pre-op I was a regular gym goer, and also love any exercise to music. Mainly I guess I like the endorphin release it brings about.

    I hope to be back doing similar activities when I'm given the all-clear, with maybe the addition of some swimming - we'll see.

    I find it confusing to know what helps arthritic joints, and what worsens the condition. I have a feeling that some of the exercise I was doing pre-op possibly contributed to deterioration, I was forcing the joint to move in a way it really didn't like, grinding those bones together - ouch! - and I should have just eased off and worked within my range of movement, with the aim of keeping the muscles working, and hopefully strengthening.

    Some of it must have been good for me, however, as the physios in hospital, and nurse who came for the home visits seemed to think I was doing well with movement on the operated side. Or maybe they were just keeping my spirits up. :P

    Anyway, it sounds like your rambles, and swimming, are great ways to keep moving, and I was told in hospital that the best thing for me to do was walk!

    I hope you keep active, and keep it at bay.

    Best wishes,

    Oddbod
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Lindylootoo - I suspect that's too much. It would be really useful for you to contact a physiotherapist to find what they thought would be good for you. Whether or not you do that the key thing is to listen to your body. If it's telling you to ease up a bit then do. If not, carry on. I think the danger with regular exercise classes is that of feeling obliged to attend, especially if the money is paid in advance. Wwe have to learn to exercise as we can and not as we can't.

    oddbod - swimming will be good but not the breast stroke kick. You might have to try a different leg movement. I think it's the 90 degree thing. One to ask your physio when you see him / her.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I second everything Sticky said in her last post and anyway, who knows how much is too much? That is something that the individual has to find out for themselves. I am very aware that I can no longer do the same amount of stuff that I could two years ago because I am two years older so two years further on with both my arthritic and age-related degeneration. Always stop when you think you can do more, listen to your body so you can recognise its warning signs that it's nearly had enough. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • oddbody66
    oddbody66 Member Posts: 15
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi again Stickywicket,

    Yes, I think I may have read one of your posts a while back about not doing breaststroke legs - will def check with physio, and bear it in mind if I do go back swimming (never was my favourite exercise).

    I also listened to an 'Inside Health' special that was mentioned in a forum a while ago, where the consultant suggested 'walking' laps of the pool instead of actual swimming - I'll try that, and stuff any funny looks I get 8)

    I quite fancy flopping out in the sauna too, when I'm allowed back poolside, so with 'water-walking' and sauna, lots of things to look forward to...

    Lastly, could have done with heeding DD's advice over the last few years - ''Always stop when you think you can do more, listen to your body so you can recognise its warning signs that it's nearly had enough. DD'' - Shame I didn't find this site then, there again, knowing me, I probably would have gone and done the wrong thing regardless! :?

    Gonna disappear from this now, as I feel like I'm hijacking Lindyloo's post - sorry Lindyloo! :oops: - hope you find the advice you are seeking.

    Oddbod
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    It's a kind thought - not wishing to 'poach' someone else's thread but I guess issues raised on any thread are relevant to far more viewers than just the one posting. So :wink:

    Walking in the pool is an exercise I've done under several physios in different hydrotherapy pools. I think it's the action of raising the bent leg despite the pressure of the water which gives the benefit. Go for it and, if you get odd looks, kick some water at 'em :lol:

    Stopping when we can do more - yes, excellent advice which we all need to heed. I've had RA for nearly 60 years and I still don't sometimes :roll: Rules are there to be broken when a suitable occasion arises. We just have to bear in mind that the payback is entirely our own fault. if it wasn't worth it we shouldn't do it again but, if it was....... :D
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright