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Andypandimonium
Andypandimonium Member Posts: 2
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:04 in Living with arthritis
Hi everybody!

I am in my mid-fifties and starting to feel my age. After a severe bout of back pain a couple of years back, I received the diagnosis of OA in the base of the spine. Can still remember receiving the MRI results over the phone from my GP..."good news" she said..."no sign of a herniated disc, and no need to operate". "Great stuff", says me, "so what is it?" OA was the answer...and on to a life of physio and pain relief. Sitting is a permanent adventure and something I try to avoid. Having a sit/stand desk at work helps greatly with the 10 hour shifts in the office I must say. Anyway, I'm living with it.

The reason I felt inclined to look for an arthritis sufferers forum now is that I do feel the condition is potentially spreading to other parts of my aging body. I had assumed that the problem with the spine came from my long-standing knee problems (stemming from too much sport in my youth) which had caused poor posture and rubbed away part of the bone in my lower spine. I have had cartilage operations in both knees in years gone by and don't have OA there as far as I'm aware. Only soreness when I bend or walk for too long.

However, my walking pace has slowed considerably this year, and I have also developed permanent weakness and pain in my thumb and wrist joints. I will go see my GP soon, but was thinking the two things to be unrelated. How can a worn bone in my spine be connected to hands and wrists I thought. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who may have developed further OA after an initial diagnosis elsewhere. Could it be a different form of arthritis?

Anyway, hello again, and I will go look through the many posts on this excellent forum, but if anyone feels like replying to this, I will be delighted to hear from you!

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Andypandimonium, great to have you with us on the forums.

    For further information regarding osteoarthritis do visit our website which has a good range of information you may find useful:

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

    You can also read back on the many threads on this topic by using our forum search:

    https://arthritiscareforum.org.uk/search.php?keywords=Osteoarthritis&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

    Do join in across the forums where you will be most welcome

    Brynmor
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hello, I had to reply because I love your user name! I can empathise with everything you have said and, in short, here's why. I began my first arthritis (which turned out to be psoriatic) back in 1997 when I was 37. A further osteoarthritis diagnosis was made when I was 52 and now I am 60. I began with one aftected joint, now it's around forty so yup, it spreads.

    I was immediately lumped in with pensioners when I was 37 because, as 'every fule no' (Molesworth) only old people get arthritis and it only comes in two kinds, OA and RA. Wrong and wrong. Now I am nearly a pensioner so nearly living the dream of my disease matching my age. :wink: I find that the OA is worse in the cold and damp and aggravated if I eat too much acidic food or overdo things. I have overdone things today so farewell for now. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • daffy2
    daffy2 Member Posts: 1,636
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hello and welcome. I have OA in multiple joints,which has developed over a fairly short period. I don't see it as having spread(like an infection for instance) so much as whatever changes in the way my body works(or doesn't, I have other conditions which don't help) have resulted in joints succumbing. As you say posture or high intensity use can cause OA and /or referred pain, but increasingly the medics are realising I think that the old view of age/wear and tear as explanation doesn't always fit and is now too simplistic. Certainly they know that what can be seen on Xrays doesn't neatly correlate with what the patient is experiencing. I fit into the age pigeonhole, but am anomalous for the other two - I should have at least one hip shot thanks to asymmetric pelvis for 50 years and, according to the Xrays, shouldn't be having as much pain and stiffness in hands feet and knees as I do!
    Something I have become very aware of is the extent to which my muscles don't work nearly as well as they used to and so don't support my joints as well as they should. I've been searching out and trying exercises for knees and feet, since they have a nasty habit of just collapsing under me a without warning and at awkward moments, but have also been recommended to use the physio self-referral service, following an accident at work which didn't do my left foot any good at all.
    So no, I don't think that a worn bone in the spine has caused the trouble with your wrists and hands, but I do think it is possible that it is OA; however I'm a patient not a medic so diagnosis is up to your GP.
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