How to relieve pain

Hi @patient76 firstly let me welcome you to the forum I hope you find the information and support you are after from our wonderful community.

I can see from your post that you have pain from arthritis and are after some help in relieving the pain and what has worked for others.

Can I just check what sort of arthritis you have? It will be easier to then direct you to more targeted information for what you are looking for and increase your chances of people with similar experiences finding you and providing their help.

The site is full of information and I wanted to signpost you to some that could help, linked to as a starter general information on pain and one on managing arthritis (musculoskeletal) pain.

Please feel free to search the forum for others with similar experiences and I am sure that some of our community will be able to help offer some useful suggestions.

Take care and I hope you get some relief and answers soon. Again let me know what arthritis you have and I can potentially signpost you to more relevant material.

Thanks

Joe

Hi

I'm waiting for a knee replacement and am in constant pain when walking and standing.

I don't know what the answer is but I am now just taking two paracetamol plus two ibuprofen, this helps a tiny bit. I was on codeine but the GP doesn't want to prescribe it any longer and in any case I find it difficult to work with codeine which just sends me to sleep. I find Naproxen doesn't agree with me so I stopped taking that. I also try to do deep water jogging at my local swimming pool and that does help a bit - at least I feel the difference if I don't do it. I also had a steroid injection plus hyaluronic acid injection at the end of August. Sadly, none of these things take the pain away!

Hi all,

To help with pain I'd always suggest talking to your GP and asking for a referral to a pain clinic, as there are normally specialists there who have experience with chronic pain and should be able to help. A Physio would also be useful.

You can also ask your pharmacist what over-the-counter relief you can take which wont interfere with your prescriptions.

I personally like using heat as well - I've found the Deep Heat cream works for my lower back muscle aches (I've tried a few creams, and this one works for me. You can always keep trying until you find one which works for you). Or even more simply a hot shower or a hot bath can make a huge difference. I also use those microwavable wheat-germ bags, and have an electric collar for my neck and shoulders. It's really helpful.

The other thing not to forget is everything is joined up. So making sure you sleep well can really help with pain. I know it's often pain which stops you from sleeping well - but there are things you can do to help. Making sure you take pain killers half an hour before bed helps, as does a mattress topper so you don't have any pressure points adding to the pain (my grandmother had an amazing set up of pillows and cushions on her bed which worked for her) and even things like a distraction when going to sleep - watching snooker (it's so boring) or listening to the radio or a podcast can really help. Something to take your mind off things and give you something to focus on while not being completely distracting or too engrossing.

Finally, finding stretching exercises for your painful joints which can help relieve pain, and strengthening exercises which can help improve long-term mobility and reduce strain on your joints.

I hope this helps!

Shell