Osteoarthritis and pain

Hi all I'm a new member. I can't take Ibuprofen because I have Asthma and COPD. I take Tramadol, Gabapentin and Diclofenac and also omeprazole for my stomach. I have osteoarthritis in my back and hip.

@Silverbirch  Hi I started juicing with my husband, initially for a week but as we both felt great we decided to do another week.  I was beginning to find an improvement in my osteoarthritis not enough to reduce medication but had a bit more movement.  I have osteoarthritis in most of my joints.  I've had an operation on my shoulder & need both knees replacing which can't be done as I also have chronic pain.  Although my knees need replacing some of the pain is generated from my spine & therefore I risk having increased pain after any procedures or operations therefore I can't have any of these unless it's life-threatening.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to continue with the juicing as I started of having spasms in my stomach & bowel, it had triggered off another very rare condition that I have so my GP told me to stop juicing.  I haven't stopped juicing completely as I have the odd one as i really like the juices.  It's just a shame I couldn't of continued as I think it would of helped especially as you also get the feeling of well being.  I would recommend anyone to try juicing unless they have any gastric conditions.  Hope it works for you @Silverbirch x

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Hamrowannie   I attend a pain clinic not as regularly as I used to due to the demands on the staff at the clinic.  I attend because I have 2 other painful conditions, chronic nerve pain & a very rare condition that causes pasms in the gastic areas, bowels, at upper torso which resulted in major surgery.  I have a very good consultant but when I talk about the pain caused by arthritis esp in my knees which need replacing but can't be because of the risks caused by the nerve pains.  The consultant just replies that he doesn't do arthritis not an area he knows much about.  He did suggest trying Capiscan cream which did nothing for me, the only time my knees were hot was when I applied direct heat eg in a shower or heat pad.  I am on anti-inflamatory  & pain medication including 2 controlled drugs but nothing else works.  I don't think that the pain clinics are very conserned with pain from arthritis, I may be wrong & maybe it's just my one.   I think that the increased demand upon the pain clinic services has become far to much for them to manage that they consider that other colleagues in the medical profession are better placed to manage arthritis.  I feel that there should be somewhere that those with osteoarthritis could be refered too.  I have never understood it, I know GP's can be very good but they are limited & have to follow a procedure of going through set medications even if they feel they may not be very effective.  There doesn't seem to be a specialist for us, unless I'm mistaken.    Sorry about the letters being blue & underlined I have no idea why this has happened.  Maybe I need to go and try & sleep as it's 3.40 & I haven't had any sleep, still that's not unusual!! 

Hi Ali, @Alg4spn4eva  Thanks for getting back to me The test for RA have come back inclussive as markers slightly increased.  Apparently there's not enough damage to the bones althought I am developing lumps my bones haven't become transparent therefore not bad enough.  Shame as I really wanted to try & avoid that happening.  How did your rotatory cuff operation go?  Yes it is painful.  Hope the operation has been successful for you. are you still doing the physio?  When I remember I do some of the physio as the surgeon was adament that I should continue because of the OA & he's sure it will go to the other shoulder & may return ie the damage caused by OA but so far so good.  It's hard when you're young & you get arthritis like you I was in my early 40's when it became problematic my back is the real 'killer' for me especially because it affects my legs, knees & hip so much.  Still we have to do what we can the problem arises when one part of the body conflicts with another part.  My knees when really sore have to be rested lying down but this conflicts with my hip which has flared up because of my knees.  My hip causes me agony when I rest as It wants exercising Lol  what a pain!!  Literally hahaha Have you tried tee tree essential oil in the bath, you need 4-6 drops & it was lovely but I can't get in or out of the bath any more & tee tree shower gel doesn't cut it.  I heard about it on Radio 5 a few years ago as a hospital in the south of England somewhere had been using it with people in severe pain including arthritis & they discovered that it was very effective.  They didn't do a proper study as patients discharged after a brief period.  I'm not saying it will ever replace medication but it helps for a little while & anything that helps should be shared.    Let me know how your operation went & hope things have improved a lot for you. :-)

Hi

Caron63

Welcome to the group, sorry it's a bit late but I've not been as active as I had hoped to be.  I was interested to see that you take gabapentin  do you get nerve pains?  As this is only effective with side effects caused by nerve pains.  We have to try & stop on top of our medication as we don't want to be wrongly prescribed.  This is one good thing about these groups, knowing what meds are for and what's effective albeit we are all different & need to have our meds specifically adapted doses for our own needs.  Hope you are having a good day/period & not experiencing too much pain, take care :-)

Hi

@anukarma  I do hope that by now someone has replied to you about , how to reply to individuals.  Just in case no-one has spotted your post , if you go to the bottom of each page you will see 'Post a new Comment"  Just put you message in there.  If you want to respond to an individual then put an @before their name.  Hope this helps   are you new to the group?  If so then welcome to the group hope you are getting some valuable info from it :-)

Hi Shirley

What is this juicing u mentioned please?

Caron x

Hi Goergess

i was on Celebrex for a long time and it worked well for me. Then the media reports stated that there was a dramatic increase of Heart attacks on patients who were taking Celebrex and was declared an unsafe medication. My GP took me off it, and now I just have natural threpy and control my Osteo Arthritis with Glucosamine sulphate, its partner MSM, Ginger, Turmeric, Cod Liver Oil and am doing well on it. yes I do get pain due to the nature of 5 spinal surgries I had. I just have a 50mg capsule of Tramadol with my breakfast in the morning, and that sees me through the day. If you consider taking Turmeric, please research it first on "Turmeric For Health" web site and check with your GP first as it does interfere with certain medications such as blood thinners and diabetes medication. So be ware. How ever Turmerioc used in cooking is considered fairly safe

I Wish you well.

Nineteen_gale 

Nineteen_gale. Have you looked into rosehip tablets ? I find they work after a couple of weeks as a pain reliever. Take care x

Hell to all,,,my Aunt had both OA and RA and she really suffered with them,,,I just have OA and really dread if I ever get RA,,so I am doing what I can to keep as well as possible,,,,I cannot take volterol and did take tramadol but came off it as made me feel out of it,,,I am back on the co-codamol 30/500 dose,,,and they are helping me,,,but if it need help during the day I take soluable 12/500 otc pain relief,,,they seem to help as well,,,doing what I can to be pain free and walking were possible,,,,

I hope everybody is pacing themselves as the month of the red suited guy is on the way,,,and then we all take the time to look after ourselves in all ways possible,,,keep warm and keep in touch,,,,ttfn from Karen.