Pleased to say the AF has been quite stable over the last 6 months or so, a few blips here and there but usually down to lack of sleep, bugs and dehydration!
However over the last 2-3 months my osteoarthritis has been getting steadily worse to the point I've had trouble walking without pain and working has now become an issue. It clicks/swells/gives way quite often and after an injection, X-ray, MRI and consultant input I'm now listed for a partial knee replacement aged 40.
Trouble is I'm struggling with what to take for pain. GP has been less than helpful, I've resorted to Paracetamol and localised topical pain relief (Voltorol) because obviously NSAIDs are a no-no and I don't want to upset the AF.
I've already contacted the GP for some help and they just suggested Codeine which does nothing for the inflammation, naturally.
I don't want ot have to nag them again but when I'm sitting here and its aching and swollen and it causes me pain just going to get a food shop in, I'm feeling I have to.
Looking for help from any arthritis sufferers and what they did pre-post op for you if you had surgery so I can be armed with some ammunition!
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jedimasterlincoln
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I am sorry to hear about your knee pain. I was diagnosed with RA when in my late 20s. The joint pain was excruciating, so I know where you’re coming from! I had very limited movement in my right ankle and left knee and was told I would need both joints replaced. Was in my 30s then and not happy about that prospect so I opted to go down the alternative route instead. I’m not suggesting you do that, of course but one supplement I did find helpful for the pain and inflammation was Boswellia. I also made a tea from fresh ginger root and drank that daily too, another natural anti-inflammatory - still do!
Sorry, that’s not a lot of help but maybe worth looking into if the GP doesn’t come up with anything better.
Agree fresh ginger root tea is good but not if you take an anticoagulant as it interferes with blood clotting. The old cup now and again is fine and in food occasionally (according to pharmacist) but not too much or daily. It’s a shame as it tastes lovely and good for so many things.
In a previous incarnation you knew me as Carn Euny on this and the older Yahoo Forum. I'm away from home at moment in Salisbury and only have my phone ....too small to write a long post. Your situation pretty much echoes mine and when I get home this afternoon I'll post my experience.
I feel for you! I am waiting for a hip replacement. I only use paracetamol, which has little to no effect. I, too, was offered codeine. I cannot use that as I have diverticulitis too. Sorry, I cannot offer you any help. I will let you know if I hear of anything. Good luck!
Hi Jed - good to hear from you - sympathies. You are coping with a lot of stuff.
Traditional remedy for arthritis is ginger, for pain make a ginger poultice. Make a paste from ginger root or good quality powdered ginger, spread on muslim cloth and heat and place over your knee. Ginger is the best anti-inflammatory. Turmeric tea is a good anti inflammatory and spices such as Cinnamon in/on food. Ginger and lemon tea and eating an anti-inflammatory diet also help. I also take Resveratrol in capsule form - it is from a herb recommended for reducing chronic inflammation, has no known interactions. Compound also found in highly coloured purple foods and one of the reasons people say red wine is good for you!
Is the Voltorol prescribed by GP? Voltorol have a good article on treating pain and inflammation here voltarol.co.uk/treatment-by... I know you know most of this stuff but sometimes it’s good to be reminded.
I find Arnica cream/gel helps but my pain does not interfere with daily tasks and I keep moving and exercising although stiff and painful in the morning, but then I am 30+ years older!
I’ve also just had 6 sessions of acupuncture and it has helped the pain, mine is mostly in my hands and feet (result of sailing) but my left knee is just starting to get painful. The acupuncture did help with the pain but obviously won’t cure the problem.
Please would you advise where to get the Resveratrol and what dose? I have had a quick look on Amazon and am confused with the different dosages etc. Regards Rosie
I can only partially reply but I sympathise. I’m a good bit older than you but have had both conditions for a few years. Pain is getting worse. Having tried various painkillers I now try to stick to one naproxen (ok’d by gp) and paracetamol. If things really bad I take cocodamol. I would avoid asking for Tramadol which I did thinking it might help. It didn’t really and I reckon it could be responsible for the really bad run of af over last few months. I also use a turmeric and jasmine oil rub.
Hi, I've arthritis in lots of joints, plus gout a kind of arthritis. Long term and regular pain is something the medical profession can't seem to understand or help with. I have prescribed zapain, a mix of codeine and paracetamol. it usually sends me to sleep which helps. But when I raise issue of pain with my GP his response is to take more painkillers. I don t want to do this for fear of addiction, side effects etc. Anyway if I took painkillers every time I was in pain it would mean I'd exceed the recommended dose, brilliant. So lots of sympathy. What I've found most effective is ice, use ice packs/bandages on all the bits that hurt. Its what sports people use to reduce infammation and pain. Only problem is my worse time for pain is at night so using ice then is a bit more inconvenient.
My AF is highly controlled, can't remember when my last event was, maybe 18 months maybe 4 years. Just doesn't trouble me. My Osteoarthritis certainly makes up for it though!
OA in right knee - only cured by partial knee replacement. No problem since. It was during the years leading up to this surgery that I was introduced to pain control. Bear in mind when I was diagnosed with paroxysmal AF in Jan 2010 I was also put on Warfarin for life - so, my discussion here only involves Warfarin, not any of the NOACS that are available today. That pain control was CoCodomol 30/500 ( which I am sometimes supplied with Zapain 30/500). Does the same job.
I might add the Warfarin was no obstacle to knee surgery, just stopped it for 6 days before surgery, after the op I was injected with two doses of a bridging anticoagulant, Fragmin, then that night back on Warfarin. No sweat, no problems !
I was advised no NSAIDs due to Warfarin. No worries - by and large the CoCodomol does the job. However, the OA has decided to start looking for other vulnerable joints to play with .... the worst are now both shoulders. The worst has been the right shoulder and to deal with this when the CoCod and Zapain ceased to be effective in April 2022 my GP gave me a Cortisone Injection into right shoulder which has settled it down. However, the left shoulder is now starting the same journey. However, I'm still on Warfarin and still using CoCodomol 30/500 ( there are lesser grades which are over the counter but for me they weren't effective at pain control). I also like CoCod/Zapain because I don't get any side effects and it has been declared to DVLA along with my other cardiac meds as I'm a bus driver.
Notwithstanding these two pain control meds I have to say I need maximum doses when there is a weather change ( I'm on the Atlantic Coast of the pointy bit of Cornwall) the pain increases sooooo soooo sooo much - basically when the barometric pressure falls, maybe down as low as 880mb and the humidity rises up to around 98% then the pain is just simply beyond pain - and the CoCod and Zapain only just knock the pain.
In winter I use Heat Patches for the shoulder, again no cure, but certainly helps a great deal.
Frankly, and to be blunt, the only way for your knee pain will end is with surgery, and that presents its own set of challenges post op with your exercises and how well disciplined you are in dealing with them. My surgery was right, knee medial compartment and I was off work for 11 weeks ( I was 71 at the time of surgery). However TBF, it would have been only 8 weeks had Christmas 2015 not intervened and the surgeon was on leave. I was back driving a bus at 11 weeks. Exercises are a significant challenge and YouTube has a wide range of short videos on the exercises you may well be told to get into. Worth doing a search. Sometimes a video is worth a thousand words. To assist with recovery, in addition to exercises I'd been given, and after dressings had been removed and the incision line had been cleared of any signs of infection, I went to a sports injury massage therapist and got her to give me deep massage therapy along the incision line and surrounding area as an additional safeguard to scar tissue developing - which had it done so would have made the regular exercises maybe highly difficult, maybe near on impossible. Worth bearing in mind.
Hope this helps. Any questions ( I might have forgotten things) ask away.
I've had NO cartilage in both knees now for about seven years and the pain is mind boggling. I have tried cortisone injections; no help, hyaluronic injections; some help, RFA ( radio frequency ablations) both knees; minor help for three months, supposed to last for one year. Now I just grit my teeth and tuff it out with a tylenol 325mg once a month so I can sleep. Dr. just offered me total knee replacements but I would have to lose thirty five lbs., good luck, and considering my age seventy seven, (how much longer do I have left?) I refused emphatically. You might want to try the hyaluronic injections as it helped for a couple of years or the rfa treatment! Whatever you choose Best of Luck to you.
Good to hear from you. Not sure if it's good form to mention other info sources but don't know if you've come across Versus Arthritis website.Lots of info and excellent gentle exercises for all joints, the pre op ones may help youeven if they seem impossible when you are enduring an acute episode .
My mantra these days is "tomorrow will be different". All my niggles (I could be impolite but niggles will do) seem to flucuate from day to day which keeps me sane.
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