Me needing advice

[Jaynesnothappy]

I have been diagnosed with OA in both knees hips feet and hands and its very quickly becoming very aggressive and painful . Im on various drugs staring with paracetamol ( doesnt touch me ) , Tramadol ( made me a zombie , pleased my hubby as he got peace and quiet! )

Now on morphine and it again isnt touching me , . been referred 5 times to to see the orthopods (orthopediacs) but every time they make me an a ppt they cancel it as they say im too overweight . Ive lost 9 stone and i only way 100kilos , and yet they still wont see me . Im in dire pain and now im suicidal with this pain. Im not sleeping , or eating im crying all the time and my poor hubby doenst know where to turn . I have seen ppl at the hospital whilst visiting friends on an prthopediac ward way way overweight yet getting their op done . So i complained to my chief Exec of our group of hospitals as when i rang to find out why another appt was cancelled was ytold " if you can pay £12k for a private op you could see the same doctor you would see on the NHS in the next few days and have your op in the next week !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Eeerm if i had £12k id be using it wisely and im only 59 and i have found out theres an op i can have to replace my knee witha replacement that would last me 20yrs but still i cant get it done .. Help and advice please before i got truly mad xxx

Best wishes

Jayne ( in pain unhappy and feeling very depressed xxx)

[Hidden]

Hi, so sorry to hear of your pain and the trouble you are having. I am having a knee replacement next week and I am 90.5 Kilo and am 5.6 ft tall. I really do not understand why they would do this to you? My knee replacement should last about 10 years I hope you do get your op as it will be one pain less for you that is how I am looking at it as also have it in back feet hands and neck. Take care

[hebden]

I truly am with you with this Jayne. Nothing helps the pain for me either. I was told at hydrotherapy by a nurse that there are bigger people than me having hip and knee replacements. Apart from cost I think it also comes down to age and short sightedness of nhs consultants. In my case it has cost the nhs a lot more than it would have. I was 51 when I was told I needed knee replacement in my left knee but was refused because I was as the consultant said "too fat" (these were his exact words). I weighed a little over 90kgs at that time but I was fit and could exercise in fact I damaged my left knee climbing 10 flights of stairs twice a day 5 days a week. I now at the age of 57 have osteoarthritis in many joints and both knees desperately need replacing and both achilles are damaged. My wrists, shoulders and neck are deteriorating rapidly because I have to use crutches and I have pain 24/7 despite medication, physio, etc. I now weigh a lot more and have fibromyalgia added to the list and lost a full time job because of ill health. How can this be cost effective? I truly believe if they had replaced my left knee 6 years ago I would not have the health problems I have now as I would have been able to be more active and kept weight off and kept fit. I don't know what the answer is apart from winning the lottery. gentle hugs Joolz.x

[Jaynesnothappy in reply to hebden]

Hi Jools

Thank you somuch for ylur kind reply. I usedyo up to 3yrs ago play tennis 3times a week and netball for my county and now im crawling along . My neighbor across the gardens frkm in the flats we live in Is 27 st in 4wedks of comaining about her knees she has got steroid injs in both knees and in her wrist and us bein referred to a rheumatologist urgently YET she runs,around like a 3yr old . I havent had a reply from the Chief Exec of our local hospirals ,so now im lookkng to find a solicitir who will take this up for me . Jools i hope you get some help .its terrible how ppl are treated these days medically wise but i guess this is how bad our NHS has become xxxx

[hebden in reply to Jaynesnothappy]

Its hard to cope isn't it when your life changes so much. I don't understand why some people are treated well (like we should all be) but others have to fight for everything. I had to fight for 2 years to get an X-ray to confirm osteoarthritis and all I was offered for the pain was paracetamol and physiotherapy. I think it must come down to how loud you shout and unfortunately thats not me. I felt guilty about complaining to Patient liaison about a rheumatologist who had given me strong medication for inflammatory disease but then a year later discharged me because she felt what I was experiencing was in my head. Never mind about the poison she had me take and what damage that may have done. I think they see "mug" written on my forehead. My Uncle damaged his knee around the same time I did but his GP sent him straight to the hospital and within a month he had keyhole surgery to fix it. I was just told to go and rest it and lose weight. Made me feel like I didn't matter and I have been really depressed about it all.

[Jaynesnothappy in reply to hebden]

Hi Jools

Sadly ive taken to shouting , i hate shouting at ppl especially when i was up to 3 .5 yrs ago a clinical nurse manager of a very large london A & E dept !!!!!! ive taken to involving everyone one now including the chief exec of my local hospital , my mp and my lovely gp surgery who i have to say are fantastic and supportive but i am now getting so much worse as im typing to you im in tears .. My poor hubby and family have no idea on what to do with me as everything i have been told to do is not working and it bugs me when i was told by a receptionist at the orthopedics dept if you go private you can see the surgeon next week and be in and having your op the week after . This is the same surgeon id see on the NHS . EEERM i dont have £11k to play with but if you can find me someone who will fund me then yeah lets go she was shocked when i told her i was in the job lol xxxx

[hebden in reply to Jaynesnothappy]

Im the opposite I don't shout at all. I intend to but then I can't get the words out and end up frustrated and crying. My hubby thinks I am becoming agoraphobic as I don't want to go out anywhere and make excuses to stay home all the time. I cry at the drop of a hat. You are so lucky to have a good GP though so at least you have some support. They won't let you have new knees but they keep offering me bariatric surgery which costs as much (if not more). Every time they offer it to me I ask if I cab swap it for new knees. The answer is I am too big for knee surgery! Don't make sense.

[Jaynesnothappy in reply to hebden]

Lol hahah yep i know that one i got offered that but i lost my own weight and i said this to the doctor im not too big for Bariatric surgery though am i lol , where in the uk are you Jools xx

[hebden in reply to Jaynesnothappy]

Im in hampshire. where are you?

[Jaynesnothappy in reply to hebden]

West Sussex