It seems that each day my joints are seizing up. With everyday this worsens and I fear that soon I will not be able to get out of bed, stand up from a chair or even walk. Every steps is excrutiatingly painful. I exercise before I get out of bed and I try to keep my feet and legs moving as much as I can. I take a fair amount of medication which includes MST and Oramorph however I get no support from Consultant or GP, what can I do to help myself from becoming immobile?
Thank you in advance for all of your suggestions.
DandyLad
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DandyLad
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Thanks for that Sylvi - I will try them and hope that they can help.
i put comment on your other post.. you have posted twice . take care x
I'm a bit worried about coming up with something impractical but here goes - how about aqua-therapy? I know that there are private heated pools for therapeutic use available & my local hospital has one so maybe there is something near you available on the NHS.
I also think that telling the Consultant or GP once or twice about your concerns may not be enough - of course you may have explained the situation again & again without any joy. But if not I'd advise the broken record approach - what's to lose?
Do you have a physiotherapist? That's a service that should be available to you.
I'm sorry to hear that you feel the service you are getting is so poor. I do think there is a lot of unofficial rationing going on in the NHS - the squeaky doors get the most oil. So keep suggesting, complaining, inquiring until things improve. All the best to you,
Luce xx
Your GP should be able to refer you for physiotherapy and to an occupational therapist. I don't have access to my consultant and have no rheumatology nurse either but you are right - I would have expected more help and support to exist for you in a place such as Brighton. I have ulnar nerve entrapment just now and at someone lovely on this site's suggestion I googled for YouTube videos regarding exercises and now know what to do to try and improve things for myself. If I email my NHS physio up here it will probably be a month before she replies and I can't wait a month to be able to use my right arm again as I'm right handed and have to use it for my work! Google exercises for the bits that are most troublesome (feet) and push your GP for some referrals asap. Tilda x
PS you may also want to copy Summer's reply on your other question and then delete that one because otherwise you will find people responding in different places and it will be harder for you to pick up advice?
I must apologise for the spelling in the title of this question.
It is obvious that it should have read 'Seizing joints'
I would also like to point out that I have written one question on this subject today so if there is more than one I have had nothing to do with it.
Thank you
It happens like that sometimes - you think you've posted the once but actually twice - probably the first one went off and then you tried to edit it and it went up again with the spelling wrong? Anyway it's too late to delete or change it now (only you could have sent it and only you can delete it) because people have replied on both! Tilda x
I would think if you are that bad your GP or consultant should do something for you, maybe change your meds. Physio may help and as suggested above, aquatherapy could be useful. I do stretching excercise when its bad like that, but sounds as if you do that already. If nothing is working you really need to be insistent with your GP and/or consultant.
When was your last visit to the rheumy consultant?
I found the NHS Direct phoen line was helpful (not with RA but another illness my hubby had) because they can get a dr. to call you back and he or she may then step in to get you in to see a consultant? Each area of the coutnry is different, that's the problem. But honestly, the medical professionals should not be leaving you to it - dont give up phoning them and asking for help.
Hi, I am not sure if you have tried any of the biologic drugs but it sounds to me like you need a review of your medication. I was in the same position last year, although i couldn't get off a chair without help and i then started rituximab and that has helped a lot. You are best seeing a rheumatologist as doctors are limited in what they can give you for r/a.
I am so sorry you are in so much pain, I was much the same for about 10 months before going on biologicals. Before then I was in so much pain but my RA nurse told me to tell my GP to put me on TRAMADOL. So I did that and he told me I didn't need such a strong pain killer!! In fairness he wasn't my usual GP. So I made an appointment with my usual GP and I simply told him that I wasn't getting the pain relief I needed from this surgery! He immediately wrote me a prescription for 300mg of TRAMADOL and arcica , hope the spelling is right. He even went as far as to tell me not to try tomalley way up to the surgery that I outdone him if. I needed to consult with him!
The thing is sometimes you need to tell them what you need. If your GP is a reasonable person tell her/him what you need instead of them telling you. You might be surprised. All the best anyhow. XX
I'm so sorry about the spelling. I have an IPAD my brother gave me and it takes a bit of getting used to. What I was trying to say was that my GP told me not to come the whole way to the surgary as I was in so much pain. We now talk on the fone now and my subscriptions are delivered to my door. It was a great relief for me as getting dressed and making my way into town was agony then. Sorry bout the IPAD.......it tries to do your thinking for you and it usually gets it all wrong.....modern techno!
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