I can only assume my GP has now received the podiatry report and MRI results of my recent right foot and ankle which shows extensive osteoarthritis in my mid foot. I'm still under podiatry and they will be attempting a guided steroid injection into my foot at some point.
I got a phone call yesterday asking me if I wanted a referal to rheumatology. I declined, because waiting lists are long, unlike RA there aren't many treatments for osteo, just painkillers etc. Or surgery. I've been offered fusion surgery but its major surgery and has a long rehab recovery. I'm not in enough pain to agree to that yet.
And lastly I've dealt with Rheumatology before for my EDS and Fibro and frankly they weren't much cop. Apart from diagnosing what I already knew they offered sweet FA in terms of management. It was very much a case of learning to " live with it".
I'm awash with medical appointments atm and really couldn't face yet another one which will just be a let down. But I'm wondering if I've done the right thing. Anyone ever seen a Rheumy for osteoarthritis and did you benefit?
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Sparklingsunshine
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Anyone ever seen a Rheumy for osteoarthritis and did you benefit?
I saw/see one privately…..since early this year
X rays show both knees are in need of replacement……
Very knocked knees since child and decades of untreated vitamin D deficiency probably not helped and significant weight gain when hypo
but I opted to go see Rheumatologist first ……partly because I was in middle of moving house and area …..and partly because wondered if addressing inflammation caused by hashimoto’s might be first step
Now on daily prednisolone 5mg …..astonishing improvement and apparently can stay on this indefinitely
Also doing lots of physio exercises to build up muscles in preparation for knee replacement
Might be coincidence but …..
TPO antibodies dropped within range for first time in 30 plus years
I've got knock knees due to EDS and flat feet, another EDS symptom. I now have mild knee cap arthritis in both knees and arthritis in feet. I thought they only prescribed Pred for inflammatory conditions like RA and Lupus.
It helps by reducing swelling (inflammation) and can also calm down your immune system. This helps autoimmune conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, where your immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues.
I'm pleased you've found something for the pain. My mum suffered from severe RA and had two knees replaced, very sucessfully too. Mine is definitely OA though as the scans, xrays and blood tests show.
Hypermobility can lead to an increased risk of OA as the joints take more wear and tear due to weak or floppy muscles and tendons. I'm still surprised they prescribed steroids as my understanding was its only effective where the immune system is overactive and attacks the joints.
Still if it helps that's all that matters. I've always felt really good on Prednisolone. More energy, more get up and go and less aches and pains.
I have just recently started getting some acid reflux at night …..was thinking that was most likely thyroid…..but just been reading…it’s a common issue when been on prednisolone a while…….so that’s a pain (literally)
I'm on Pred for PolyMyalgia Rheumatica, and I take Turmeric for the reflux - according to an article I read either in the BMJ or Lancet it's as effective as Omeprazole.
Congratulation. So wise. I am eating when needed, very rarely, just a piece of cucumber. As I like veg. incl. cucumber I am rather preventing. Successfully.
I keep coming back to antibodies and inflammation and wondering whether I have some inflammation causing my TPO and TG antibodies. My 'weak' Coeliac antibodies disappeared when given b12 injections and as there is a connection between gluten and thyroid it sounds feasible b12 may have addressed that. This limited study on the relationship between antibodies, inflammation and symptoms is interesting:
Thyroid antibodies in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis patients are positively associated with inflammation and multiple symptoms
I'm getting a steroid injection in my foot via podiatry so didnt see much point in seeing a Rheumy. The one I saw in 2008 confirmed Fibro and EDS but then discharged me. He's still working at my hospital. He's a nice man but about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
I have mixed feelings about steroid injections. I've had a lot in my time, at the pain clinic I had loads in my neck and shoulders, I've had a couple for elbow tendonitis, frozen shoulder and recently one in my right shoulder for rotator cuff tendonitis.
I find them very hit and miss tbh. My recent one did nothing. I find as well that even if you get a good result it doesnt last. Maybe I'm just unlucky but they arent that great in my experience.
I had to have a fusion of my big toe (cheilectomy) I couldn't walk it was so painful I was told the pain would probably come back this was some years ago and I am still pain free. The big toe is up against the next toe instead of space apart but who cares, I think I wore a hospital shoe for a couple of weeks but it's been so much better no problems since.
The surgery they proposed is fusing the bones and joints in my arch. Its upto a 12 month recovery and I'd be in plaster for 3 months. Plus there can be complications with infection, permanent nerve damage, permanent swelling or distortion of the foot, or the fusion doesnt work and they have to go back in.
I have caring respnsibilities and dont drive or have access to a car so getting back and forth for hospital appointments or getting around would be very problematic. If I was still in a lot of pain I'd consider it but at the moment the downsides are greatly outweighing the benefits.
The podiatric surgeon I saw seemed surprised and a bit miffed that I didnt want the surgery, but then they have no real idea about how difficult the recovery can be, especially when you have no transport. Frankly I didnt really care about his hurt feelings lol.
Thanks, that's very kind, you have to keep going back every two weeks or so to get the plaster changed post surgery and they wanted to do the surgery 20 miles away in a different hospital, which is stupid as I have a general hospital 10 minutes away from my home.
There's no common sense left it seems. Doctors just assume everyone has a car or someone to drive them. Its infuriating.
Oh no they have a podiatry dept. I had surgery there on my foot there a few years ago. In fact I've been referred back to my local podiatry dept for this steroid injection as I explained travelling a 40 mile round trip on public transport isnt ideal when you've had a jab and they've immobilised your foot in a walking boot. The mind boggles.
I can sympathise with your experience with rheumatology for EDS. I got referred by a GP to Rheumatology for my HSD/EDS and the person I saw was useless. Everything he told me I already knew and on the aareas I was interested to know more about (problems connected to GI tract, bladder, eyes etc resulting from EDS), he was clueless about; told me I needed to talk to specialists in those areas. He knew how to assess the Hypermobility and what to suggest to help with that and that was it.
Whatever happened to a more generalised knowledge about how the body works as a whole? HSD/EDS doesn’t just affect joints. Apparently some rheumatologists either aren’t aware or have forgotten that.
I find the NHS clueless for chronic conditions. And as you rightly say the doctors will stick rigidly with their own tiny area of expertise and wont dare stray outside the lines. EDS can affect so many other things. Its so much more than bendy joints.
Mine has caused leaky heart valves, osteoarthritis due to knock knees, problems with my feet, gastro problems and autonomic dysfunction. To name but a few. All of which I've discovered myself.
Makes you wonder how many different specialists an individual with a single chronic condition might end up under. My husband wonders whether I hold some sort of record - for ending up being referred and seen by specialists in (I think) 7, or possibly 8 different areas in a single hospital. Granted I have more than one medical condition, and actually one of the departments was surgery (for appendicitis), but even so.
I really do empathise with you over this. Yes I’ve had experience of the Rheumatology department here and I’ve decided that because of their incompetence not to have anything to do with them at the moment. I too have osteoarthritis and I have PMR ( not diagnosed by the rheumatologist for months) and osteoporosis. I’ve found them to be very unsympathetic and only keen to recommend drugs that I’m not prepared to take. Once they realise this they wipe their hands of you, you’re on your own. I also have the osteo in my right foot. I have had steroid injections that have not worked. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t work for you. Good luck.
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