General Chat

yep, I only do them once a day, before I get up.


Sometimes the physio says "do this 3 times a day"


never manage to find the time!


Caz .... the pain in your hip could possibly be coming from your back. It might be worth checking .... if you can stand to see a physiotherapist!


There is a joint more or less in the middle of your butt, the sacro-iliac joint which joins the front half of your pelvis to the back half.


Muscles attach to the spines on the vertebrae, then to the sacro-iliac, then to the hip. Nerves also follow the same sort of route.


If the attachments to the vertebral spines are not good, then the muscles start to pull the sacro-iliac out of whack, and then the hip joint.

One of the ways of improving this is by improving the core muscles ..... ie, the muscles more to the inside of your body than on the outside.

It involves having to pull in your stomach and straighten your back ....... a bit like some of those exercises I did in the 70s when pregnant :))


Jean ....... my Tylenol 3 is more or less equivalent to your co-codamol 30/500


it has 30 mg codeine, 300 mg acetominaphen, and 15 mg caffeine




sylvia

My OH has arthritis in his hands, and for someone who is a woodturner that is a real sentence of doom. He also has chronic back pain from his National Service days, the nerves were damaged and a neurologist has said that there is nothing to be done except increase the pain relief. When it is bad he takes co-codamol 30/500. We have Diamorph in the cupboard but so far he has resisted trying it. I have permanent back pain from Osteoporosis, the lumbar vertaebrae are crumbling, I take co-codamol twice daily, 15/500 dose. I do find the exercises given me by the physio help a bit, but I would need to do them four or five times a day to be any good, and life's too short!

Hi Sylvia I wear those gloves as well when it gets bad, mine was diagnosed when I was 39, the doctor said I was unlucky being so young to get it. I had a disease in my bones when I was in my teens which led to arthritis in later years, it was caused by sport, running and jumping and I ended up having to have a plaster cast on my leg for ages. They don't tell you these things when you are doing it. Those capsules didn't work for me so I stopped taking them. I have it in my ankles badly and it makes it difficult to walk when my legs don't work at the best of times, I use a wheelchair when I go out. I also have it in the base of my spine where the bones are crumbling, I wonder if that's where my hip pain is coming from. I take morphine for damaged nerves in my back so have to be careful with taking any other pain killer and the morphine doesn't seem to help the arthritic pain.
As for us being weather forecasters I don't think they would have us do you, they wouldn't believe how acurate it can be.

Caz xx

Hi Caz

Oh, that could be good. Do you think we would make much money at forecasting! lol!!


My heat pack is filled with grains and lavender ........ but is a long one which I can fold around the base of my spine.

My hands are not too bad .............. the base-of-thumb joint on my right hand is the worst. I use the Myoflex, and I also have a fingerless elastic-y glove that I put on at the worst times ... it gives a bit of support and also is warming.

I am one of the lucky ones who had good success by taking Glucosamine and Chondroitin ...... I take them as separate capsules, not a combined one.

My problems started in the early 1980s, and by the mid-1990s literally every joint in my body was affected. I didn't however show anything in blood tests, so the docs wouldn't prescibe any real heavy duty painkillers ....... anyway, coated aspirin at the hgihest level available over-the-counter did usually work.

I couldn't hold my mouth open at the dentist's for longer than 3 or 4 minutes before I had to close it and take a rest.

In 1995 I was about to go and ask for a change in painkiller when I had a mastectomy, and was given Tylenol+codeine on leaving the hospital ..... that is I think equivalent to your Paracetamol.

I was totally pain-free for the first time in years! We went to the UK about 3 weeks later, and OH couldn't believe how fast I was moving up Castle Hill in Scarborough!! Neither could I

And that is still my heavy-duty painkiller, plain Tylenol of varying strengths the rest of the time.

My GP then suggested about 1996 that I try taking the separate Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

6 months later, I was basically pain-free in most joints!

It was wonderful!

The most troublesome joint was my right hip .......... and I was sent for xrays after it became much worse in late 1997.

That's when they found the problem really wasn't my hip, but the base of my spine. Plus a couple more degenerating vertebrae up in the lumbar area, which means that I can no longer turn around to look behind me. Good job I don't drive!

I've been living with that ever since.

In fact, I had xrays last year that showed my hip joints are almost perfect ...... my physio says he has men in their 40s and 50s whose hips are in way worse shape than mine.

The pain comes from the spine, and the way in which the badly affected muscle attachments pull my hips out of whack.


...... and there is apparently nothing that can be done, other than manage the pain.


It has now spread again so that both my hips, knees and one ankle are painful to a greater or lesser extent all the time.

I can actually trace the pain moving from the joint in my butt, down past the hip to my knee and ankle!

However, I am grateful that Tylenol+codeine is still the strongest medication that I have ...... though sometimes (like yesterday and today) I wish I had something else as well!

I've been trying a gel containing diclofenax for the last few months, especially on my knees. It seems to help ....... but I've been warned not to use it on large areas.


Tylenol is just like paracetamol ...................... it causes liver damage if you take more than the recommended dosages.



take care


sylvia
xxx

Just seen this Sylvia, I use a cream as well on my back and knees, my knees tell me when the weather is changing so maybe we could join up and be weather forecasters. I have it badly in my hands, especially fingers, do you have it there and what do you use, I find if I soak my hands in hottish water for a while it tends to ease them. I have it in the top of my spine and I have a shoulder garment that goes over the back and front and is filled with wheat and lavender, heat it in the microwave for a few mins and sit with it over my shoulders, that really helps. I have capsaicin cream for my feet for another problem and it tells you not to go in hot water while using it, no wonder it burns like h**l.

Caz xx

Caz

I tried a heat pad a couple of years ago, and didn't have too much success with it, 'cos I want to move around too much!


I was given one of these heat-in-the-microwave pads for Christmas .............. they come in different shapes and sizes ....... and it is wonderful. It keeps its heat for about 20 minutes, and just folds around the area where needed.





I'm like you ..... OA has caused deterioration of the base of my spine (and also in the lumbar area).


I'm actually in pain today ............. I thought it was because I had walked too far yesterday (only 15-20 minutes!), but realised this morning that we have a major weather change coming in ......... and I react badly to atmospheric changes. .


I've taken my heavy duty pain killer, done my exercises, rubbed on a pain relieving cream*, and have been sitting here with the pad across my back. Although I will really just have to wait it out until my body adjusts itself



* this is something else that can help.

There are pain relieving creams, some contain capsaicin and the principle is that capsaicin (an extract from peppers) over-stimulates the nerve endings so that you no longer feel the pain. I used one of those for 2 or 3 years ................ but the problem is, the area burns like h**l when you get into a hot bath or shower! It was also somewhat greasy and could stain your clothes


The one I currently use is an analgesic cream, is not greasy, has no smell, and does not stain clothes. It contains a form of salycylate ... which is another name for aspirin. Therefore you should not use if allergic to salicylates, or if taking anticoagulant medication.

It is called Myoflex over here, and is a Bayer product. I use the Extra Strength formula, which contains 15% of the active ingredient.




sylvia

Ann it's wonderful and does ease the pain, I used to use a waterbottle but it didn't reach wide enough, this heat pad does and is designed for backs. When OH came home with it I though it was a waste of money but once I tried it I wouldn't be without it now, it doesn't take the pain away completely but does ease it a lot, like Goldengirl says anything with heat helps. It doesn't get too hot and has different heat settings.

Caz xx

Ann sorry was adding to my tree. I find anything that
gives heat to my aches and pains help. The hand warmer
would have to be in a towel for back or knee pain it is
quite hot for sensitive areas, but heat pads from B.....ts
are also very good for back and knees.

Emmax

Let us know if it helps Caz.

I have a heat pad for my back, I have osteo arthritis in the bottom of my spine and can hardly walk sometimes with it, like yesterday. I sit in my chair with the heat pad at the bottom of my back and OH plugs me in, lol, the heat is wonderful and so soothing. I leave it on for about fifteen minutes and it is surprising how easy I feel afterwards, I never thought to use it on my knees but will give it a go now.

Caz xx

Does it help Emma? I do suffer back pain but mostly manage it without medication. Heat helps. It is a vicious circle isn't it. Pain so you can't exercise, so you stiffen up and get more pain.

Morning all, Exercise is too painful for me at the moment,
I see the surgeon at the end of the month for knee replacements
hoping to get back into it after ops.I also use heat pads on knees
and hands for relief, son in law bought me a hand warmer, its
reusable and you activate the disk inside the fluid and it will
crystallise and give off heat. Once cooled you place in a pan
of boiling water for 10mins. until it returns to liquid.

Emmax

Thank you Sylvia I will pass that back to my sister.

My pain is caused by osteoarthritis, and I have found that using warmth can help .... hot water bottle or those heat-in-the-microwave wraps.

I also go for phsyiotherapy about every 3 weeks, and that works wonders. Plus, of course, doing the exercises that the physiotherapist gives me ........... and doing them at least 5 days a week. No slacking off!

Thanks Emma.

Ann as I suffer from RA have tried everthing out there.
I think your thread is very useful for people who are just
experiencing living with pain for the first time and need all the help they
can get, I know I did. Leave the thread it is not patronising it is informative.

Emmax

Good idea Sylvia

maybe others could add suggestions that they have found helped them?

Ann don't delete the thread it will be useful for new sufferers. A lot of my pain is caused by damaged nerves, that's why they didn't work for me. The only thing that helps is morphine now, I used to be able to soak it away in a hot bath but we only have a shower now. I never read it as patronising either.

Caz xx

Thank you Rita