My osteoarthritis is in the knees. It has become so bad that I am in pain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I never have any peace from the pain. I prefer not to take painkillers all the time, only if I have to go out all day and use the knee an extreme amount. But I may have to consider living on pain killers soon as the pain is becoming unbearable. Sitting is the worst, bending the knee is becoming an increasing problem. At my desk is not toooooo bad as I have a stool underneath my desk that I can stretch my leg out on. But sitting in class or even just sitting at a cafe drinking coffee, after as little as 10 minutes I just want to jump up and scream because it is becoming so bad. I have trouble getting to sleep at night and the pain will often wake me up. I am finding that I also cannot completely straighten my leg as much as I could before anymore. Even driving is becoming more and more of a problem. It is affecting every part of my life. But I am still too young for a knee replacement. My doctor says I am a definite candidate but there is a limit on how many you can have in your lifetime and how long they last. It varies between countries but here in Belgium you can have a maximum of 2 and they last up to 10 years each. I need to wait longer.
When I was younger, I didn't truly understand what osteoarthritis was or what it did. How bad the pain could be or how it affected a person. I thought only really old people suffered and it would not be something I need to worry about anytime in the near future. How wrong I was. So what exactly is osteoarthritis...
There are over 100 different types of arthritis but osteoarthritis is the most common form. It is also called 'wear and tear' arthritis. It is most commonly found in the knees, spine, hips, hands, and fingers. It occurs when, over time, the cartilage in the joints breaks down, eventually leading to the two opposing bones to rub into each other. It comes on slow at first, as it did with me. Eventually the symptoms are constant pain in the joints, stiffness, swelling and tenderness, a grating, cracking or crunching feeling or sound in the joint, and muscle wasting due to less activity. Sometimes the knee will 'give way' underneath you which is a problem I have every time I try to go for a walk for exercise. It will start about 10 or 15 minutes into the walk. This is not my x-ray but looks identical to the one I had done. My cartilage is completely missing on the side of my right knee.
There are several versions of knee injection therapies out there that I have heard really good things about. While they don't help 100% and it is only a temporary fix that needs to be redone every so often, it can help immensely. This link takes you to a video that demonstrates one of the injections being given to a patient. The video also talks about the side affects, who is able to have the injections, and what the process involves.
While I am definitely considering having these injections but they are not covered by health insurance here in Belgium. And I would like to be sure that I have explored all the other avenues first. So if anybody out there has discovered something that has really helped them, I would definitely appreciate hearing from you.
For those of you that have not had the unpleasant onset of knee osteoarthritis, then there are a few things that can help prevent it. There is no way of preventing it altogether, however, maintaining a healthy weight, keeping muscles around the knee strong through regular exercise (strong muscles help support the joints), avoiding putting stress on your joints, and maintaining good posture can all help to minimize the risk. In America alone, there are 27 million people living with osteoarthritis and the lifetime risk of developing it in the knee is about 46%. So it is never too early to start trying to prevent the onset. I did not think of this when younger and am now seeing my error.
Ok - on this I am actually a bit of an expert. i am 55.
ReplyDeleteI have a total left knee replacement done 9 years ago. I was living on morphine patches. I needed 9 weeks rehab after the surgery which was very painful. I have had about an 80% result, still needing pain meds every night to sleep - but now only Panadol Oesteo which is just a stronger does of panadol. I had this after 3 arthroscopies where they tried to repair soft tissue, reshape the worse wear and tear. Obviously unsuccessfully. The knee is now starting to give me more and more problems. I will be lucky to get my 10 years, but am hanging out in hope.
On the other hand, the right knew was worse inside but for some reason less painful so I stuck with getting the left one done. (Family history of oesteo, also poor shape to knee joint - so was always likely to have a problem, compounded it by having a fall on my left knee!)
TO manage the right knee I have had 3 treatments of stem cells. They suck out some of my fat. Remove the stem cells, wake them up and re-inject them. Not covered by health fund. Cost around $12k BUT - oh my. I have cartilage growing in my right knee. The clicking noises are gone, the swelling is gone, the heat is gone, the pain is gone. The cells live 6 months and repair all points of inflammation in your body - tennis elbow fixed. Rotator cuff injury repairs. Oesteo in 3 fingers repaired, pain from old neck injury repaired. I could go on. The full affect for me, cos I am one of the unlucky ones, seems to last 12-18 months. Then they defrost some cells they have in the freezer and for $2k inject my knee and I get another 12 months so far. Each injection seems to top up the cartilage and last a little longer. 70% get better results than that - permanent results .. my brother is in that group. Some get a bit better than me. My sister is in that group. I have met one person in the 5% who say results were only minor. So if that is the type of procedure you are talking about Sharon - go for it. It has been life changing. It reduces the pain and swelling around the replaced knee so I am hoping it will help me get a bit longer from it.
Meantime, ice packs are a great form of pain management - a major part of the recovery from a replacement and still work.
I still take Oesteoease Active. It is a Herron drug that has glucosomine and chondrotin in it. Glucosomine alone was useless, but add in the chondrotin and it is magic. Within 2 weeks of stopping taking it I am in pain, within two weeks of taking it I have relief. So well worth a try. Fish oil did nothing.
I am allergic to all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs so I can't take the stuff others take. So I am assuming you've had a variety of them. Bruffin, indocid, etc. They work well for people but I can't use them.
Ice packs are my friends. never heat.
can you get the Oesteoease Active?? If not I will post you some.
love
illana
That Oesteoease I haven't tried. I will look around here and see if they have it. Will let you know. Have written down the contents of it too in case it goes by another name. Sounds like it is well worth a try. That stem cell procedure is so darn expensive! There is no way I can afford that. The injections I am thinking of going for are hyaluronic injections. They inject the fluid into the knee to replace the fluid that has been lost and to cushion the joint again. The injections can last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years and then you need a booster shot. And the cost is very minimal compared tot he stem cell injections. But not covered by health insurance. And it is only available for knees. I actually got the prescription from the doc yesterday and am scheduled to have the first shot end of next month. It is a series of 3 shots done one or two weeks apart for the first time. But I think the booster shots are just one shot.
DeleteHow many times can you have the knee replacement in Australia? Here it is only twice. It is so horrible this pain. I know you can definitely sympathise. Will see what I can find out about that Oesteoease Active when I go to the pharmacy next week. Hugs to you Illana, hope you are not having too much pain at the moment.