Fed up with medical things

Yes I'm careful about weight as well and am not overweight in the slightest.

Flanet

I’ve had physio for my knees and shoulders, also seen an osteopath for uneven hips and a dislocated bone in my foot.
It takes a very long time to improve, two years for me and you have to make yourself repeat the exercises as instructed often everyday. I am in my 70s and have managed to get back to walking normally but l still have to keep moving everyday or else my knees start to be an issue. I have also tried to eat a healthier diet to keep weight off and reduce inflammation in joints.
Please don’t give up, it’s hard work and often you have to work through pain, if you don’t trust the professionals may be you can get a second opinion. Good luck.

Thank you. Maybe I need a private physio. I do the exercises but can only do the sitting ones. The standing ones cause so much pain I then can't walk at all - I think something has been overlooked - with the left knee locking and giving way sometimes. Last time it "went out" and locked I was stuck in one position in agony for 3 hours until an ambulance came and that knocked my confidence. It goes out very easily. Can't do the standing ones anyway now due to this right foot injury.

If you are a person who has ‘saved for a rainy day’ then this is it! We (reluctantly) paid to get me seen by a consultant several years ago and he referred me to his NHS list for the surgery - where I had to wait my turn. I had to pay for a private scan too but it was worth it all to have a proper diagnosis. Good luck!

Empathy

I’ve had physio for my knees and shoulders, also seen an osteopath for uneven hips and a dislocated bone in my foot.
It takes a very long time to improve, two years for me and you have to make yourself repeat the exercises as instructed often everyday. I am in my 70s and have managed to get back to walking normally but l still have to keep moving everyday or else my knees start to be an issue. I have also tried to eat a healthier diet to keep weight off and reduce inflammation in joints.
Please don’t give up, it’s hard work and often you have to work through pain, if you don’t trust the professionals may be you can get a second opinion. Good luck.

I'm a former nurse so I find it even more shocking!

SueDonim

This seems an extraordinary decision by the GP to not offer any help when you are still of working age, Gentleshores. You really do need someone to take a look at you as a whole. I’m not medical but it seems to me that incurring so many different injuries in a relatively short space of time might have an underlying cause. Surely it’s not normal to be so incapacitated in one’s mid-60’s without something triggering it.

A request for an OT assessment might trigger some action, I do hope so. Do you have anyone to advocate for you, a partner or adult child or concerned friend?

Thanks. Three years ago I was quite fit and healthy and not that incapacitated. But things have knock on effects. I'm on blood thinners as well after a pulmonary embolism 2 and a half years ago, and that caused some lack of mobility too for about 6 months, but I got better. I still think the Pulmonary embolism was caused by lack of mobility in the first place due to the knee problems and no referral.

Maybe it is just a postcode lottery. But the surgery won't do any referrals to Consultants if it's musculoskeletal (apparently). I have a feeling it's a way of keeping waiting lists down.

I was first referred to physio over 2 years ago and told to just go away and take painkillers and no I didn't need a consultant.

Incidentally GP was no help with providing a letter for Pip but I had plenty of other medical evidence which was why it was accepted I think.

Appreciate the support and listening ..... it helps. Thank you.

But I do feel left high and dry by the GP surgery. I don't think they are very good. They don't even ask you to make another appointment and follow up. I applied for PIP last year - before I reached retirement age (you can't claim afterwards) and was surprised to get it. I have a gut feeling the GP I've been dealing with doesn't approve of people claiming benefits - she made some comment about it. But it helped me pay for the scooter. Rather than being pushed in a manual wheelchair.

This seems an extraordinary decision by the GP to not offer any help when you are still of working age, Gentleshores. You really do need someone to take a look at you as a whole. I’m not medical but it seems to me that incurring so many different injuries in a relatively short space of time might have an underlying cause. Surely it’s not normal to be so incapacitated in one’s mid-60’s without something triggering it.

A request for an OT assessment might trigger some action, I do hope so. Do you have anyone to advocate for you, a partner or adult child or concerned friend?

petra

Sorry, forgot the link. 🤦🏼‍♀️

www.ombudsman.org.uk/

Thank you. It says there's a 7 month wait for NHS complaints! I think I'd have to complain somewhere else first as well. It;s just exhausting having to battle with things. I'm wondering who you go to to "look at the whole picture".

I could go to see a specialist about the ribs but the knees and foot seem more the priority right now - although everything is a priority really.

Have to accept it will be 6 weeks before the foot heals and I'll be immobile for longer.

I will have to hope the orthopaedic appointment next week brings some help.

You could be dead

I ve never found it very helpful to say ‘there’s worse than me ‘

Sorry, forgot the link. 🤦🏼‍♀️

www.ombudsman.org.uk/

gentleshores
In you situation I would take it to this department.
What have you got to loose?
You never know you might get that one person reading your complaint who really cares and gets the ball rolling.

Oh gentleshores, I don’t know what to say. I’ve been feeling miserable lately because I can’t walk the way I used to and tend to spend a lot of time in my house ( thank goodness for the internet, catchup tv, DVD’s and podcasts!) but your problems put me to shame for feeling so sorry for myself. I agree about contacting your MP. I also think you should write to the practice manager at your surgery. Keep a written record of all conversations. Referrals etc do go missing at surgeries. We had one doctor who was always ‘referring’ people. When they contacted us weeks later we would know straight away that no referral would have been made.Re the UTI; I always keep d mannose in stock after it was recommended on here a few years ago. First sign of an UTI and I take it. Are there other organisations that could help? Age Concern ( even if you’re not old enough they might advise you). The Arthritis one ( that keeps changing it’s name). x

How many times do you have to say "but I can't walk!"

Charleygirl5

Your GP has possibly forgotten that he should be offering you a duty of care.

Is there a background we do not know about because neglect comes into the equation?

This is what I think, I feel like sueing someone ..... I just don't understand really.

loopyloo

Yes, perhaps thinking about changing gp??
Firstly could you sit in a chair in your bedroom,rather than being on the bed all the time and starting to do little movements.
Is there a gentle youtube exercise you could follow?
Could you have a stairlift fitted?.
It seems to me an OT assessment is called for.

That is a good idea, an OT assessment, thank you. GP didn't suggest that! I did have a rail fitted in the bathroom but that's not much help. I have a stairlift. It's predictable that you get knock on effects with lack of mobility. I've always tried to keep moving a bit each day but not being able to stand up due to the foot pain is a worry. I already have a stairlift. Had to get that urgently three years ago when my right knee went suddenly and I couldn't get up and downstairs. The left knee had been bad for a while but I muddled on through the pandemic and was reasonably fit and active until the right knee went. Both were injured at the same time just before the start of the pandemic, after a bad fall that twisted both knees. the right one improved on it's own. Then just tore very suddenly. I thought it was urgent then! I thought - I need new knees! Went to GP to ask to get on the waiting list for knee replacements and was told you can't have them - they only do them for arthritis. Just do physio. The left one locked last year and got even worse and still no joy - just do physio. It was someone on here gave me a tip about the stem cell treatment for cartilage and I've been trying to get that since. GP hasn't even heard of it.

If we are on the scrapheap in our 60's then heaven help us.
My mobility issues are due to a train accident and good old osteoarthritis so I really feel for you.
It seems like you can only have one thing wrong at a time and some medics seem to think you shouldn't ask questions. I was fobbed off for years asking the cardiac teams if there was a link between atrial fibrillation and digestion until the happy day when one agreed with me. They don't like you chipping in with your own opinion of what's going on.
Perhaps, like me, you cannot afford to go private so we have to soldier on and hope somewhere along the line somebody will do something about it.
I really hope you get some help very soon.

Aveline

I'm just wondering why the OP is meeting with such consistent lack of support. Problems (unspecified) with knees, ribs and now feet. Wheelchair and mobility scooter all bought by her. Is there something else going on?

Well most people have to buy their own .........if you need help quickly. I could ask for a referral for a wheelchair assessment where you get some funding but that could take a long time. Most people have to buy their own stairlifts as well.

lafergar

Aveline

I'm just wondering why the OP is meeting with such consistent lack of support. Problems (unspecified) with knees, ribs and now feet. Wheelchair and mobility scooter all bought by her. Is there something else going on?

Sorry, probably being being dim but what do you mean?

I dont think the medics are looking at the whole person. On a recent visit to the pain clinic, I had the temerity to suggest mind and body are linked, it didn't go down well.

I agree. Even my GP doesn't look at the whole picture. It's a rural area so there isn't much chance of changing surgery. There are different GP's in the surgery. I might try a different one but there are only a couple I find helpful and they are part time and hardly ever there. Plus they keep changing every 6 months or so!

lafergar

I would say it is absolutely unacceptable to leave a person in this condition. You have a right to decent health and years ahead of you.
Can anybody advocate for you? Do you have a decent GP? If not, can you change?
Do you have sufficient funds to go private? Sadly I pay a small fortune for private Physio. She left the NHS,couldn't take it anymore. Money well spent.

Thank you. That is what I think too. It's completely unacceptable and I've been in a state of shock over it really for the past year. I've had more success talking directly to the Consultant's secretary at the cartilage clinic who said - get a referral and we'll consider you. But she did say - it may depend on funding ........... ie whether my area will pay the funding to Southampton. The stem cell repair injections only seem to be available on the NHS in one hospital.