Arthritic Knee.

4allweknow

Saw consultant only last month after 9 month wait. MRI followed by xray last year outcome severe arthritis in hip hence referral. Outcome, as I am not using a walking frame I am not considered for surgery! Yes, now need to be almost incapacitated before treatment. Now considering changing car to automatic as problem changing gears. Consultant said just take ibuprofen for pain. Having been told by GP a year ago not to take that drug told Consultant. He laughed said GPs try to fix things, we just want to maintain things! Contacted GP who was fuming, clear NICE guidance that ibuprofen should not be used by over 55 year olds. Back to ibuprifen andcadviced to contact hospital in January complaining that leg is worse and want to be seen.NHS, Scotland just doesn't exist.

I know two people that have been seriously ill from taking ibuprofen. One was given a high strength one by a doctor who forgot to prescribe omeprazole with it. She ended up being put in an induced coma and nearly died ( stomach ulcer). And a man from my village is only just recovering from self medicating with it.

Your husband definitely has my sympathy. Once you get arthritis in the knee and the bones start to wear away, it's just a question of time before a knee replacement will be needed. I think he needs to make more fuss and ask to go on the waiting list now. I don't know where you live but it could be a very long list.

Temporary things like steroid injections will give some relief for about 2 - 3 months, gels may reduce the pain and if he is overweight, losing some will help too. Physiotherapy will strengthen the muscles around the knee which will help him to recover from a knee replacement.

I'm speaking from experience and I now have a total knee replacement in one leg. It's not pain-free and the recovery is long, but it's much better than hobbling around with arthritis and being afraid your knee will give way!

teabagwoman

Sorry to hear that your husband has joined the ranks of the arthritic. Have you looked at the Arthritis UK website? There’s a lot of helpful information there.

go back to GP and say, " gel not working, pain is limiting lifestyle, what next? "

Think seriously about paying for TKR to be done privately. Had mine done at a Local Spire Private Hospital just under two years ago.

Luckily the NHS paid for it. The operation was performed by my NHS Consultant who also works for Spire. I had been. In bone grinding agony pain for about 5 years.

Costs have increased a lot over the past 2 years. Think it is now about £20,000.

If you can afford it. Pay for it. It is well worth it .No. long waiting lists.

🦵👌😻

Calendar girl - I tried all the anti-inflammatory stuff, like olive oil, and tumeric. That may have helped a little, but not very much.

Do you have access to You Tube on your T.V.? There are some wonderful videos about knee arthritis on there. Dozens and dozens of them. Particularly exercises you can do at home. Some of them can even be done sitting down, or lying on a bed.

These need to be done regularly before any surgery, because they strengthen the muscles in the legs. This takes the strain off the arthritic joint, and will tide your DH over, increase his mobility and reduce the pain, until his knee degeneration is bad enough for a total knee replacement.

I speak from experience. I did the exercises for about 2 years while I was waiting for an op. I eventually had my op., and made an excellent and swift recovery from it, as a result of all the exercises I had done before-hand.

It is true the post-op pain from a knee replacement is quite severe - far worse than any pain from a hip-replacement. But it fades away after about 6 weeks, if you have regularly done your exercises before your operation, and also afterwards.

There are also wonderful post-surgery exercise videos. Exercises are boring, but they are well worth it.

I have just gone onto the waiting list for a knee replacement and my experience is that all the medical professionals rely on how the pain is affecting your life, rather than having to reach a level of severity of osteoarthritis. However you do have to go through the "process" which involves seeing an NHS physio, trying exercises, having a steroid injection, and then requesting a referral to an orthopaedic consultant. Like your DH, I have had to stop most of the walking I loved, and am finding cycling harder. You don't have to reach the point of not being able to get up the stairs. I am 68 and completely agree that you should be able to enjoy the life you have left. I hope your DH gets the help he needs.

It’s a postcode lottery and shouldn’t be. Where I used to live, I was always being told I was too young, not in enough pain, too fat, (uk size 12) too unfit. My knee was bone on bone, I was as active as I could be. Moved and got referred straight away and had a knee replacement last year. Just had a hip on same side due to damage caused to it from walking on a damaged knee for so long. It’s quality of life now that matters, not planning for a replacement 10 years in the future when none of know what is around the corner.

jomo

Has anyone at all had the gell injection which can only 🤔 be done privately but if it worked may be worth it ????

I did but tbh it was a waste of time, a private Steroid injection was much better.
But you have to have severe knee OA to get a knee replacement unfortunately, unless you pay for operation then I am not sure they would do it, if only Mild.
My sympathy with his pain.

Oops! back to paracetamol not ibuprofen.

Saw consultant only last month after 9 month wait. MRI followed by xray last year outcome severe arthritis in hip hence referral. Outcome, as I am not using a walking frame I am not considered for surgery! Yes, now need to be almost incapacitated before treatment. Now considering changing car to automatic as problem changing gears. Consultant said just take ibuprofen for pain. Having been told by GP a year ago not to take that drug told Consultant. He laughed said GPs try to fix things, we just want to maintain things! Contacted GP who was fuming, clear NICE guidance that ibuprofen should not be used by over 55 year olds. Back to ibuprifen andcadviced to contact hospital in January complaining that leg is worse and want to be seen.NHS, Scotland just doesn't exist.

I have been told that imaging does not necessarily show what is causing the pain. In 2012, I had imaging done which showed nothing. My consultant eventually agreed to do an exploratory op and found I had "debris" which was causing pain and a thickening plica. He cleaned the knee up and said I would probably need another op in about 5 years. I haven't needed it done since.
Rather than going to a private specialist for a knee replacement which will cost thousands, you can go for the injection which will be considerably cheaper and may be enough to keep him going.

When we saw the consultant privately he was keen to do it but he was much less enthusiastic doing it on NHS
I bet he was much better cash doing it privately!

I have had steroid injections in my knees, one hip and one thumb. Very effective but I am on amiltriptyline at night now as my sleep is poor due to discomfort in my back and groin. I was on naproxen for two weeks but they won’t prescribe more due to my age!!
Exercise is important to keep the joints working such as Swimming and gentle walks plus stretching exercises. I find Pilates is very good and helps a lot.

I have 2 arthritic knees. There is no cure for arthritis so you have to do what you can to adapt to it.
I went on a six week course at my local hospital where we exercised and had discussions about diet, (tomatoes are a no-no), medication and generally dealing with the pain and discomfort that arthritic knees can bring.
If your husband is overweight then for every pound he loses he will take 2-3 pounds of pressure off his knee. This can help greatly. The most helpful exercise for me was strengthening the muscle in the front of your leg above the knee. Making that tighter relieves pressure on the knee.

Has anyone at all had the gell injection which can only 🤔 be done privately but if it worked may be worth it ????

My husband is 87 and had a total knee replacement 2 weeks ago. He was in hospital for over a week after the op. He had his stitches out this morning and his first physio appointment today. He has become increasingly immobile for years. This last 6 months i have had to take him everywhere in a wheelchair as he was so slow at walking with a stick or a rollator. He is very passive and was repeatedly fobbed off by the gp with gels, steroid injections, community physios that then referred him to hospital physio which we waited ages for( we were going round in circles) and codeine phosphate. Eventually we went for a private appointment and the consultant ( he did private and nhs work) put him on his NHS priority list as his knee was bone on bone. His op was done on the NHS.
When we saw the consultant privately he was keen to do it but he was much less enthusiastic doing it on NHS. Kept reiterating the risks etc due to age but agreed to do it, saying nobody ever died of an arthritic knee but you could die from the effects of major surgery etc. Our quality of life was so badly affected that we went ahead. It is an incredibly painful op but hopefully worth it in the end. He is in pain but he was in pain before. At least now there is a chance of more mobility.

I know people who wish they had never had a knee replacement I m really not wanting to go down that route and living alone if you’re going to be out of action for weeks or months in some cases a ylady I know didn’t find any pain relief for 9 months that’s a long time it would be awful so I’ll just soldier on
The exercises did nothing for me I do a lot of them in my daily life anyway up and down stairs and always get out of a chair without holding on etc etc i ve got it in my neck and thumbs too and they don’t do a neck replacement do they 😂

I was told about £16,000 at our local Spire hospital

I have had arthritis in my knee for a few years now which has curtailed my walking. I wear a knee brace which helps. I don’t want a knee replacement as I’ve heard too many horror stories. I had a few sessions with a private physio who specialises in knees. The exercises she gave me have really helped and I do them every day.

I completely agree with you about spending money to be pain free.
There’s nothing more important, is there?

Although if you do see a surgeon privately, (hopefully recommended) he should be able to tell you how long his waiting list would be under the NHS, then you can decide if it’s acceptable.

He may put you on the list there and then which happened to me for my hip replacement a few years ago!

I too would have had it done privately if the wait had been longer than a few months.

Thank you for all your helpful replies.

To answer one or two, yes, I’m on Mumsnet also, but assumed arthritic knees were more of a GN issue. Not sure why they would know more about it all, assuming they seem a younger lot on the whole.

I’ve had a look at the arthritis thread, but will also look up the arthritis website.

We would be willing to pay for private consultations and surgery if required, no point money in the bank if you can’t do much and are in pain.

In the waiting room at the surgery when we were there for the x Ray results, it seemed as though everyone was either on sticks, crutches or a mobility scooter! And most of them looked younger than DH.

Will make enquiries about private/NHS consultants.

I totally agree with Aveline

I was pushed from pillar to post every 6 months that my knee became so bad I needed a tibial osteotomy as well because of the deformity caused by doing nothing until I said something.

Ask your GP for an MRI scan because they cost money and better to get that done on the NHS. Try to find your own orthopaedic surgeon rather than whoever your GP suggests. For starters chose somebody who does hips and knees only and is not too old!

Once you're bone on bone no injection, physio or ointment is ever going to help.

My knees stopped hurting when I gavemup cow’s cheese. I now eat sheeps or goats and no longer have the screws.

Sometimes it's the hospital policy. I was seen for years at one hospital who refused to even x ray my shoulder because they said there was no point, it was obviously arthritis. When I moved house I moved hospital and within months I had a shoulder replacement because my shoulder was so bad. The same with my knee, repeated physio at the first hospital and now I'm on the waiting list for TKR at the second hospital.