Multiple joint pain and bad back

• By overweight-obie
• Posted February 24, 2009 at 9:14 am
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Hi Anne, First I want to start out by saying I am not a doctor so anything you hear that might sound good to you I think you should run by your doctor first but a lot of times doctors get offended if you get an opinion and recommendation from someone else. I too have osteoarthritis and it runs in my family. My grandma had it horribly and got by with only an arthritis strength otc pain reliever which I don't know how she did it because now that I suffer with it I have gained more respect for her than I already had. My doctor prescribed 1) tremadol 50mg 2@day and 2)hydrocodone 500mg every 4-6 hours (this is generic vicodin). The first is an anti-inflammatory and the second is for pain and I only take it if absolutely necessary because I have heard it is so addicting. If I am able to I try to get by with arthritis strength excedrin or arthritis strength tylenol but as you know this disease has a mind of its own and what works one day might not work the next. My doctor has also given me something to help me sleep because there is nothing worse with laying awake all night except if you have to do it with pain that is the worst. Believe me honey I wish you all the best and I will be praying for you because I do believe in miracles. Stay strong and remember I am here for you if need be.Sincerely, Your Friend, Debbie

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• By Jlphillips57
• Posted February 24, 2009 at 1:54 pm
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Hello Anne,

First off I want to tell you how sorry I am to hear about your sister with osteoarthritis. I also must tell you I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. I have rhuematoid arthritis and have had it for about 12 years now and I'm only 51. The first thing the doctors tell you is to keep active. Yeah, right! If I could stay active I wouldn't have to worry about the arthritis. The anti-inflamitory meds do really help. The pain meds are another story. Along with my arthritis I have 4 herniated disks in my back and neck. Since I've been taking the pain meds, I've lost 65lbs. and I wasn't very big to start with. Most of my life I weighed about 130 - 140 lbs. Once I got married and stopped all the "running around", and settled into a regular routine, I went up to 195 lbs. and stayed there for several years. I was injured while at work and that's what did the damage to the herniated disks in my neck and back. I got electrocuted with 260 volts and 64 amps. It was enough "juice" to hold me on to the wire and not enough to throw me off of it, so I just sat there and cooked from the inside out. The electricity went into my body and never came out. It danced around inside me for close to 30 seconds. By that time I had turned grey and had smoke coming out of my mouth, ears, nose and my hair. The electricity will always find the shortest path to where it has to go and since it had no place to go, it bounced back and forth through my major organs and the disks in my back. My L-5 disk was completely fried, my L-4 disk was cooked pretty good but it was functional for the first few years. Since the L-5 disk is the one that helps protect the S-1 nerve, also known as the sacoreleac (not sure of the spelling, always just called it S-1), it almost completely made it impossible to walk without excruciating pain. The disks in my neck, the C-3 and C-4 disks were also herniated because while I was being electrocuted I had no control over my muscles and my head first went straight back then it went as if I was trying to look at my chest and tucked my head so far down that the C4 disk just blew out completely. I also had an extremely bad car accident in 1973 and almost died of blood loss. I was rushed to the hospital and by that time I had lost 3 pints of blood. Needless to say I had to have a blood infusion. Now back in the '70's they didn't test blood like they do now. So as time went on, I started to feel lousy like I had the flu or some kind of a "bug". I had complained to my doctor for about 14 years about feeling terrible, having body aches and pains, migrain headaches and no energy at all. I noticed my loss of energy when my daughters started walking and running around and we had a big back yard and I couldn't keep up with them. Finally, my doctor sent me to the hospital to have a major blood work-up done. Two weeks later I found that I had Non-Hepatitus A and Non-Hepatitus B. That meant I had a strain of Hepatitus that hadn't been found yet so they named it Hepatitus-C. Now they have found so many strains they are just about to the end of the alphabet. Once I found this out in early 1991, I was sent to John's Hopkins Hospital for further testing and was prescribed a new drug called Interferon. It had to be injected into my thigh every day for a year. The side effects did not sit well but it did the job! I was tested again 6 months later and there was no virus to be found. What I discovered later was that the virus can never be totally eradicated from your system unless you have a liver transplant and a complete blood tranfusion, even then, there's no promise. In late 1992 I started to get that flu like feeling again. This time I was put on interferon with another capsuled medication that is called Remeron. I was told the side effects were going to be possibly twice as bad and maybe 3 times as bad as just the interferon and I was told it was close to equal to the side effects of chemotherapy. That I don't know because as of right now, I've never had chemo. They were right. I was so sick for 6 months that I couldn't work and couldn't leave the house because of the pain and nausea. I couldn't take it any longer than 6 months, so the doctor told me to stop. I was tested and retested for 2 years since this was a new therapy for Hep-C. The good news is that the virus has been undetectable since then. The damage the Hepatitus did, along with the arthritis and the electrocution was beyond repair. I have been on Oxycontin, the Phentanyl Patch, Vicodin, Demerol, and so many other pain medications that I couldn't possibly name them all. By taking all that pain medication, it has given me ulcers, irritable bowel, indigestion, and very painful bowel movements that sometimes don't happen for up to a week at a time! The meds I'm on now are Methadone for extreme pain, Percocette for break-through pain, Zanax for anxiety/depression/nerves, and sleep aid, Trazedone to help me sleep, and some new drug to help me cope with my life style, meaning I have none. I used to play pool every Wednesday night and Thursday nights, along with 9-ball on Sunday nights. Needless to say, one by one the nights were dropped all together. The medication was putting me in "La-La" land. I had a discussion with my pain management center and they decreased the pain meds, increased the sleeping meds and stopped the meds to "help me cope with my life style". I am now able to play pool again, but only on Wednesday nights. It takes all the concentration I have just to drive and I have to be very careful what I take for up to 4 hours before I do drive. These pain meds have made me have to force myself to eat. Since my digestive track has been slowly eaten away for almost 20 years, I drink about 2-3 gallons of milk a week, I can no longer enjoy the wings at Hooters and I can no longer enjoy any type of spicy food, which I used to love. If you know of someone with arthritis, try to keep them active by making sure they take their pain medication, but try to keep the meds to a minimum. I tried to cut back dramatically with my pain meds, but when I did that, I was unable to walk, I could not even sit on my butt to go up and down stairs, I had uncontollable bowel movements. At times in the middle of the night I would fall asleep in the bathroom for hours because of the uncontollable bowel movements. If I take the meds exactly as prescribed, I can function almost normally, but I don't have much of a memory of it. When I go to family functions like the holidays, birthdays, cookouts or for whatever reason, I have to remember by bits and peices over a period of days and somrtimes weeks of what went on but eventually I'll remember almost everything. So hang in there, give her all the support you and anyone else can and try to keep her mobile because the alternative is not pleasant. Arthritis is hereditary and as of now there's still no known cure for it. All they can do is soften the symptons. In some cases of arthritis, they can stop it but they can't reverse it. Oh, did I mention my rotator cuff damage and my worn out knees from installing wall to wall carpeting for several years? No, well, we can save that for another day. Good luck to you and God Bless you and your friends and family. PLEASE don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions. I promise I won't take up so much of your time, I promise.

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• By barbaray
• Posted February 24, 2009 at 4:18 pm
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This arthritis thing vs. narcotics is one vicious mess.

Suffer the pain (as I have done) and gradually, gradually, you are practically immobile and FAT. Even walking is far too painful for me.

Get some meds heavy-duty enough to control the pain, and in short order you're addicted.

I don't know what to do!

Barbara

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• By 2Anne
• Posted February 26, 2009 at 8:49 pm
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Thanks everyone for your replies. I am so sorry for all the suffering listed here. JLPhillips your journey so far sounds terrible. You have suffered so much and I admire your courage. God Bless.
Barbara thats the loop my sis is in. She is very obese and cannot exercise anymore due to the terrible pain. She tries to eat as little as possible but the weight just creeps up and up.
Debbie-many thanks for your friendship and kind words. I think what you said is useful and will pass it on. I have encouraged my sis to join this website but she is frightened of viruses on her computer and has declined.
All the posts are so helpful.
Many thanks Anne

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