Chronic back pain and osteoarthritis of the knees. I can't take painkillers. Any other suggestions?

Leelee51

I have chronic back pain and osteoarthritis of the knees, I cannot take any painkillers as I have side effects from them, which is, it makes my severe anxiety worse, I really don’t know what to do, my drs have suggested everything as far as I’m aware, I can’t go on living like this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated Thankyou 

purpletoast

Hi Leelee51 thanks for posting and sorry to hear you are having such a difficult time. I have chronic pain and wondered if your Dr has suggested going to a specialist pain clinic? I’d recommend one that offers a pain management programme. I went to a community based one which helped manage the pain. And this might help to improve things. If that doesn’t work enough then there is a couple of excellent inpatient ones but the waiting list are long. Some of the things might seem strange but it worth really going along with it. One lady I met had virtually given up using a wheelchair after a year! I’m not saying everyone has such amazing changes but most seems to get some benefit and improved their lives. There’s a good little book called the pain tool kit a lot of these centres recommend to get you started. There are lots of things to try such as pacing, braking tasks down, gradually building up activities. with rests before pain escalates too much. I could go on ? but think this post is long enough! Hope this might be useful and you get some help.

Leelee51

Hi Thankyou for your reply, I did go to pain management a while back. They didn’t offer any medication, just little exercises I could do. I tend to break my tasks up during the day so as not to overdo things but still find I’m in pain, and it tends to be worse at night which isn’t helpful because I also have restless leg syndrome which manifests at night aswell, can’t win ?

purpletoast

Sorry to hear that. Did you do pain management program which includes things like mindfulness?  If not it’s worth another try. A lot of pain management is aimed at helping people reduce or come of meds. Some help with things like TENS to ease the pain. Like you and many others pain often increase as the day wears on, it’s hard isn’t it to get the activity rest balance right to reduce this. I too often get restless legs so feel for you! You might like to Google INPUT pain management to find out more about the inpatient program at St Thomas Hospital which is much much more than simple exercise. 

Sandy_123

Hi @Leelee51 sorry to read about the pain your in, I Hope you find the advise above helpful. 
Nothing worse then being in pain, 

Leelee51

Thankyou, I will google the Input  pain management. I’m not on any meds for my pin as like I said I can’t take them. I have tried a tens machine also to no avail. Sorry if I sound like I’m whingeing, but it’s hard when I can’t try meds, I think my life would be so much better.

purpletoast

Hi LeeLee51, I don’t think your whinging, it is hard. Like you I can’t take pain meds and now know that a lot of them don’t help much anyway. I have moved my focus to different ways of managing the pain and although I have ‘moments’ and it has taken quite a bit of work I can look back and see how more I can do or enjoy and how much better life is, even though pain is a large part of my life and always will be. I hope this gives you some hope and I really hope you can the right support and improvement. Good luck. 

Leelee51

Thankyou for your reply and kind words, glad to hear you are managing your pain. X

Crazyraven

I took bad reactions to pain meds too, for me it's more management, I rest when the pain gets too bad, I've had to cut back on some activities.  My new physio wants me to start pacing myself, I've just been stiff upper lip, keeping on doing things.  Split up tasks into manageable times, it isn't shameful to give up, i was brought up in a family like that, you never said I'm sore until you collapsed and have hurt myself too much thanks to that

Leelee51

That’s the same with me, was always told to keep going no matter what, but now, I can’t keep going, I have to use a wheelchair when out as I cannot walk or stand for more than a few minutes, im
jist going to have to try and pace myself, no matter how hard and frustrating it is.