14th October 2006
[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Hi Annette,
I'm very sorry to hear about you loosing your job and the pain you are in. It must weigh heavily on your mind to not have the insurance because with any disease medical coverage is extremely important.
I too have DJD (Osteo) all over, unfortunately it's severity has no discrimination with age. I'm 45 & have had Osteo since I was 18-20, so that's about 25-27 yrs I've had it . Osteo has accompanied Fribo & connective tissue disease for many of those years with me, but I never needed any medication until about 14 yrs ago when I started having to take 4500 mg of Tylenol & muscle a relaxer every day). As you have described about yourself..... my low back has hurt off & on in the last 15 yrs when I would stand doing dished, stooping while sweeping, or bent over brushing my pets, ect. I would put the old heating pad on & I was good to go for several wks...well those days are real GONE fore me. It started hurting me REAL bad last winter when shoveling snow & I became suspicious but as you thought.....nah, it's nothing, I'm too young to have something seriously wrong. Up until this point the Osteo mostly effected my low back, SI joints, hips & knees. I was like the energizer bunny & just kept going & thought this was the normal process that Osteo took. As well as my family Dr telling me this for as many years as I can remember. Also I thought the real bad stuff will come when I'm about 60 & I'm in the middle of the spectrum now. How WRONG I was.....I found out in May I'm at the end of the spectrum....end of the road sort of speak. In the last 5 mo my knees have become extremely bad, the pain never ever goes away- not even with pain meds. I hyper extended my knee in late April by a little dip in the ground, it wouldn't heal, my left knee was scoped, had many many aspirations & hyalgan injections & nothing worked.
All to find out I have stage 3 DJD bi-lat knees & 2 ortho opinions say they will not give me a TKR because adding to the mix, I now have Rheumatoid, Lupus, diabetes & I'm post menapausal. These were discovered in May through Lab when I had my first Rheumatologist visit (waiting 11 mo on her waiting list).
So, It looks like this is the deck of cards that I am dealt & I have to find a way to except it all & try & have the best life that I can. How does a person do that when they have their life ripped out from under them in a blink of an eye??? I'm told by the ortho Dr's I will not be walking in less than 5 yrs but come see me on an as needed basis...lol. My Rheumatologist says to continue all the pain medication every 4 hrs, anything to get me through the days. I'n taking catapress (for hot flashes every 30 min), Neurontin for pain, Ultram & Darvocet for pain, soma (relaxer), Lodine (anti-inflammatory), 4500 mg Tylenol, Arava (Rheumatoid) & the trusty old Wellbutrin...my happy pill...lol. I'm sure there are a few that I'm forgetting.
I wear a knee brace on my left knee 90 % of the time & have a job that requires me to walk all day. I also have stress fx's in the tops of my feet from walking my butt off & not walking correctly since injury in April. I've had 2 bone densities in the last 2 yrs & both were neg. But this is something that will definately affect me in the next few yrs I was told.
In regards to my low lumbar area I will be seeking injections in about a month from pain management. This may be an option for you also. Gosh, without insurance I don't know if you could do that though as well as you needing pain meds. Annette, you are at great risk for spontaneous fractures any where in your body because of the posative osteoporosis.
5 1/2 months ago I was sitting on a low stool with wheels weeding for 25 min along my driveway. This occurred about a month after hyper-extending my knee. I felt a taught pulling sensation in my knees. Kept going and attributed it to being out of shape. That night both my knees blew up like melons & I had excruciating pain & still do till this day! I could not walk with my lt knee at all & was on crutches for wks. I had the MRI done 1 mo prior & my scope about 8 wks after thr MRI. What the scope showed is not all on the MRI report. When this happened all the rest of my cartlidge in both knees were torn to shreds. My knees look like they were put through a shredder machine. So please...think twice.
Other than that I am told all they can do is treat me for the pain & nothing medically can be done to stop this horrible disease. Just 6 months ago I could do anything that I wanted to do, even with the chronic pain except kneel down or squat. Now I am only at 50% of my capacity. I too am VERY scared for my future, especially knowing my working days are numbered. It all weighs heavy on my mind constantly.
I would also like to give you all a word of caution. If you have Osteo & have ever had knee pain please remember:
What ever chore you are doing if you feel a tight stretch (bending, squatting, reaching or what ever...stop emmediately, don't think you are feeling that because you are out of shape.
Also don't let yourself be mislead. Maybe if I had persisted with getting 2nd opinions 10 yrs ago I may not be going through this now....it would be later in my life. I trusted them & believed what I was told....I pray my story keeps someone from suffering the way I am.
I do hope you can find some answers to help you. Take Care & God Bless you!
P.S I am so sorry this is so long.
I'm very sorry to hear about you loosing your job and the pain you are in. It must weigh heavily on your mind to not have the insurance because with any disease medical coverage is extremely important.
I too have DJD (Osteo) all over, unfortunately it's severity has no discrimination with age. I'm 45 & have had Osteo since I was 18-20, so that's about 25-27 yrs I've had it . Osteo has accompanied Fribo & connective tissue disease for many of those years with me, but I never needed any medication until about 14 yrs ago when I started having to take 4500 mg of Tylenol & muscle a relaxer every day). As you have described about yourself..... my low back has hurt off & on in the last 15 yrs when I would stand doing dished, stooping while sweeping, or bent over brushing my pets, ect. I would put the old heating pad on & I was good to go for several wks...well those days are real GONE fore me. It started hurting me REAL bad last winter when shoveling snow & I became suspicious but as you thought.....nah, it's nothing, I'm too young to have something seriously wrong. Up until this point the Osteo mostly effected my low back, SI joints, hips & knees. I was like the energizer bunny & just kept going & thought this was the normal process that Osteo took. As well as my family Dr telling me this for as many years as I can remember. Also I thought the real bad stuff will come when I'm about 60 & I'm in the middle of the spectrum now. How WRONG I was.....I found out in May I'm at the end of the spectrum....end of the road sort of speak. In the last 5 mo my knees have become extremely bad, the pain never ever goes away- not even with pain meds. I hyper extended my knee in late April by a little dip in the ground, it wouldn't heal, my left knee was scoped, had many many aspirations & hyalgan injections & nothing worked.
All to find out I have stage 3 DJD bi-lat knees & 2 ortho opinions say they will not give me a TKR because adding to the mix, I now have Rheumatoid, Lupus, diabetes & I'm post menapausal. These were discovered in May through Lab when I had my first Rheumatologist visit (waiting 11 mo on her waiting list).
So, It looks like this is the deck of cards that I am dealt & I have to find a way to except it all & try & have the best life that I can. How does a person do that when they have their life ripped out from under them in a blink of an eye??? I'm told by the ortho Dr's I will not be walking in less than 5 yrs but come see me on an as needed basis...lol. My Rheumatologist says to continue all the pain medication every 4 hrs, anything to get me through the days. I'n taking catapress (for hot flashes every 30 min), Neurontin for pain, Ultram & Darvocet for pain, soma (relaxer), Lodine (anti-inflammatory), 4500 mg Tylenol, Arava (Rheumatoid) & the trusty old Wellbutrin...my happy pill...lol. I'm sure there are a few that I'm forgetting.
I wear a knee brace on my left knee 90 % of the time & have a job that requires me to walk all day. I also have stress fx's in the tops of my feet from walking my butt off & not walking correctly since injury in April. I've had 2 bone densities in the last 2 yrs & both were neg. But this is something that will definately affect me in the next few yrs I was told.
In regards to my low lumbar area I will be seeking injections in about a month from pain management. This may be an option for you also. Gosh, without insurance I don't know if you could do that though as well as you needing pain meds. Annette, you are at great risk for spontaneous fractures any where in your body because of the posative osteoporosis.
5 1/2 months ago I was sitting on a low stool with wheels weeding for 25 min along my driveway. This occurred about a month after hyper-extending my knee. I felt a taught pulling sensation in my knees. Kept going and attributed it to being out of shape. That night both my knees blew up like melons & I had excruciating pain & still do till this day! I could not walk with my lt knee at all & was on crutches for wks. I had the MRI done 1 mo prior & my scope about 8 wks after thr MRI. What the scope showed is not all on the MRI report. When this happened all the rest of my cartlidge in both knees were torn to shreds. My knees look like they were put through a shredder machine. So please...think twice.
Other than that I am told all they can do is treat me for the pain & nothing medically can be done to stop this horrible disease. Just 6 months ago I could do anything that I wanted to do, even with the chronic pain except kneel down or squat. Now I am only at 50% of my capacity. I too am VERY scared for my future, especially knowing my working days are numbered. It all weighs heavy on my mind constantly.
I would also like to give you all a word of caution. If you have Osteo & have ever had knee pain please remember:
What ever chore you are doing if you feel a tight stretch (bending, squatting, reaching or what ever...stop emmediately, don't think you are feeling that because you are out of shape.
Also don't let yourself be mislead. Maybe if I had persisted with getting 2nd opinions 10 yrs ago I may not be going through this now....it would be later in my life. I trusted them & believed what I was told....I pray my story keeps someone from suffering the way I am.
I do hope you can find some answers to help you. Take Care & God Bless you!
P.S I am so sorry this is so long.