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Osteoarthritis of the knee

Posted: Aug 30, 2011

Does anyone have any tips for working iwth OA of the knee? My right knee hurts so much I cannot push on the foot pedal. I use the left foot but still can only transcribe about 20 minutes without a long break. I am freaking out because I can't work and therefore can't pay my bills. TIA!

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OS - Beenthere

[ In Reply To ..]
I am sorry you are in so much pain. I know what it is like, as I have fibromyalgia. It is really hard to have pain and sit at a desk and type all day - you feel every little ache and pain as opposed to working a job where you get to be up and move around and get your mind off the pain. Does it help to elevate your leg? I have the email for a lady who advertised on MTStars about a foot stool that you can put your legs up on to elevate them and type at the same time if you are interested and think it would help. I know some people have good luck with arthritis diets. You can google it and get information on what to eat and what to avoid. I always have good luck getting on google and surfing around when I am trying to find solutions to problems. Hang in there and I will pray for you.

OA of the knees - Loves to Type

[ In Reply To ..]
I also have fibromyalgia and the combination has been killing me the past few weeks. I am barely able to work. Elevation does help. Could I have the email for the lady who who posted about the foot stool? I will also look up an arthritis diet. Thanks so much!

Loves to Type - Beenthere

[ In Reply To ..]
As soon as I can find the email she sent me about the stool, I will try to email it to you. For some reason, I do not have much luck getting emails to go through to people on this site. If I do not hear from you, I will post again. Hang in there!

I have OA and fibromyalgia - orthogirl

[ In Reply To ..]
I totally understand the pain, it can be totally overwhelming and you have to have a strong mind set to overcome it to continue to push yourself to work. I recently had a flare of neck arthritis and could barely turn my head. My husband lost his job in the beginning of June, we lost our health insurance and I am the only one in the house bringing in an income. He was not eligible for unemployment and my children have been looking for jobs for over a year now, but one with no experience and the other with only one previous job under his belt, it is hard to get anyone to even give them an interview, so the thought of losing the house, car, and not being able to feed my kids pushed me through the pain, oh and lots of hydrocodone.

The best things for arthritis is icing the joint, 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off. Using anti-inflammatories is the best choice of pain killers if you are able to take them (I can not take them due to severe GERD and IBS). You can take two Aleve twice a day or three ibuprofen four times a day or four three times a day but not to exceed 12 pills in 24 hours. Any anti-inflammatories should be taken with food. Also supplements such as Glucosamine Chondroitin with sulfate (make sure it has the sulfate that really makes a difference) is a good supplement that really does help. I have a friend who also takes hyaluronate acid supplements (pills) and she thinks they help. Your doctor or an orthopaedic can give you coritsone injections (you can have one every three months but usually not more often) or hyaluronate acid injections which you can do in combination with the cortisone injections and the HA injections you can have every six months. You can use prescription anti-inflammatories if the over the counter ones do not work and there is Voltaren gel, which is a topical anti-inflammatory gel. If you want to try an over the counter topical agent, try capsaicin cream, which sometimes helps with arthritis (I am allergic to capsaicin so I never used it long enough to see if it really helped). Exercises to strengthen your quad and VMO muscles help with the arthritis pain, as the stronger the leg is, the less the arthritis hurts. You can probably google strenghtening exercises for knee arthritis.

I hope some of this will help you, good luck.

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