Bad knees

Neproxin!....be very very careful with this. I was prescribed it and it gave me a stomach ulcer and I was ill for a year. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole now. Most people can tolerate it but a significant minority cannot. Beware.

 

I'm glad you mentioned tennis elbow. I keep forgetting to declare that injury at training after declaring my knees and ankle.

 

Naproxen ... I buy the gel in the chemist here ... far prefer topical to tablet.

 

If taking naproxen or ibuprofen, my doctor told me it's a good idea to also take omeprazol to guard the stomach

 

I've tried omeprazol and lanzoprazol. Both produced the worst side effects. I had splitting headaches, muscle weakness, intense nausea, loss of sensation in my hands and feet, stabbing pains in my abdomen, and a fear of going anywhere because, not toput too fine a point on it, I constantly felt like my guts were going to explode.

Ranitidine doesn't give me any side effects, yet for some reason doctors seem reluctant to prescribe it.

 

I'm furious and depressed at the same time.

I saw the gp today. Not my usual one. Apparently I have arthritis everywhere. He can tell this by looking at my knee, which is not swollen, is not discoloured, is not deformed, and is functional throughout the whole range of motion (which he didn't check).

He didn't even look at my painful ankle, which is now by far my biggest concern, given that it hurts a fair bit, in the tendons.

So with no blood tests, no scans of any kind, a casual glance at a normal knee, I have arthritis everywhere. It couldn't possibly that I've slightly sprained myself pushing myself to my physical limit during repeated martial arts training sessions (something I confessed to doing ).

So with no proper assessment, I've been sent away with a prescription for a medicine that is probably not safe for me due to a conflict with an underlying medical condition, and advice to give up the art I love, and take up walking, specifically 2 miles, 3 times per week. Ie about half of what I'd do in a lazy week and about a quarter of what I do ina normal week.

I don't know what to do, because in my opinion I haven't been professionally assessed yet I've been asked to give up what to me is a great deal.

 

If you could I would try and make a appointment with your usual GP if you can.
This GP must have X-ray eye sight, should have at least taken bloods.

 

This GP belongs to my usual surgery, but is new. My favourite one is obviously everyone else's favourite too, as he was booked solid for the next two weeks.

 

Thought he could have been a locum GP. Its the same at our GP's the good one is always booked solid.

 

A couple more points that may help or not help your creaky arthritic knees @clueless1 .
When I went to the physio , as part of the treatment he put me on the EMS machine . This is a high end version of a tens machine . It stimulates your muscles/nerves with a controlled electrical pulse. I used mine twice a day, for a 20 minutes session , for about 3 months . Now I use it once a day and I do believe it has helped.
Also I had a steroid injection in the knee around November . This did make a marked improvement for around 4 months . I may request another one later this year.
Thirdly I tried cider vinegar , drinking it twice a day . This tastes so awful you think it must be doing you good All it did was relieve me of £20 !

 

I am convinced that the doctor has completely missed the problem.

My knees are fine. They ache slightly because of a combination of lack of movement, because of ankle pain, and incorrect load distribution, because of ankle pain.

I tried to tell the gp this, but he said it's arthritis. No x ray, no blood test. No range of motion assessment. Nothing more than my description that I ache. I told him my ankle was the one part of me that does actually feel injured. He didn't even look at it.

Some googling AFTER me describing the problem to the gp reveals: knee pain in martial arts training is usually the result of incorrect load distribution through the knees, due to incorrect stance, which is usually due to problems in the feet. For example a tendon injury in one or both ankles. Pinpointing the pain in my ankle directs me to the peroneal tendons, which run down the side of the calf, under the outside of the ankle, and then into the front of the foot. Exactly where I have pain and swelling, which the gp wouldn't look at. I found an article describing the problem in detail. Every detail in the description of symptoms matches exactly to what I feel. But the gp didn't look. He said he didn't need to. He told me to give up my lifestyle, take powerful medication that is high risk for me, and come back in 4 weeks. The article I found said the foot must be immobilised. Gp said I should take up walking (which I do anyway). The article said it needs urgent treatment to prevent it escalating to a tear. Gp said I should continue to walk on it for 4 weeks before he'll even look at it.

Doing isolated resistance training tonight, isolating specific muscles and joints, no pain at all anywhere,until I involve my right ankle, then I get pain right through my legs. Right ankle at rest, no pain even when knees under load. Right ankle in use, significant pain. Gp never even looked at the ankle.