Recovery

I used the Darvon that was prescribed for about 24 hours. When I got the prescription I noted that there was enough for six days and I wondered what I would do if those days passed and I was feeling no better. Fortunately, I did not have to face that. After about 24 hours my knee was doing remarkably better. I stopped the Darvon but kept up the Celebrex and I am almost back to where I was before this episode.

In the meantime, I did look into flax seed oil again. I was thinking of getting casule but learned that it would take 10-15 capsules to get as much as one gets in one teaspoon. It's no good to cook it so I wonder where, other than in smoothies or other drinks, I might use it and like it. Then again, maybe smoothies are the way to go. Bananas, strawberries, ice and the flax seed oil. I'll think about it.

drugs

I went to see a doctor yesterday. Actually a physician's assistant, who did a fairly cursory exam of my knee. She said it's possible that I tore the meniscus.

From Zimmer:

Causes

Because the meniscus is strong and elastic in people under 30, a forceful twisting injury (such as one that might occur while playing sports) or severe trauma (such as getting hit on the side of the knee) is usually required to damage it.

As we age, however, the meniscus gets soft and is more easily torn. Degenerative tears in patients 40 and older can be caused by a minor event or none at all. They are sometimes triggered by something as simple as squatting down to pick up a spoon from the floor. They are often the result of osteoarthritis.



Torn Meniscus

She prescribed Celebrex and Darvon to help me through this tough time. I brought both prescriptions to Costco. Unfortunately, they did not have any Darvon (generic version) in stock, so I took home the Celebrex yesterday afternoon and will pick up the Darvon this aft.

I took one tablet of Celebrex last night, with food. So far I am not noticing any improvement in symptoms, sad to say. The pain has gotten to the point where I had trouble getting to the pharmacy in Costco. Such a wide expanse to cover. I grabbed a cart to hold onto and tried to relax.

While I try to avoid taking medications there are times the pain is so continuous and so debilitating that I just want it gone at whatever expense. (I worry about taking anti-inflammatories for long periods.) I am trusting that this is some kind of "episode" that will pass, that if I take the pain and inflammation meds for a short while they will get me through it and I will be back where I was.

some progress?

Yesterday my knee was hurting still, and I did not want to do the regular arthritis exercises. I should have done them anyway but I did not.

Today, though, I got in my thirty minutes. I did it by pushing a cart around Costco for over 30 minutes. The cart gave me a crutch of sorts, some help, and even though it was initially very painful I felt able to manage better as I went on. After about 45 minutes I started to lose it, though, and was grateful to get back to my car.

What I learned: if I bring a cane or walking stick with me I can do better, at least get through the 30 minutes, while I am in this rather miserable state.

a step back

Lately, for the past several days, I have had a resurgence of significant pain and stiffness in my left knee. After months of not having much, if any, pain in that knee, suddenly it came back with a vengeance. Today I spent an agonizing 20 minutes or so in a grocery store trying to grab a few groceries and finding it so difficult I had to lean on the cart and grit my teeth and keep going.

I don't know why this happened. I have fallen off the exercises before and I have been in cold weather before. Yesterday I tried to get in 30 minutes of simple walking and it was so hard, so painful, that I stopped at 17 minutes. I am hoping, still, that by getting out there, pain or no, I will move past this and feel better and be able to do more.

Less pain

Yesterday I did as I planned. I went to a nearby shopping center and walked the perimeter, stopping to drop toys in collection bins and again stopping for tea at Starbucks. My hip hurt but the movement lessened the pain. Later I went downtown and walked some there as well. I was no speed demon and I didn't stray far from my car but I think I got in at least a half-hour of walking.

Last night I felt less pain in that leg, and again this morning. It's far from gone but it's less.

I do believe that the real connection between the resurgence of this pain and my daily activities is that for the last couple of weeks I have again slipped from the program. I haven't been doing the arthritis exercises three days a week and I have skipped the regular half-hour exercise several times, too. The bitch of it is, of course, that when I am in extreme pain exercise is simply impossible. Then I long for some kind of powerful painkiller, in spite of my reservations about those. In this instance I turned to tylenol arthritis a few times. I don't know if it helped. It may have, at night. I suspect, in any case, that such extreme pain can be kept at bay if I stay with the program.

And you may well wonder why you need to read any of this. Of course you don't need to read it. I write it, though, to remind myself of such connections to see if there are patterns, and for those who do read this journal on occasion I write it to let you know just how it is for me. Rather than write the one-page success story that leaves out the bad times I prefer to keep them in. I think they illustrate life as a real person with real failings and real arthritis who somehow stays on the long haul, keeps trying to make it better for herself.

Hip pain

This is the third day in a row when the pain in my right hip - actually it's at the top of my right thigh - has been significant. I am having trouble getting in and out of my car, I had trouble moving my leg up and down in a pedi-chair yesterday, and just walking can be so sharply painful.

The weather has been damp or actually raining. Might there be a connection? I don't know. What I do know is that there is little I can do in terms of exercise with this pain. I was able to do the arthritis exercises yesterday but nothing else.

I am going to try walking a bit, see if it eases.

Another trip, another trial

I flew to Pensacola last Friday, from Burbank. I spent the weekend without my glucosamine (I forgot to pack it) and I didn't do the arthritis exercises (lazy lazy lazy!). But I did spend a fair amount of time in Pensacola standing and walking around. So the trip was a bit of a trial for my knees.

And I'm doing all right. I think the hardest thing for my knees is driving. Whenever I make long trips in the car I feel it that night. But it isn't awful.

Overall, the improvements in my knees seem to be holding, even when I fall off the routine.