Heeeeelllllppppp! I've been diagnosed with arthritus in my feet. One of the gps at the surgery simply said, oh that's arthritus - take these painkillers and some ibruprofen. That was a few months ago. I'm horrified and have basically been running away from this. slight background to explain myself.... My mother is a raging hypercondriacht. She's been dying as long as I can remember. She always usees max strength painkillers for everything, she's always taken them like they're sweets. Its made me really anti painkillers! About 5 years ago she was diagnosed with pallendromic arthritus. She spent the whole time telling me that I was going to be just like her. So now I've got arthritus. I'm not happy that I've just been given painkillers. Surely there's something else I can do that's more productive than merely masking the pain. I'm really keen on walking loads especially as I'm still trying to shift my post pregnancy weight. The gp told me that this would have to stop. Why?
My Arthritus isn't all the time. I've had three or four "periods" of pain in the last couple of months. I'm not sure what the heck initiates it but I do know that cold makes it worse. During these times do I HAVE to stop walking? Could heat help? Should I wrap my feet up in bandages? At the moment pressure makes it all feel worse but the doctor criticised my trainers saying they weren't supportive enough but when I asked him what the heck he meant by this he wasn't exactly good at explaining what he meant by this.
Really grateful for any advice.
Many thanks