So here is a little info about my knees. About five years ago my left knee started to ache.. Not something special. . In return I started to compensate by using use my other leg more. Until it started to ache as well. I then visited an orthopedician who told me that I probably have arthritis. Something that the MRIs confirmed.
I was told that there is no real treatment. I started taking some drugs. Three years ago I had my first arthroscopy (left knee). It felt somehow better but only for a couple of months. Than I had a second to my other knee.. And one year ago I had one again in the left.. So here I am with constant pain, writting this post.
My doctor has told me to be patient and wait until my sixties before having a bilateral total knee arthroplasty. He says it is better this way because if it fails too soon, the chances of failing again are high. And then the only alternative is a wheelchair...
I know it's better to wait..I want to wait..But this pain gets too tiring. It's constant.. Sometimes I can't get it anymore. Sometimes I even think of suicide. It's not that I can't handle the pain.. I am just too tired of being CONSTANTLY in pain.. If it wasn't for my supportive family and husband..who knows...
This post is about Provailen, a new pain relief drug for arthritis sufferers that I have been taking for the past 4 months.
In the past 5 years I have taken all kind of drugs to deal with my arthritic pain. When my knees started to hurt aspirin would suffice. But as they deteriorated I moved to harder ones like ibuprofen and for a few months even vicodin. I have also had many hyaluronic acid injections and 3 arthroscopies, but the pain slowly but gradually gets worse and worse. It seems that every drug I take works for awhile and then I get used to it.. A few months ago a friend from an Osteoarthritis forum suggest me to try out Provailen.He told me that many had tried it and helped them a lot with pain relief.
So I ordered the one month supply and I am very glad I did ! After the tenth day I noticed a great reduction of pain as well as joint stiffness. This reduction was more noticeable during the night (24:00 - 00:03) when my pain becomes excruciating. The best thing with Provailen is that you can take it along with other drugs as well!
No the pain hasn't gone completely and of course my arthritis hasn't healed at all. But my pain is about 60 -70 % gone, and my knees are more flexible and less stiff. And the good thing is that my organism hasn't built any resistance to the drug. On the contrary I started with 2 pills per day and now 4 months later I only take 1 per day! As for side effects I haven't actually noticed any !
I am really happy with this drug and I highly suggest you to give it a try. Just order the one month supply from their WebSite and if you are happy with the results reorder!
If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will reply as soon as possible!!
Anyone with knee arthritis knows how difficult it actually is to exercise and keep fit. You can't run, you can't walk long distances, you can't do a bicycle, you can't dance...Knees are utilized in almost all kind of aerobic activities...
Since I used to run a lot I found it even more difficult to stop exercising.. Still I managed to find ways to exercise properly and I want to share some of my tips :)
Swimming
First let's start with the one exercise that probably all arthritic patients know about.. Swimming! Swimming is actually perfect both for elevating your heart beat and for conditioning your arthritic joints.. Unfortunately not everyone has a pool nearby. I go swimming only once a week due to my tight schedule..Which of course isn't enough..
Arm Bikes
If the only affected by arthritis joints are the knees( like in my case) you can buy an Arm Bike. Arm bikes are perfect for people with problematic knee joints and are a decent aerobic exercise.. I spend about 3-4 hours per week on my arm bike while I watch television. Unfortunately not many stores sell arm bikes but you can find many cheap ones over Amazon
Chair Shadow - Boxing
I really don't know how else to call this :) It's like shadowboxing but instead of standing up you sit on a chair thus protecting your knees from the stress.. You look really stupid when doing this so you might want to try it alone while watching TV or something.. I used to do chair shadow boxing a lot before buying my arm bike. The key here is speed. You aren't using your legs so in order to get a good aerobic effect you have to be fast when punching the air. Make sure not to overextend your arms in order to protect the joints.. For an even better result you may try the following:
a) Squeeze your abdominal muscles while you shadowbox. More muscles working, equals more calories burned :)
b)After a month or two go and buy free weights of 1-3 pounds and use them while doing this exercise
Leg Exercises
There are many leg exercises you can do without stressing your knee joints. I also use 3 pounds weights to make them even harder..Don't forget that exercise equals bigger muscles which means less stress on the joints during daily activities (walking, standing up etc). Here's a great video, just search YouTube you will find hundreds of useful videos :)
Weight lifting
You can also lift weights. When I do I use light weights and do a lot of repetitions. I am a woman so I don't want to build muscles I just want to burn calories! Don't forget to sit when weight lifting!
Abdominal workouts
The abdominal muscles are really small and ab exercises tend to burn very few calories.. Still something is better than nothing! Personally I do 300 crunches each and every day
Final thoughts
Knee arthritis surely limits the ways you can exercise but still there are many ways to keep fit and have a moderate to good aerobic experience.
Please leave a comment if you have any other good ideas for exercising!
For the past year I can't stop obsessing for the future.. And I made this post to see if there are other people like me ... I like to call all these constant thoughts that I am having tomorrowphobia... Let me explain
I am constantly making negatives thoughts regarding the future. For example that my knees will get worse and worse. That I will have a bilateral arthroplasty. That the arthroplasty will fail and I will be confined in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. That I will lose my work at home.. That my husband will get bored of me and leave me for another woman...That my children will go away as they grow and forget about their arthritic mom... That due to not exercising they way I really want (running) I'' ll get a stroke or something..
Even when I do something I still continue thinking these stuff somewhere in the back of my head.. Even when I am out with friends having a drink, or with my kids having a good time. Even when I have sex with my husband..
As time passes these thoughts get stronger and stronger.. I believe that I am starting to get paranoid or something..I have never shared them with my husband or my kids and this might be one reason that they don't wear off..
My name is Patricia and I am 55 years old. Today I got bored and like many people I decided to make a blog regarding my condition. Unfortunately I have widespread arthritis in both of my knees. I started experiencing pain about 5 years ago. Back then I was quite active for my age. I had a job that required me to be on my feet 8/hours per day, my children were smaller and needed way more care and I was a casual runner (about 25 miles per week)...
The pain progressively got worse and worse first in my left knee, and as a result I used my right one more..Then it started to slowly give away as well...
Today my life is totally different compared to what it was just 5 years ago.. I can't run, I work from my home for a telephone company, I can't walk for more than an hour without my knees hurting like hell, my knees are inflamed and look like sh** and not even one day passes without me worrying about the years to come..
At least my husband is very supportive and my kids are relatively indepedent... I am very lucky to have them :)
