 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / October 2006Trying to help my Mum
Hi all, My Mum has been having progressive problems with generalised 'all over' aches, walking, joint pain and stiffness etc for over a year now. She is 77 and otherwise in good physical and mental health, although she has persistent hypertension and her ESR is very elevated at 580 (apparently ~10 is normal). An X-ray also showed deterioration of the righthand hip joint, and she is on the list for replacement surgery. Her GP is sympathetic and we have the money to go private if necessary. Although she lives in the South of England and I am in the USA, we are in close touch and fortunately she has family members nearby who can help her until we have some sort of stabilising treatment regime underway. I want to do as much for her as I can, as she is currently in continual pain and discomfort. I'm frustrated because the process of diagnosis is taking a long time, there are weeks between appointments and blood test results, and she is not improving. She has recently been prescribed morphine patches for pain - but this is obviously only a remedial measure. I'd be very interested to hear your advice, experiences and any suggestions you may have. It's tearing me up to see someone I love go through this, but I don't know what to do. Please help me sift through the options and make some good decisions. Thanks. SW > Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > (apparently ~10 is normal). An X-ray also showed deterioration of the > righthand hip joint, and she is on the list for replacement surgery. Hello SW, welcome to the group. I'm in the south of England too. I've had a load of joint replacements, all of which are now in a reasonable state, considering I'm 61, so these are just a few general thoughts. Presumably your Mum has seen an Orthopaedic surgeon as she's now on the waiting list for a new hip. Has she also seen a Rheumatologist? What tablets is she taking? NSAIDs (non-steroid anti-inflammatories) help me a lot, although I only notice the difference if and when I stop taking them! Is she sleeping OK? If not, she needs better pain relief, especially at night. Is she taking any pain-killers apart from the morphine patches? Did she see the surgeon as a private patient? If not, and she's in a lot of pain, it would seem best to have her hip replacement privately, and soon. The NHS waiting lists are meant to be getting better, but the combined wait for an appointment, and then the operation, can be 9 - 18 months. Saga (for the over 50s) publish a free booklet on the waiting list times for all operations, scans, specialist treatments - all by area. http://www.saga.co.uk/health_news/pages/index.asp For instance, I've just been quoted up to a 36 week wait to get diagnostic tests for a nerve problem in my left leg, and 6 - 12 weeks for an MRI scan. All that before even going on the waiting list for any operation I might need. She should telephone the surgeon's secretary asap and tell him she wants to go private - hopefully she'll get the operation within 4 - 6 weeks. Keep us posted, and feel free to ask any other questions. Splodge email addy is spam-trapped >> Hi all, >> [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >Splodge >email addy is spam-trapped Good advise from Splodge [Janet]. And here are some other things to consider. That ESR is VERY high. If 10 is the normal for her blood labs 580 is 44+ times that, so I'd say that needs looking at now! Whilst you said you have the funds for a private op if needed, try considering other ways to skin the same cat. What I mean by that is, with the blood tests for example, you may wait up to a week for blood results on the NHS, but having your blood taken on the NHS is not compulsory so if you pay a private phleobotomist to take the blood, the results will get back faster for a small fee, thus you can present at the GP with blood results or better still the rheumatologist with blood results [with an ESR of 580!] In the same way, you'll probably find the ortho sergeon works for the NHS 3 days a week and private 2 or whatever. The NHS waiting list for getting "whatever op" might be quoted as "up to 6 months" and this on some part is determined by the amount of referals you as a patient have had with said consultant. Thus on the NHS if you saw the consultant today, he may book you another consultation and the NHS receptionist can't fit you in until six weeks time [because as Janet points out they are very busy]. Try waving money under the consultants private receptionists nose and you'll see the same guy again next week. The point here being, that paying just for a consultation is going to be "n" times cheaper than paying for the actual op [say circa12K for the op] but if by paying for several of these consultations you tick the boxes to advance you on the NHS waiting list, then what have you achieved? Yes, almost the same end result for a fraction of the cost in a shorter amount of time. Good luck, and keep us informed of how your Mum is getting on. >The point here being, that paying just for a consultation is >going to be "n" times cheaper than paying for the actual op I fully agree - the current 'scandal' in the NHS is the way they have massaged the waiting lists so that you only get on a list when you have been fully diagnosed. Of course that means that it now takes months as you are passed from one consultant to another and have all your tests - before getting onto the actual waiting list for an op! Once she has had all her tests done your mum should get a relatively quick date for the operation itself so it really pays to get the tests and consultations done privately. Also, I think it helps if you impress on the consultants and surgeons that your mum is normally a very active person and this current disability is something new and terribly debilitating. In my experience the treatment of many elderly people can be very slow because the perception (either conciously or not) is that "well they're old, so what do you expect" and "they're bound to be infirm at that age and probably won't benefit greatly from surgery". One of my relatives has had to really bang heads together and force the pace and get treatment for his problems. Cheers, Chris R. > Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > SW Hi SW,,,, The biggest mistake people make is waiting too long before getting actual help before too much damage is done. In other words, learning to live with it is the biggest problem. Harv All, Many thanks for all your helpful replies. The latest news is that she has been started on corticosteroids and methotrexate. Morphine patches are being used to keep the aches and pains down, and a hip replacement is scheduled within the next five months. She is at least sounding a lot happier now that treatment has started. She was told the methotrexate will take a month to six weeks to show any significant effect. Thanks again, SummitWulf -- > > Hi all, > > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > learning to live with it is the biggest problem. > Harv Latest news: the methotrexate seems to be working. The 'aches and pains' have substantially diminished, now her hip is giving the most problem. Seeing as X-rays have shown this to have deteriorated and a replacement is scheduled, we're not that surprised! All in all, good news. Best, SummitWulf -- > All, > [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] > > learning to live with it is the biggest problem. > > Harv |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.