Excruciating Pain in the Knee !

[[email protected]]

Dear all,

For the past couple of days the right knee of my 88 year old mom kinda
"tight". I checked her knee but couldn't find any swelling, so I just
did some massages, hoping that it could ease the tightness somewhat.

Yesterday my younger brother dropped by, and when he learned of the
tightness of my mom's right knee, he applied an icepack on it.

Now the real problem start.

After the icepack thing, the condition of my mom's knee worsen. Now
she can't even move her leg, or even standing up, without feeling
excruciating pain.

My mom is a very brave lady, the last time she had an operation, she
didn't even complain of any pain whatsoever. This time though, even I
can feel her pain. I can "see" her pain from how her body shook, and
how much sweat is coming out of her eyebrow. Although she isn't
complaining - dear old mom is always like that - I know she is in
GREAT PAIN !

I took her to the doctor, got mri and everything, and the doc only
prescribe painkillers. My mom ain't suffering from arthritis, but the
doc put the blame on arthritis.

So, please HELP !

First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?

I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
enlighten me of what can I do ?

Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
ways to ease my mom's pain.

Can anyone please help ?

Many thanks in advance ! !

 

[d'huit]

hi!

if your mother was diagnosed with arthritis, then please take the dear old
lady to an arthritis specialist, a rheumatologist, for the best care. it
may well be arthritis at her age. osteoarthritis is a wear and tear form of
arthritis and she has used that knee for 88 years, afterall. painkillers
are not the only option and a rheumatologist can help her with those other
options. she doesn't have to suffer.

heat may or may not help help your mother. but i would try heat, in the
meantime, until you take her to see a rheumatologist. but be very careful,
not too hot, because as people get to be that age, their skin is very thin
and delicate. try using a heating pad with its own heat controling unit
attached to it, so that she can adjust heat level for her own comfort. if
it is still too hot, try wrapping a towel around the heating pad.

but, please, do make an appointment for her to see a rheumatologist, so she
doesn't suffer.

kate


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Dear all,

For the past couple of days the right knee of my 88 year old mom kinda
"tight". I checked her knee but couldn't find any swelling, so I just
did some massages, hoping that it could ease the tightness somewhat.

Yesterday my younger brother dropped by, and when he learned of the
tightness of my mom's right knee, he applied an icepack on it.

Now the real problem start.

After the icepack thing, the condition of my mom's knee worsen. Now
she can't even move her leg, or even standing up, without feeling
excruciating pain.

My mom is a very brave lady, the last time she had an operation, she
didn't even complain of any pain whatsoever. This time though, even I
can feel her pain. I can "see" her pain from how her body shook, and
how much sweat is coming out of her eyebrow. Although she isn't
complaining - dear old mom is always like that - I know she is in
GREAT PAIN !

I took her to the doctor, got mri and everything, and the doc only
prescribe painkillers. My mom ain't suffering from arthritis, but the
doc put the blame on arthritis.

So, please HELP !

First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?

I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
enlighten me of what can I do ?

Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
ways to ease my mom's pain.

Can anyone please help ?

Many thanks in advance ! !

 

[Anonymoose]

"d'huit" <> if your mother was diagnosed with arthritis, then please take
the dear old
> lady to an arthritis specialist, a rheumatologist, for the best care. she
has used that knee for 88 years, afterall.>>

Take her to the doctor, you cheap bastid.

 

[Paul Boyd]

[email protected] said the following on 08/10/2007 06:08:

> Can anyone please help ?

How about going to a doctor?

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Nick]

Paul Boyd wrote:
> [email protected] said the following on 08/10/2007 06:08:
>
>> Can anyone please help ?
>
> How about going to a doctor?
>

Yes he should take her to the doctors. They could do arrange an MRI,
give palliative care and diagnose arthritis.

I wonder why he didn't think of that.

 

[Joan Carter]

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:54:58 +0100, Nick <[email protected]> wrote:

>Yes he should take her to the doctors. They could do arrange an MRI,
>give palliative care and diagnose arthritis.
>
>I wonder why he didn't think of that.

Perhaps because he has already done that. You should have read
the entire message. As usual, Kelly, you are right on. A physio
may be the answer.

Moist heat is usually better than dry heat. You could try making
your own moist heating pad by soaking a towel in hot water,
wrapping it around your mother's knee, than wrapping plastic wrap
over that, covered by another big towel. These cool off quickly
but the plastic and outer towel help keep it warmer. If that
helps you might want to purchase one of those heating pads with a
moist heat insert. But I wouldn't spend the money on one of those
without checking to see if moist heat helps. There are also those
bean bag things you can buy in drugstores that you heat in your
microwave.

You need to experiment with temperature and timing though, as
someone mentioned, at 88 your mother's skin will be more
sensitive.

My physio always heats me up with moist heat before she works on
me.

Good luck with your mum and hope you can help her. You have had a
lot of good advice and a couple of jerkass answers. Ignore them.

Joan

 

[shinypenny]

On Oct 8, 1:08 am, [email protected] wrote:

> First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
> my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
> the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?
>
> I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
> am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
> enlighten me of what can I do ?
>
> Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
> ways to ease my mom's pain.
>
> Can anyone please help ?

It's possible that her bigger issue is muscle spasms. This is just my
hunch, since in my experience ice is very soothing on inflammed joints
and muscles. However, in my experience, ice will make muscle spasms a
lot worse, and can be very, very painful. The spasms also interfere
with healing, because they can cause further microtears.

Treating such a condition is tricky, because you need to both reduce
the inflammation (ice) and relax the muscles (heat) to allow healing
to occur. While moist heat works great to relax the muscles, it can
inflame an already inflamed muscle further. And while ice works great
to reduce inflammation, it can cause the muscle to spasm further. So
you can see the conundrum...

In the past when I've had this problem, the doctor has prescribed a
combo of Flexeril (a muscle relaxant) and an anti-inflammatory (a
NSAID - you can also use OTC ibuprofen). Yes, also a pain killer but
usually only for the first 24 hours when the pain is most acute. And
muscle spasms ARE quite painful, so don't deny your mom some pain
relief. It also helps to immobilize the joint for 48 hours (but
probably no longer than that).

If it's been longer than 24 hours, then do go ahead and try the moist
heat, which should relax the muscles. Be very gentle with it and use
only on the lowest setting, and for no more than 10-15 minutes at a
time. Or try a warm bath or shower, if your mom can get in and out of
the tub.

Another thing you might try is capsacin patches. These provide pain
relief because the capsacin scrambles the nerve endings or something
like that. This would be a last resort because Warning: they hurt when
you take them off - especially if you apply them over body hair. And
DO NOT apply ice or heat while wearing one. OUCH.

Good luck and I hope she feels better soon!

jen

 

[[email protected]]

On Oct 8, 1:43 am, "Anonymoose" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "d'huit" <> if your mother was diagnosed with arthritis, then please take
> the dear old> lady to an arthritis specialist, a rheumatologist, for the best care. she
>
> has used that knee for 88 years, afterall.>>
>
> Take her to the doctor, you cheap bastid.

your reading comprehension ain't so great, eh?

 

[Nick]

Joan Carter wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:54:58 +0100, Nick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Yes he should take her to the doctors. They could do arrange an MRI,
>> give palliative care and diagnose arthritis.
>>
>> I wonder why he didn't think of that.
>
> Perhaps because he has already done that. You should have read
> the entire message. As usual, Kelly, you are right on. A physio
> may be the answer.
>

Did he? I wonder what the doctor did. ;o) I'm sorry I should use smilies
when I'm being sarcastic.

However I do accept I was being a jerkass? by not offering any help.

There is one piece of advice I can strongly recommend and that is that
your mother should not act stoically in front of any doctor she sees.
She should ham up the pain as much as she can. For some reason old
timers seem to believe it is good to hide their pain in front of
doctors, given the way our NHS currently works this means they will be
ignored.

It is particularly galling to see them perform as if they were OK in
front of a doctor and then be totally incapable when the doctors are
gone. I remember seeing my mother do this. It was only when she was
finally too ill (or drugged up with valium) to speak for herself that I
was able to describe her symptoms to the doctor and get her hospitalised.

Strangely enough her months of "depression" turned out to be a urinary
infection which was cured within days of being hospitalised. When she
was feeling better she did question the way I described he symptoms to
the doctor (I wasn't that bad was I?) but now understands why she should
make a bit more fuss.


> Moist heat is usually better than dry heat. You could try making
> your own moist heating pad by soaking a towel in hot water,
> wrapping it around your mother's knee, than wrapping plastic wrap
> over that, covered by another big towel. These cool off quickly
> but the plastic and outer towel help keep it warmer. If that
> helps you might want to purchase one of those heating pads with a
> moist heat insert. But I wouldn't spend the money on one of those
> without checking to see if moist heat helps. There are also those
> bean bag things you can buy in drugstores that you heat in your
> microwave.
>
> You need to experiment with temperature and timing though, as
> someone mentioned, at 88 your mother's skin will be more
> sensitive.
>
> My physio always heats me up with moist heat before she works on
> me.
>
> Good luck with your mum and hope you can help her. You have had a
> lot of good advice and a couple of jerkass answers. Ignore them.
>
> Joan

 

[Steve Freides]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dear all,
>
> For the past couple of days the right knee of my 88 year old mom kinda
> "tight". I checked her knee but couldn't find any swelling, so I just
> did some massages, hoping that it could ease the tightness somewhat.
>
> Yesterday my younger brother dropped by, and when he learned of the
> tightness of my mom's right knee, he applied an icepack on it.
>
> Now the real problem start.
>
> After the icepack thing, the condition of my mom's knee worsen. Now
> she can't even move her leg, or even standing up, without feeling
> excruciating pain.
>
> My mom is a very brave lady, the last time she had an operation, she
> didn't even complain of any pain whatsoever. This time though, even I
> can feel her pain. I can "see" her pain from how her body shook, and
> how much sweat is coming out of her eyebrow. Although she isn't
> complaining - dear old mom is always like that - I know she is in
> GREAT PAIN !
>
> I took her to the doctor, got mri and everything, and the doc only
> prescribe painkillers. My mom ain't suffering from arthritis, but the
> doc put the blame on arthritis.
>
> So, please HELP !
>
> First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
> my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
> the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?
>
> I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
> am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
> enlighten me of what can I do ?
>
> Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
> ways to ease my mom's pain.
>
> Can anyone please help ?
>
> Many thanks in advance ! !

You mention nothing about how active your mother is. Assuming the acute
symptoms subside within a few days, she might try simply moving the knee
a little and eventually some walking. Heat is probably not a bad idea,
but as others have said, all this should be under a doctor's or a
physio's care, not a newsgroup's.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

 

[Joan Carter]

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:19:59 +0100, Nick <[email protected]> wrote:

>There is one piece of advice I can strongly recommend and that is that
>your mother should not act stoically in front of any doctor she sees.
>She should ham up the pain as much as she can. For some reason old
>timers seem to believe it is good to hide their pain in front of
>doctors, given the way our NHS currently works this means they will be
>ignored.

Absolutely, I've seen it happen many times. Good point.

Joan

 

[ATP*]

"Steve Freides" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Dear all,
>>
>> For the past couple of days the right knee of my 88 year old mom kinda
>> "tight". I checked her knee but couldn't find any swelling, so I just
>> did some massages, hoping that it could ease the tightness somewhat.
>>
>> Yesterday my younger brother dropped by, and when he learned of the
>> tightness of my mom's right knee, he applied an icepack on it.
>>
>> Now the real problem start.
>>
>> After the icepack thing, the condition of my mom's knee worsen. Now
>> she can't even move her leg, or even standing up, without feeling
>> excruciating pain.
>>
>> My mom is a very brave lady, the last time she had an operation, she
>> didn't even complain of any pain whatsoever. This time though, even I
>> can feel her pain. I can "see" her pain from how her body shook, and
>> how much sweat is coming out of her eyebrow. Although she isn't
>> complaining - dear old mom is always like that - I know she is in
>> GREAT PAIN !
>>
>> I took her to the doctor, got mri and everything, and the doc only
>> prescribe painkillers. My mom ain't suffering from arthritis, but the
>> doc put the blame on arthritis.
>>
>> So, please HELP !
>>
>> First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
>> my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
>> the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?
>>
>> I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
>> am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
>> enlighten me of what can I do ?
>>
>> Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
>> ways to ease my mom's pain.
>>
>> Can anyone please help ?
>>
>> Many thanks in advance ! !
>
> You mention nothing about how active your mother is. Assuming the acute
> symptoms subside within a few days, she might try simply moving the knee a
> little and eventually some walking. Heat is probably not a bad idea, but
> as others have said, all this should be under a doctor's or a physio's
> care, not a newsgroup's.
>
> -S-
> http://www.kbnj.com
>
Maybe she should try the crossfit workout of the day. She could scale it to
her abilities. www.crossfit.com

 

[[email protected]]

On Oct 9, 1:26 am, "Steve Freides" <[email protected]> wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
>
>
> > Dear all,
>
> > For the past couple of days the right knee of my 88 year old mom kinda
> > "tight". I checked her knee but couldn't find any swelling, so I just
> > did some massages, hoping that it could ease the tightness somewhat.
>
> > Yesterday my younger brother dropped by, and when he learned of the
> > tightness of my mom's right knee, he applied an icepack on it.
>
> > Now the real problem start.
>
> > After the icepack thing, the condition of my mom's knee worsen. Now
> > she can't even move her leg, or even standing up, without feeling
> > excruciating pain.
>
> > My mom is a very brave lady, the last time she had an operation, she
> > didn't even complain of any pain whatsoever. This time though, even I
> > can feel her pain. I can "see" her pain from how her body shook, and
> > how much sweat is coming out of her eyebrow. Although she isn't
> > complaining - dear old mom is always like that - I know she is in
> > GREAT PAIN !
>
> > I took her to the doctor, got mri and everything, and the doc only
> > prescribe painkillers. My mom ain't suffering from arthritis, but the
> > doc put the blame on arthritis.
>
> > So, please HELP !
>
> > First of all, was the icepack application a mistake ? I am not blaming
> > my younger brother what-so-ever, just that I have some suspicions that
> > the icepack may have worsen my mom's condition. Am I right ?
>
> > I am thinking of applying the reverse, the "heat pad treatment", but I
> > am afraid that it only worsen my mom's right knee. Can anyone please
> > enlighten me of what can I do ?
>
> > Painkiller shouldn't become the only option. I am trying to find other
> > ways to ease my mom's pain.
>
> > Can anyone please help ?
>
> > Many thanks in advance ! !
>
> You mention nothing about how active your mother is. Assuming the acute
> symptoms subside within a few days, she might try simply moving the knee
> a little and eventually some walking. Heat is probably not a bad idea,
> but as others have said, all this should be under a doctor's or a
> physio's care, not a newsgroup's.
>
> -S-http://www.kbnj.com

I'm going to reply to this post to thank all of you, so as not to
crowd out the newsgroups with my thanking messages. If I missed any of
you, please accept my sincerest apology.

Thank you and thank all for your excellent suggestions ! I did apply
the heat treatment - gradually - and my mom is feeling much better.
There is still pain there, but has been greatly reduced.

Yes, and I'm changing doctor. Am taking her to a specialist tomorrow -
damn specialist just won't see people without an appointment, even
when my mom is in pain, AND even when I'm prepared to PAY HIM COLD
CASH ! If I'm gonna write about the ethos of the doctors today, it'll
be a very thick book.

Anyway, thanks to all again for your great help !

May God Blesses You All !