I am sorry your having such pain....that was my past before both knees became metal.....I did total knee replacements 3yrs apart almost to the day.....and it helped me so much.....I am now in much better condition than had been for twelve or longer years.....

Update on prior post: Its now been 2 months that I'm in pain. The strength hasn't diminished a bit. I'm now on a low dose of Cymbalta and ready to go to a higher dose. Still on diclofenac which is prn and the staff of my personal care home tends to forget to give me. The orthepedic assistant who prescribed Tramadol wrote one prescription and then refused to write another one. He told me to get my family dr to prescribe it. I freaked out. I know my family dr won't prescribe narcotics to anyone, even if she knows how severe my pain is. Finally I succeeded in convincing her to send me to pain management, but that won't be for another week or so. She wants to see my MRI results first, and that isn't for another week. It's hard not to feel hopeless and alone at this point. Our personal care home is in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown, which means I may or may not be able to go out for medical appointments. So I'm very anxious about that. I'm very isolated--we're basically supposed to stay in our rooms even to eat and the staff brings food and meds to us. At first they made conversation when they came by but now they just drop stuff off and leave. I don't have a TV or any kind of distraction. Personally I don't have a problem with opioids. A few years ago I had knee surgery, stayed on Vidodin for about 6 weeks, and tapered off of it with no problem. Unfortunately that ortho dr left the area. It is frustrating when even though the dr's nurse knows my pain is severe, she tells me to take Tylenol, which does nothing. I can't wait to talk to a pain dr who understands pain and isn't afraid to do something about it. My problem is getting through the time until then.

I know this pain and I can feel what you're getting through. The bursitis and scoliosis have been serious life drainer fore and still are. And the reason was heavy lifting and gaining weight just like in your case. I don't rely that heavy on pain relievers. Everyday gymnastics helps a lot and I think that must-have is something like this knee pillow ortorex.com https://ortorex.com/p/knee/. It helps a lot if you're a side-sleeper.

Dr.'s are not going to write long term RX's for Tramadol. Tramadol is a very addictive drug, in comparison it's more addictive than Cocaine. Its also got an Anti-Depressant chemical mixed in, so you can't take it if your take other medications that affect your Serotonin levels, like Anti-Depressants. It has a history of cause Serotonin Syndrome or Serotonin Storm which can be deadly.

And Generaly most Dr.'s don't like it when you come in asking for a particular pain medication, they see that as drug seeking behavior.

I can tell you, as someone who's had 15 Bi-lateral knee surgeries and been on every pain med there is, including Tramadol, when it was new, and got Serotonin Storm from it and ended up in the hospital for 2 months and almost dies....it's not the great pain medication it's touted to be. Its very hard to detox off of once you start it. And you already take an Anti-Depressant so I'm not surprised your Dr.'s don't want you taking it.

There are many other ways to control knee pain, various therapies, other forms of medications, and many forms of PT. And if none of that works, there are knee replacement. But you don't sound like a candidate for Ultram/Tramadol unfortunately.

Take care,

I've been on the highest allowed amount of diclofenac for awhile now and the dr just ordered 3 months worth of refills. It works fairly well. No, I wouldn't want Tramadol even if they offered it to me. I have an MRI scheduled for Thursday and that will tell them if there's anything operable. Since the pain is constant, I'm afraid they're going to start talking knee replacement. Up to now it was just the left knee in pain but the right knee has started to hurt as well. They never even x-rayed the right knee. Someone told me they might want to try stem cell therapy first. Unfortunately my copay for physical therapy is $40 per session, which I can't afford, since my only income is Social Security. I had to change insurances just to have one the pain management dr would accept, so I can't start pain management until January. I just try to take it one day at a time.

Your right knee is probably hurting due to the fact that it's overcompensating for your left. That's not an unusual scenario.

At you age a Knee Replacement would not be out of the question and it could get rid of the pain completely, thus removing the need for pain meds or PT, after the initial adjustment period.

Look into CBD or turmeric. My arthritis doc said take turmeric twice a day. It helps me a lot. I also use FAR Infrared knee covers and also just knitted knee covers to keep my knees warm at night. I wear really good shoes with big cushioning in the sole. Epsom salt in the bath. Arnica or arnica cream. I use diclofenac gel. I’ve just been taken off all NSAIDS so am really working on my non drug therapies. Taking narcotics only works for a short time. Opioids stop working in a short time, I’ve read it’s only two weeks, and then it’s mostly the high. I can feel the high in my mood on opioids. At some point, we have to chase answers not just narcotic drugs. Get that MRI as soon as you can. Also steroid shots don’t work and can cause cartilage damage according to research. For my condition, I have found the hyaluronic acid shots greased my bone grinding but the research on those also show they don’t work as a cure. And don’t forget about using hot or cold therapy. I wish you the best.

Be sure all of your doctors and medications will be covered by your new Medicare Advantage Plan beginning January 1, 2021

Yes, now is the time to double check during open enrollment. My husband found no providers here would take his Medicare Advantage Plan, a well known name. We switched back to regular Medicare for him and chose a Part D that covered his one medication. I was working at a rehab hospital and I looked up his old M. Advantage plan and even where I worked wouldn't take it. I learned that anyone with a M. Advantage plan has pitiful coverage of things like physical therapy providers or needing a wheelchair. But I hear that in some areas, these plans have good physician coverage, etc.