Foot and Knee pain - what do you take to help?
 

I have knee pain and foot pain (bunions and old broken foot). I was taking Aleve 4 x's a day as prescribed by my podiatrist to reduce inflamation and pain and it worked. However, I recently was hospitalized with blood clots in my lungs and am now on blood thinners and omeprazole for gastritis (which I didn't know I had) , and the doc in the hospital told me to quit taking the Aleve...said I could take tylenol.

Boy of boy do I miss the Aleve. Everything aches. I have arthritis in my knees and being 244 pounds does not help. I am working on the weight, but wondered if any of you had suggestions for pain relief. Tried Tylenol once and it did not seem to make a dent in the pain.....

Any suggestions?

I found eating sardines or herring, fish high in omega-3 (once per day) seems to help my arthritis and other aches and pains. For some reason, taking fish oil never seemed to help. Also, give yourself some time. I had rebound pain after I stopped taking my NSAID (also Aleve) but it did get better.

Have you tried fasting for a few days?

It's probably the easiest way to eliminate wheat; checking here to see if any the the arthritis pain goes away.

What I do for joint/old injury pain:

• gluten-free
• lots of Omega 3 oils
• no Omega 6 oils (seed oils)
• niacin as an anti-inflammatory
• supplement with MSM

The only one that might be tricky is the niacin; it is a natural blood thinner also, so you might want to wait until you get off the prescription for that. Which I hope you can; the gastritis is probably connected with the long term Aleve use.

The thing is, anything anti-inflammatory will push the blood thinning; and Tylenol, as I well know, does nothing for many people. And it's very easy to overdose with it.

If you stick with a low carb approach, all of these things should improve.

Like wear bear, No Sugar, no starch, no grains, no processed oils, add a fish oil capsule and VitD. Regular aspirin if I have pain.

If you look on People's Pharmacy they and their readers have suggested many herbs like turmeric, bromain, and the crazy sounding raisins soaked in gin, and other techniques for pain relief. They may not work but at least none have side effects.

I take blood thinners and have foot pain issues and arthritis. I can't take any OTC pain relievers, but I take some supplements like fish oil, magnesium, Vit D, then after I added Vit C twice a day my foot pain stopped.

Thanks all.....you have given me some good suggestions to try. I have not tried the fish oil. I have some vit D and C at the house and can begin that immediately. I have been off my diet for a year....you can read all about that in my journal....hate to repeat everything here, but basically stress over caring for my elderly mother just knocked me off the rails. I am attempting to get my diet back on track.

Also, do any of you take an iron supplement? I was just prescribed one by my doctor as my blood count is low (slightly anemic)....any problems with it? I read to take it with something with vitamin C in it as it works better that way....then the bottle said to take on an empty stomach.....then it also said to take with a small amount of food if it made me nauseated....made me afraid to take it!

I cannot take iron supplements; they give me terrible headaches.

I was ready to go to the doctor, fearing a brain tumor or aneurysm or something... when I remembered I had just started with a new vitamin, which had iron, and that was the problem.

My point being that absorption issues are rife with iron supplements. Maybe ask if you can try iron rich foods because it is upsetting your stomach... and you already have gastritis!

Sorry to hear about your mother. This is incredible stress and that can derail anyone. Healing will come from better eating habits, I am sure.

In addition to the above, soaking feet or bathing in epsom salts can help. When I broke my foot an old-timer suggested epsom salts and I thought it was just an old wives tale and as a scientist didn't see how it could help a broken bone and did nothing for a couple of weeks, then tried it as a last resort and it worked! In retrospect, I suspect the salts must draw excess fluid/inflammation out.

Another way to kill pain is ice. I had knee surgery and was told to ice it 20 mins per hour and kept two bags of frozen peas around for the purpose. As a kid I always took the ice off as soon as it began to burn, but found the intense burning feeling right before it goes numb doesn't actually last that long and if you think of it as intense warming, rather than burning, you can easily get into the no pain zone. My doctor was surprised that my knee was back to full mobility in half the usual time, probably because I was the only patient who fully complied with his icing plan.

For localized pain, there are also OTC pain patches such as Salonpas that work for 12 hrs. My healed broken metatarsal sometimes aches when the humidity is very high, but one Salonpas makes it possible to keep up with my daily walking and other activities.

LB I know this is an old post, but perhaps you'll check back. I use diclofenac topical cream. I get terrible stomach pain from oral NSAIDS. You'll have to get your drs okay if its compatible with your meds. It works very, very well. I have arthritis in my thumb and big toe I use it twice a day and have no pain.

are you icing that knee and that foot? That is one of the instructions my orthopedist has given for every knee and foot issue my husband and I have had. If you don't have a couple already, get two of the medical grade ice packs (not just a bag of peas -- that won't be enough ) and ice 3x/day, even if you don't hurt yet that day. Should help a lot.

Hey all......I am checking back, as I have been off line for a few months...it seems that when it rains it pours.....hubby had surgery to clean out a carotid artery that was 95% blocked, I retired from my work and haven't done much else but go to the doctors (mine and his) and rest. Diet has been forgotten. I haven't gained any more weight that my last post (holding at 244) but that is 25 pounds gained from my original loss.

I am managing or have adjusted to no Aleve, but really need to get back on my diet. At my regular doctors visit yesterday, she told me I was diabetic! Actually "pre-diabetic" as I do not have to take any medicine for it and she told me I needed to try to manage it with my diet....gave me a pamphlet to study. :lol: Maybe this will help me to get back on the wagon as the low carb diet is perfect for diabetes. Guess I need to put this in my journal.....

Welcome back, lbangle :wave:
Check the Diabetes sub-forum http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=45. If that is an ADA pamphlet you should "ignore the guidelines" as Dr Hallberg says. ;)
The Duke diet will reduce the high BG quickly. Wishing good health to you and your husband.