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Osteoarthritis Community

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hurtinbrian

Joined: 10/13/2012

My Story:

Hello there I'm a 48 year old guy in upstate New York area who found out about osteo arthritis. I've been hurting for a long time and went back and forth with my primary doctor for about five years before I got sent onto a higher level of doctors. I thought only old people got that. Now that I'm into this from head to toe,I feel the need to meet others like me to hear their stories and get advice as how to cope with the desease and with very misunderstanding people who are ignorant to this subject. I worked the carwash industry for 32 years where you never sat down,ate a lunch or even had a toilet for the first 15 years.I worked on ladders and on my hands and knees mostly. I became the maintenance gut who painted and did the heavy repairs of all that machinery that you would see while getting your car washed in an automatic was tunnel.I would like to say that I was good at my job! ( If I wasn't then I shouldn't have been there for 32 years) Everything hurts now! I had a right hip replacement this past April which has helped! Now I'm waiting for my knees to get replaced and some news with my lower back as I have that disk degenerative desease there also.I know there are serious problems with my feet,upper back-shoulders and neck but the doctors didn't want a huge list to deal with so for right now I'm stuck with the rest untill I get things moving forword again.I have two grown sons who make me proud. I always had a job at the carwash where I worked since I was 16 years old. Now I live a nightmare of unpaid bills,no heat and the threat of having my electric cut off. I get my food at local food pantries. Most folks hear arthritis and immidiately think "it's only arthritis,everybody has that so it's no big deal". Just pack on the ice and get back to work. Sorry to ramble on here but this is the first time I really got to vent since this all began. When I feel better,I'll come back and write this out better than what I did today. I use to be a fun guy to hang out with and I use to be able to carry on a good conversation untill this year.Sorry there are so many other folks in this group who suffer this bad! I wouldn't wish this onto anybody. I have no life anymore and soon will be living in city mission the way things are going now.

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dealing with family and my boss

New to this site so please bare with me. Im a 48 year old guy who worked in the carwash...

Posted by hurtinbrian

New to this site so please bare with me. Im a 48 year old guy who worked in the carwash industry for the last 32 years. Last year after dealing with my "deadbeat primary doctor" I was sent onto orthopaedic doctors who diagnosed me with bilateral osteo arthritis in both knees,osteo in my hips and degenerative disk desease in my lower back. Lots going on. I've had my right hip replaced and are doing better with that but are horrible with the rest. I know also that there are serious problems with my feet,upper back and kneck and shoulders and just so much more but just haven't gotten that far yet with the ortho doctors yet. I got one of those lawyers to help me obtain workers compensation here in upstate New York.She wants me to get letters from my doctors confirming that my hurts are work related and I understand that but my problem is that all my doctors know that I'm fighting for workers comp and because workers comp isn't active and paying the massive huge bills,they won't help anymore. I can't get the needed letters without workers comp in place and I can't get workers comp without the doctors letters! I'm stuck in a "catch 22" and my lawyer doesn't seem to understand. Meanwhile,I'm missing out on physical therapy sessions that were geared to possibly help me and help the doctors evaluate my ongoing situations. I'm most likely going to lose my home,in constant danger of my electric being shut off and have no heating oil to heat my now freezing home. I live near Albany,N.Y. in the northeast. My family is getting tired of me and my constant obsession of my new health issues and my boss and so thought "friend" has shunned me away believing all my OA is from my now being fat. I gained about 100 pounds when this all hit me. I went from working a "basic training" hard job to a crawl in one year. I know the weight is real bad but I gained the weight from slowing down the workload due to the OA . In other words,I slowed down from the chronic pain that I was In first the gained the weight. I feel that my condition was work related and not brought on by being some lazy fat piece of garbage. I never took vacations and never even ate lunch at work in order to get everything done on any particular day.Now,I only leave my house on days that I have a doctors appointment and only if the doctor will see me. The doctors won't give me anymore shots due to the price and not knowing the outcome of workers comp to pay the bills.My family is tired of me not going out or shopping. I feel scared and have noplace to turn to. I found this site and are trying to figure out how just to post my situation and get some answeres.I never really liked the internet and just got my first email acount only so I could find online help.It's all new for me and I'm just realizing that I'm all alone even in a room filled with people,like my family.I feel I'm going nuts! I even went to a psychiatrist thinking I was nuts from the pain I was living with for so long. It was there where the shrink told me to pursue medical help. I can honestly see why some folks go nuts or go on a "one way car ride". I lost everything from my home and home-life with my family to my longtime job and the security that it gave me in these bad times. Now I get my food out of local food pantries. I never knew what "low" was untill now! Does anybody have a similar story? I'm not sure what's more painful,the medical or the dealing with my family and boss. I'm so desperate I even posted my situation to my local news channels hoping they might do a story on my situation. I don't like hand outs and have worked my entire life. I worked in pain for years before getting real help and now because I didn't get hauled out of work in an ambulance,I'm having real trouble getting the help that I know should be there.What good is medical help when you lose everything you cherished in exchange? I'm just at such a loss.I didn't ask for this. This is not a vacation for me. Please give advise to me!View Thread

Posted byhurtinbrian

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:dealing with family and my boss New to this site so please bare with me. Im a 48 year old guy who worked in the carwash...

Reply: at my wit's end

I can relate to all that I have read so far. I'm new to all of this also with the oa in...

Posted by hurtinbrian

10 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:at my wit's end I can relate to all that I have read so far. I'm new to all of this also with the oa in...

tainted shots and feeling worse after those shots

Here's my question???? Just found out that my last knee shots was with that tainted...

Posted by hurtinbrian

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:tainted shots and feeling worse after those shots Here's my question???? Just found out that my last knee shots was with that tainted...

Reply: dealing with family and my boss

Great advice there,I have applied to everything that I now know about,thanx to my son....

Posted by hurtinbrian

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:dealing with family and my boss Great advice there,I have applied to everything that I now know about,thanx to my son....

test

this is a test to tell if im doing this right.

Posted by hurtinbrian

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:test this is a test to tell if im doing this right.

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