First Flare of 2016

So my management of my knee OA has been going pretty well until this week. I have been taking my Omega 3, reducing my processed food intake and trying really hard to stick to an exercise program. Then winter arrived.


When you read all you can about your "issue" online, you see that "during winter months knee OA can become more painful." Ugh, yeah, just a little bit! At first I figured I would get through one painful day, then that turned into two and now three with the pain only increasing. I'm back to taking pain killers at this point because I am having a hard time walking without looking like I'm stepping on nails. This is very frustrating but I am trying so hard to focus on everything else around me and not on this crazy stabbing pain.
I'm not really sure though what is more frustrating; the fact I have no idea when these flare ups will hit or how long they will last but that even if I tried to engage the medical community about my pain it would fall on deaf ears, I've tried too many times now to waste my time any longer.
Nevertheless, this pain is hard to cope with. People say they know because they have a hip twinge occasionally, but they really have no idea what its like to wake up from a dead sleep in pain, to not be able to move a limb because you are afraid it will cause more pain or debate taking a day off from work just so you don't have to stand up out of bed, (then you realize you HAVE to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, so that usually ends that debate ;-)
Now, I'm not saying there is nothing the medical community can do. I'm sure there are plenty of other pain pills that I could be prescribed, but I personally don't want them after my experience on gabapentin. I know there are better knee braces out there for my knee, but I also don't want to spend the time going to another physiotherapist who will only tell me I should get "XX" brand of brace because that's the one they sell everyone at their clinic. For instance, at my first physiotherapist they only recommended Don Joy. At my second, it was Bregg. The new specialist I saw recommends Bauerfeind. They all scoff at the previous recommendations, claiming their brace is somehow better. Online it doesn't seem so clear cut but I think I need what they call an off-loader brace, which would help take the pressure off the side that causes me the most pain during these flare ups. When I'm not in a flare up my knee hurts, but its more of a dull pain, and is certainly pain I can manage without Tylenol or a brace.  But there's the cost. Since I'm not enthusiastic about going through a physiotherapist I would have to purchase this thing on my own since my insurance won't cover it. So far the best ebay deal I can find is for a used brace for $100, although it is missing one of the knee pads. So the struggle continues.