From arthritis to extreme neck pain – Dr Jeff answers your health questions
DR Jeff Foster is The Sun on Sunday’s resident doctor and is here to help YOU.
43, splits his time between working as a GP in Leamington Spa, Warks, and running his clinic, H3 Health, which is the first of its kind in the UK to look at hormonal issues for both men and women.
See and email at [email protected].
Q) MY husband is aged 40, 6ft 2in and just over 17 stone.
He had knee surgery two years ago and has arthritis in the knee cap.
He wants to start running as he used to be very fit, but anything he does causes so much pain in the arthritic kneecap.
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Should he just fight through the pain and run anyway as he wants to be fit and lose weight?
Leanne Davies, Cardiff
A) Humans have a sophisticated feedback mechanism that tells us when something is wrong by triggering pain sensors.
The general rule is that if something hurts, you shouldn’t do it.
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Of course there are exceptions, but two years post-surgery you should not have pain in the affected site.
Running through it might cause more harm so he should see an orthopaedic surgeon for the pain.
In terms of weight loss, while exercise helps, the evidence is that diet contributes far more to outcome.
Q) I WOKE one morning about three weeks ago with extreme pain in my neck and left shoulder.
I hadn’t injured it. I had an X-ray which found nothing and I’ve had physiotherapy but now I’m in pain from my neck to my elbow on the left side.
I’m allergic to aspirin and am type 2 diabetic so restricted to which painkillers I can take – but I’m in agony.
Please can you advise me on suitable pain relief and any suggestions on what else I can do?
David Barnes, Devon
A) There are a wide variety of painkillers available that range from over-the-counter topical treatments to injected high-strength specialist medication.
This can mean that finding the best pain relief for a particular condition can be challenging.
At a basic level you can buy over-the-counter painkillers which includes paracetamol, ibuprofen, and topical heat pads or massage treatments.
You can also buy low-strength codeine, which is an opiate painkiller and comes in the form of co-codamol.
If the pain is not well controlled, your doctor has the choice of stronger anti-inflammatories, opiate medication or a family of drugs known as neuropathic medication, which can be very effective in those conditions where there is nerve pain.
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Your doctor can also offer certain types of anti-spasm medication, antidepressants that help with pain and, if all else fails, a referral to a pain specialist.
The key is understanding the cause of your pain and then your doctor can match the best type of relief to that condition.