Medical treatment without operation

Part of the treatment of osteoarthritis is by means of drugs. The goal of treatment with painkillers is to get you as painless as possible. The treatment you'll get will be a balance between the best achievable effect of the treatment, and how many side-effects you get from the medication.

Therefore, it may be that you end up accepting a residual pain to avoid side effects such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, ulcers etc. Some patients only need a single drug, while others need several.

As a starting point we always use the drug with the least side effects, such as paracetamol pinex. If this isn't sufficient, we combine it with a group of inflammation-reducing drugs such as Ibumetin. There are some patients who don't tolerate anti-inflammatory drugs very well. These patients will also get a medication to prevent stomach ulcers (e.g. a gastric acid inhibitor).

There is also the possibility to add stronger painkillers, such as morphinomimetics. There may be side effects such as nausea, vomiting and dizziness. These are known side effects of these drugs and shouldn't be confused with not being able to tolerate this type of drug.

Sometimes another special group of medicine may be added. This may be epilepsy medication, which also acts on the nerve pain in arms and legs, and which can therefore help to reduce the pain.

Your doctor wants to help you find the right combination of drugs. You can help by keeping a pain diary. In this diary you can write when pain occurs - that is to say what time and during which activities. How bad is the pain: describe this on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable. Also write down if there's anything that you can do to relieve the pain. Note down what type of medication you have taken, when, and with what effect.

This information will allow your doctor to give you the most optimal treatment possible.