Had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Having Pain And Stiffness In Back. Help?

Posted on Tue, 11 Jun 2013

Question: Hello Doctor, I am a 63 year old woman, and have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for 24 years, and had to retire at 60 as I was unable to continue working. More recently I had a knee replacement at my local hospital due to arthritis. I have noticed that I am having more and more difficulties moving about without pain and stiffness in my back and generally all over. Some of my fingers have arthritis in them especially my thumbs. I have a very nice GP and she told me that the CFS is still active, but I feel this to be more to do with movement, CFS hurts but did not limit my movement. I don't want to keep bothering my GP, but I am worried about the pain and wonder if I am just going to seize up more and more. Can you help me as it is getting me down and unable to walk my dog as I used to.

Answered by Dr. Divya Agarwal (16 hours later)

Hi,
It seems like you are developing generalized osteo arthritis.
It affected your knee which is the reason that you had to get it replaced.
The same process is affecting your thumb at the base. This is a common site which is affected in osteo arthritis.
I would suggest you do gentle exercises of your thumb, do hot fomentation, apply pain relieving gels and can use medication like duloxetine which should help your CFS and osteo arthritis.
Apart from that paracetamol should give you relief for your pain and it is also safer than using NSAIDs.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj