Hi Lorraine,
sorry to hear of your arthritis problems, I think I mentioned earlier on that I tolerated knee pain for many years and relied upon cocodomol which as you know has it's own side effects and doesn't always hit the spot. I get the very definite impression that the more you do to help yourself and the more you keep quiet, the more that you're quietly forgotten.
It really seems to be a complete lottery as to whether you get seen to or not. I was continually told that I was too young, great what are you supposed to do in the meantime and how old do you want me to be?
I've had to tolerate pharmacists who seem to think I'm a junky, pay for my own physio/PT to try and strengthen muscles to ease the load, made considerable efforts to lose the weight I gained after my GP prescribed Rosiglitazone AND Citilapram and by considerable I mean down to 1200 calories a day MAX, usually less than 1000, and still put up with GPs not having a clue as to why calorie deprivation doesn't work consistently, just when it feels like working, also paying £17 a tube for something called Flexiseq which is now available in the UK. Without question, strengthening muscles, losing weight, Flexiseq and cocodomol have made a huge difference, but by doing that my plight if you can call it that is ignored. In the end I went privately and my left knee is now only 8 weeks old, at least I've now got a knee warranted for a thirty years, so it doesn't matter how young I am. The knee doesn't hurt, but there's all sorts of other bits that do because they're now being called up to do things they're not used to. I'm pleased to say that my surgeon has written a strongly worded letter to my GP to emphasise the importance of pain relief while I'm doing physio. From experience I know that if I hurt too much, I don't do the exercises.
Most people don't like being a nuisance and we're taken advantage of, may I suggest that you make more of a noise about the state of your knee, get referred back to the consultant. I wrote a list of the things that I couldn't do, could do with effort, could do easily, silly things like getting in and out of bed, walking up and down stairs, walking to the shops, traveling anywhere, I included everything and anything. I still ended up going private but I've now got the best prosthetic and team of people helping me to get back on the road.
I hope you find a good solution to your dilemma. Try the list if you haven't already, I filled a sheet of A4, no problem, I think my GP took me seriously when I sort of, kind of, intimated becoming a burden on society requiring constant care to aid mobility, like house alterations, mobility scooter etc I suppose you could say I played their game. Mind you, I'd probably have to pay for myself anyway.