I went to my first meetin...

I went to my first meeting at EMMC. I have severe arthritis and they did not think that I could take my medicine after surgery. I am not sure I can NOT take my arthritis med's. I have had two knee replacements and my right hip is bad. Any one else have athritis and need to take med's ??? Pam

I have arthritis pain also in my knees, hips, spine, shoulders, arms and fingers. Its been real bad lately and my fingers and backs of my arms have been horribly painful to tears lately. I take ULTRAM as a pain releiver for it. It is a non narcotic pain releiver. The only one my doctor will give me. He wants me to go for surgery. I am thinkning about it agin after trying to go thru the hoops last year. I went last year and had the support group meeting, waste of time, the class, waste of time, and the afternoon meeting. They talked about how to go BM and tools and aids to help you in every day life, total waste of time. I knew all that stuff. I have been researching this stuff for over 3 years now. Anyway Ultram is a safe non addictive pain reliever and it helps.

Hi Pamela, I had gastric bypass surgery in June 2003.......I also had bilateral knee replacements and have arthritis in other joints and needed medication prior to surgery..........However, since I had my surgery and have lost weight I no longer need the medication and have much less problems with my knees........alot of the arthritic medications are hard on the stomach and after surgery you have such a small stomach that it makes you more vulnerable to stomach irritation/ulcers etc.......in addition I have found that alot of medications including antibiotics that I use to be able to take without any problem now cause me to be extremely nauseated and cause a tearing feeling in my stomach.