Reply from DocSarah:
Hi Jean-Luc,
good to hear from you, sorry you have found things are getting worse. Sadly, it happens to quite a lot of people, did you have any fall/trauma/illlness (e.g. flu) before you got worse?
Sometimes things settle down after a while; it is vital to keep as mobile as you can manage. If you can, try swimming to keep the muscles active without putting strain on your joints. If you find cool water difficult, hydrotherapy may be better. There isn't any medication that will increase muscle strength as such although there are drugs that can reduce muscle spasm if that is part of the problem. It may not be possible to get you pain free to achieve increased mobility, so a good rule is to limit exercise to short periods, so as to avoid increasing your pain. It can help to consult a physiotherapist who can evaluate what your current ability is so that you can then gradually increase as tolerated. Often it is not about using pain as a guide, but looking at the QUALITY of your movement and noticing when it drops off, as that is when you need to stop, because otherwise you tend to move in a way that puts strain on other parts of the body which try to compensate from abnormal gait. Simple measures such as correct footwear, use of appropriate walking aids (stick etc.) can be helpful.
I hope this is useful.
We are putting together an online survey I hope you will consider participating.
All the best
Kind regards
Sarah Fox