I Have Osteoarthritis in my knees and both have become very painful what can i do?

im a 48 year old woman suffering from what ive been told is osteoarthritis in both my knees, i am somewhat overweight, i know i should lose weight but it is hard for me because i can not do lunges,jogging,running,skipping, and mostly anything that involves my knees. Walking up and down stairs has become painful, at my job i stand my feet all day so when i get home i just want to relax.

if there are any suggestions on how to alleviate the pain please let me know.

Here are two links that will help you
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/...
http://www.americanarthritis.org/portal/...

Any over-the-counter pain med should help with the pain, but you may have to try several to find out what works best for you. Aspirin will also relieve the inflammation in your knee joints, but you'd need to use a coated aspirin to reduce the possibility of stomach upset. If over-the-counter pain meds don't work for you, ask your doctor for something stronger. There are a number of different meds out there that can help (Celebrex works best for me). Some people get relief from Ben-Gay or a capsaicin cream rubbed on the knees. I find that a heating pad or just a warm blanket over the knees in the evenings seems to help. My doctor also recommended elevating the feet whenever possible.

Losing weight is hard when your knees are so painful. Water exercise is the best because the buoyancy of the water helps support your body, plus you can exercise the whole body at once by swimming or water walking or water aerobics. Bike riding (even on a stationary bike) is good, too, if you can do it. Even just exercising the upper body will help by building more muscle mass, which burns calories faster. Dieting will, of course, help, too.