Hi Buzz - I was at the same place you are at with my knees - different and various medical pain killers prescribed by my pain management docs - took them tell I got tired of it. Was also on meloxicam ( which is very bad for you) .
Decided to have both knees done (partial knee replacement) - I am going thru physical rehab at this point.
Before I had surgery I was dragging [censored] - everything hurt ( bad knees make you walk weird ) screws up muscle memory trying to compensate- puts wear and tear on your whole body.
I wanted some relief while waiting for surgery to roll around - did some reading and asking questions from various people ( a lot of people in Texas seem to think your some kind of deranged druggie from Colorado for even asking)
Anyway after a very bad day , barley able to get in and out of a f150 4x4 : I was in Carrollton tx and went to
https://cbdamericanshaman.com/ store is across the street from the police station / and courthouse( figured if they could do business there , they were legit)
Anyway I dragged my self in there and was met at the door by the owners and seated immediately - we had a discussion about what they were selling & what it could do for me( they only use CBD extracted from hemp - basically 0 THC)
they suggested a water soluble CBD extract that you mix with water or whatever and drink / along with a topical paste that you apply to whatever hurts the worst.
They asked if I would like to try it and gave me a small shot glass with 3ml of extract mixed with water & 2 small dabs of the paste( no bigger than a blackeye pea) one for each knee
within approx. 15 min I was able to walk around with better than a 50-60% improvement in pain( nothing is going to fix bone on bone rubbing which was going on in my knees due to meniscus totally gone)
I was impressed - no side effects like heavy duty pain killer cause - you don't get high - you don't get the munchies etc etc
I did buy a bottle of the water soluble Mix and a small 1oz jar of the paste and used it till my surgery
skip ahead I am at the point after surgery where surgical scars have heeled enough to be able to use the paste again to help with surgical /PT rehab pain
( and PT therapy is a whole new level of hurt and they are ramping it up every time I go in)
As a experiment I have a friend that is a VP for one of the major Banks / she is very active person and is always flying from place to place. Due to a sports injury she has one leg that causes her pain ( especially sitting for hours on a plane) I gave her some of the extract & paste both : She said it has helped a lot.
That's all I know - suggest you go to one of the CBD American shaman stores - look at there website and find one close to you & take a tour & see if it works for you- try the free samples
https://cbdamericanshaman.com/Steve(aka hetman)