Hello,
Posted , 9 users are following.
Im looking to gather info regarding chronic pain i have. Docs say Osteoarthritis but the info i read is that activety makes it better. Im the complete opposite. Rest, stretching and warmth helps me. Pain from low back and down the legs and ankles. Leg cramps at night. Im targeting siatica stretchs so i can drive more. After sitting, getting up and taking the first three steps is embarrassing. Im bent over trying to tell the legs to take a step. Ive had feet pain and shoe probs my whole life.
Right shoulder pain came on two years ago. Exercise does help movement with that arm.
Ive read alot of blogs and of course years of blood work, many natural pathic docs and specialists.
Im post menopausal age 60.
Help please!
0 likes, 13 replies
constance.de kate29831
Posted
Hello Kate. Afraid I can’t HELP (I’m still in the same boat 6 years later).😡 However, I can tell you “you are not alone”. I have Poly OA (among many other things)😏 My worst areas are hips, knees and ankles. Now how can doctors say walk, excercise excercise? I have tried everything and I am always much worse after exercising than I was before - and it takes a couple of days to get back to normal. Swimming and warmth were the only things that helped me. I don’t even swim now though, it’s so much faffing around getting there, undressing, showering and reversing it all after a 30 minute swim!!
I’m coming up for 79 now so I just let it all happen. So much more difficult when you are young. I excercise when I can, walk when I can, and look after myself and enjoy what life I have the rest of the time.
All the best to you from Constance. 💐💐
EileenH kate29831
Posted
amkoffee kate29831
Posted
I believe you've got your arthritises mixed up. Rheumatoid arthritis is supposed to be better with exercise while osteoarthritis is not. They are entirely two different diseases with different causes. If your doctor said it was osteoarthritis and confirmed it with an x-ray then some chondroitin might help.
Anhaga amkoffee
Posted
Ummm, Amkoffee, I think one has to exercise with osteoarthritis unless one wants the afflicted joints to freeze and become relatively useless? Movement does help.
I recommend glucosamine. Don't know about chondroitin because when I was first getting used to treating my OA there was the big mad cow issue and I didn't want to have anything derived from cattle. Even now I don't bother with chondroitin. Not suitable for vegetarians anyway.
amkoffee Anhaga
Posted
Anhaga amkoffee
Posted
Oh dear, I am so sorry, that's difficult. Does warmth help? I think the typical start of osteoarthritis in the hands is enlargement of the finger joints, and sometimes I find this quite painful when the disease is active, but I can't say that touching them has ever been painful. In fact a gentle massage provides relief. So I guess it's another case of us all being different.
Anhaga amkoffee
Posted
constance.de amkoffee
Posted
There are gloves and supports for arthritic fingers and thumbs (goggle it), Also, as Anhaga says, “warmth” helps a lot.
EileenH amkoffee
Posted
Don't quite see how OA can manifest in the meaty part of your thumbs since OA only affects the joint linings by the cartilage lining the joints degenerating so you end up with bone on bone.
amkoffee EileenH
Posted
You're quite right but there is a joint where the thumb meets the palm. It's actually a very common joint for people to get OA. The Arthritis Foundation talks about it on their website. Since I was pretty sure a link like that would not be allowed I simply am going to paste the one paragraph out of their whole article and of course if you want to read the whole article you can just go to the Arthritis Foundation in the US.
Hear the word “arthritis” and you may automatically think of hips or knees. Osteoarthritis (OA) at the base of the thumb is just as common, but has not been studied as much. In fact, when Lisa Mandl, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, first started seeing patients in the clinic, she was surprised at the number of people - mostly older women - who came to her complaining of severe pain at the base of the thumb.
amkoffee constance.de
Posted
I've been wearing thumb splints for so long that I'm on my second pair. And about a year ago I started wearing compression gloves when the pain is really bad. I also have a prescription gel that I put on my hands and that really does help a lot with the pain it just doesn't last very long.
constance.de amkoffee
Posted
I find compression gloves the best when in a lot of pain, but otherwise I use fingertipless (!?!?) ones but use tubular bandages round my wrists at the same time.
amkoffee constance.de
Posted
My pain has been in my thumbs for many years but when I broke my ankle 3 months ago and I wasn't allowed to put any weight on my left leg I started to have to use my arms to lift myself up and transfer to another surface. For example transferring from my scooter to the toilet. I believe all this transferring has caused a lot of damage in my hands. I know some of it is OA but I'm afraid the rest of it may be RA. I had an MRI I my right hand because at the time it was the worst and the report said that there was some indication of inflammatory arthritis. And my rheumatologist said that she was going to treat me as if I had RA. My biggest problem is she wants me to try Humira and my copay for that drug is $1,050! So I have been unable to even give it a try.
It sucks that its your hands because you just simply can not use your hands. So you tell me how you were trying hard to not use your hands. LOL! It's probably been about 2 years since my husband had to start doing my pill planner each week. Because I can't do the pinching that it takes to pick up a pill. And I mostly drink water but when I have something like juice I have my husband open the bottles (of a 6-pack) and then close them again. That's because I do not have the strength in my hands to twist open a bottle. I also drop things constantly. That's probably the single most irritating thing about my hands.