God almighty, if it’s giving me grief now, what’s it going to be like when I’m fifty? I work with my hands, cleaning artifacts in a museum-- I need them!
This morning when I woke, my knuckles were swollen and stiff. Bending my joints was unpleasant. I can’t get my rings off, and I can see that my fingers are starting to become crooked.
Maybe it’s a punishment from the Gods for my vanity-- I have (had) beautiful hands, my best feature, IMO. I was always so proud of them.
I spoke to my doctor. She said, helpfully, that there was nothing which could be done. Later, they may x-ray my hands to confirm the joints are turning into angry swiss cheese, but other than that, all I can do is take medication.
Man, it’s just not fair. I’m so bummed. I guess I should be thankful-- it’s just in my hands, not in my knees or hips, but I don’t feel particularly thankful this morning, looking at knuckles which are swollen like gumballs.
My doctor tested me for rheumatoid arthritis when we did my latest blood tests. (I’m on a lot of different meds. She also tested me for lupus and a bunch of other stuff.) She said this is osteo-arthritis, a whole different animal.
Sorry to hear that. I have osteoarthritis in my knees (I’m 30) that – no kidding – hurts me when its about to rain. I feel like a hoary old Down East fisherman sometimes. “Seems some rain’s fixin’ to blow in, yar.”
A couple of years ago I did some physical therapy (tendinitis) and while they were zapping my arms with electricity, I observed that they had some people with arthritis issues do these paraffin wax soaks. They seem to get a lot of relief from them, and I know there are at-home rigs you can get. Ask your doctor for instructions on how to do it.
Also, have you looked into glucosamine/chondritin supplements? My mom swears by it, and certain ones have been proved effective in double-blind veterinary studies (I don’t know of any human studies).
Then definitely have a look-see into glucosamine. My mom went from needing painkillers every day, to only needing them if she’s really exerted herself.
Ugh. I’ve got it in my hands myself. I first started noticing it around 28 or 29. Winters on the East coast were miserable.
Moving to a warmer climate helped for awhile, but this year it’s gotten significantly worse. Every morning for the past couple of months I’ve woken up in the morning barely able to open my hands from a clenched fist position. And they ache all day.
I’ll second the glucosamine/chondritin supplement suggestion. I started taking it more regularly than I had been about a month ago. It took a couple of weeks, but my hands do feel better.
I’m under 30 (barely) and I’ve got it in both shoulders. I can also feel the drop in pressure preceeding a storm! People thought I was kidding, but nooooooo. . . when we’re sitting in class and I’m about to cry from the pain, they all know a storm has blown in! They’re believers now!
I was on vioxx, and it was the greatest thing in the world. Now, I just try to keep up with my supplements and get exercise. Still hurts though.
I’ve had osteoarthritis here and there for many years; I developed it in one knee before the age of 20. And severely in my thumb joints before I was 45.
I second the vote for paraffin soaks; those feel wonderful. Also, you can get heating mitts that are produced for nail salons that feel pretty darn lovely when you warm your hands in them for a few minutes.
And when it gets bad enough? They’re doing some amazing things with joint replacement surgeries these days; I’ve had one thumb joint replaced already, and while the post-surgical physical therapy was pure torture (and living without my primary hand for over two months was less than fun), I did what I was supposed to anyway and today have a 100% useful joint with 99% of my prior strength and zero pain. I’m contemplating getting my other hand done in the next few years. And the doctor who did it told me that he’s been doing them for 20 years and has never had a single patient who had a bad result. I’ve been singing his praises ever since.
You don’t have to just accept it. Hie thee to another doctor who’s willing to actually, I dunno, treat you rather than pat you on the head and tell you to go away.
Sorry, Lissa. That’s a bummer. See if you can’t find a natural solution to the problem as opposed the the pills the doctor probably wants to put you on. That’s a doctor’s answer to everything because when people go to a doctor they only want pills.
No kidding - in fact, go to a rheumatologist, even if you don’t have rheumatoid arthritis. They’re qualified to treat all types of arthritis.
My goodness, there are pain treatments, anti-inflammatories, physical therapy, all sorts of things that can help aleviate the condition and the pain and the stiffness even if they aren’t a complete cure. Even joint surgery (as mentioned by another poster) has its place and can be quite helpful when done appropriately and properly. Jimminy Cricket, I can’t believe your doc gave up that quick!
I’m on the pills already for pain. I was in a car accident four years ago which wrenched my back-- I haven’t had a comfortable day since. Right now, I’m on pain meds, muscle relaxants and Mobic, which is a NSAID. (Used to be Bextra, but that’s gone now.) I know it’s probably turning my liver into a mass of chemically-melted goo, but it’s take meds or stop working. I love my job too much for that, and a sedentary life isn’t appealing to me on general principle.
My doctor recently gave me Lidocaine patches, which are the best goddam thing since sliced bread. (Out of all the treatments I’ve had: electro-stim, deep-muscle massage, injections, chiropracty, etc. that’s the best relief I’ve gotten.) She told me I could cut up the lidocaine patches and wrap them around my knuckles if I need to, but I haven’t done it yet-- can’t wear 'em to work, and that’s when I need 'em most. I may try wearing them at night to see if that cuts down on the discomfort in the mornings.
Yeah, joint pain sucks. I have lupus, so I wake up with curled fingers a lot of mornings, can barely walk because of my knees. My doctor gave me a prescription for percosets, but I try not to take them because I’m not a big fan of the zombie concept.
One of my best friends has had arthritis for years, and she’s only 23. It was giving her a lot of trouble Thursday night, actually. So I’m sorry to hear you’ve got it, but I’m sure you can get some help.
:eek: You should see about getting your rings off, NOW. Use lotion or get help. Don’t just leave them on, you’re likely doing damage to them that way. Maybe you can get the jeweler to size them up enough that you can wear them whether your fingers are really swollen or not. (Most of my rings are like this, half a size too large for my hands if they aren’t inflammed, but not too tight for when they are swollen.) If not, you can get ring snuggies for days when your fingers aren’t so bad. I know what you mean about not liking how your hands look when they are swollen too. I have rheumathoid arthritis. (JRA) You’ll find, that using a pen is much nicer than using a pencil on bad pain days.
Them = your fingers. The rings aren’t as important as keeping all your fingers, and there have been cases of people losing fingers because they swelled up and the rings weren’t removed in time. I had to have a ring cut off my finger as a child because I hadn’t noticed my finger swell up, and it couldn’t be removed. I loved that ring, it was a gift from my grandfather.
My sister has arthritis- ankylosing spondylitis, actually. She first had pain in her legs when she was about 13 or so. She’s now 22. She pretty much has to take her meds every day (indomethacin and methotrexate), or the pain is too much to bear. Although even on meds, she says it always hurts. It’s now basically in every joint in her body. She delayed getting her driver’s license because of a really bad (long!) flare-up that left her unable to grip the steering wheel for long and unable to turn her head enough to check her blind spot!
I describe this, simply to say that it’s amazing how she can work through it and still accomplish so much! Shes a double major at university, with a 90+% average, she works part time on a farm milking cows (she wants to be a vet, and an added bonus is that farm work is great physiotherapy for her - she needs to keep her joints flexible), she also does part time work doing research at a bichem lab in the university, she’s involved in school activities, directing and working in plays, and generally having no time for herself because she’s too busy doing things for other people.
Not that it sounds like your arthritis is stopping you, but I just wanted to tell you all about her.
I’ve had osteoarthritis of my knee since I was 13. I think I’d rather that then in my hands, particularly of the sort you have which isn’t mostly provoked by weather or over-exertion. I hope they find something that helps you relieve the pain most of the time!
It probably is a bit of over-exertion in my case. I work in a museum cleaning artifacts, everything from delicate art to scrubbing greasy car parts. One brass item took me four months to clean, rubbing it with a bit of cotton soaked in oil. As you can imagine, there was a bit of repetative stress there!
I also do a lot of writing (all of our accession records are hand-written) and sewing (cloth number tags have to be sewn onto all fabric items.)
So, with all this work I do with my hands, you can imagine how worried I am. I can still keep going. I take breaks to flex my hands, or maybe soak them in a sink of hot water for a few minutes. I just worry that eventually, I won’t be able to do all of these things any more-- that my hands will be too stiff and achy to do any delicate work.
I did try the lidocaine patches around my fingers, but it’s just not practical.
