I’m only 35! My mom has arthritis in her hands and has for years (she told me she doesn’t remember specifically what they told her but that it’s “white women and genes, kid.”).
This came on quite suddenly - my last joint of my middle finger got stiff and painful maybe a week ago, and it comes and goes but doesn’t really get better. Yesterday it was my thumb too. That’s better today but the middle finger is still there. And while I’m cool with having no choice but to flip people off I’m a little concerned about the fact that I couldn’t open a package of heavy cream and had trouble with the can opener! At 35!
(Possibly related, a joint in my foot that was terribly painful for months two years ago after a particularly long weekend at a comic book convention until they did the steroid shot thing, that’s been acting up this week too.)
I mean, it feels silly to go to the doctor. “I got the arthuritis like my mom.” “Oh, sucks to be you. Copay at the desk.” On the other hand perhaps the rapid onset is unusual? I did grow a bone spur on the index finger of my left hand back in college and they told me to keep an eye out but I haven’t had a single problem with my hands since then.
(Maybe it’s just my job. I am also getting vertical forehead wrinkles from the constant “you’ve got to be kidding me” face I make. Perhaps I am frozen flipping the bird in the same manner.)
There’s no reason to feel silly for seeing a doctor for a medical problem. There may well be something you can do to help with the discomfort/lack of function, but you wont know until you ask, will you? Even if you have the exact same problem as your mom, medicine advances, there might be new options.
For the record, I’ve had knee osteoarthritis since the age of 25, its not really purely something that happens to old people.
Well, I spend a lot of time at my computer like most people do. I’m a librarian but I don’t do a lot of shelving or anything. And I have a year old baby, but that seems to be more of a wrist thing, picking him up and all.
Well, mine held off until my late 50s, but I’m definitely noticing it now in the joints of my fingers. To others it may seem slight, but to me it is enormous.
This may or may not be useful to you… I found that eating wheat aggravated it tremendously. I love All Things Wheat, so I found it very challenging to give it up. But I did, and the change was dramatic and noticeable within a week.
Might be worth a try. I wish you all the best in dealing with this affliction.
If it’s osteo, you’re just plain screwed, unless you want to risk taking Aleve on a daily basis. I only take a pain killer if my thumbs really flare up, which is usually when a major change in the weather is on the way. You basically just have to learn to live with a certain amount of pain.
The reason you go to the doctor is to rule out that it might be a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have it. You don’t want it. The sooner you treat it, the better your life is.
Weird. It doesn’t for me. Anyway, you can Google turmeric arthritis to get info, there seems to be some science behind it. Cheap, no side effect thing to try, anyway.
New arthritis sufferer here. It developed suddenly in my mid-50s, in the first half of last year. The main problem is the big knuckle for my right-hand index finger, and I’m right-handed. Some of the other knuckles to a very minor degree, but that particular one HURTS. It does appear not to be rheumatoid arthritis, which my doctor seems pretty pleased about but it still hurts all the same.
The doctor’s not been able to do much. The regular medication I take twice a day helps very minimally if at all. I have some extra painkillers, but the doctor says it’s not good to take those regularly at my age, so I try not to. I’ve had two injections of some sort of steroid in that knuckle, and those both worked fine but just for a couple of months each time. The doctor says two shots is one more than recommended, because being a steroid it will start causing damage if I keep having the injections, so more of those are out. Just part of getting old, although I’m probably more accepting of it in my 50s than I would have been in my 30s.
EDIT: I have had back problems since I was 35, but somehow that just doesn’t seem the same thing.
It should feel silly going to the doctor for everyone else, but me. Because when I go to the doctor I hate having to wait. I wish everyone else would just research online and ask others what is wrong than making me wait for an appointment. Besides if you go to the doctor and have that co-pay, you could better spend that money on supplements someone recommends to you. Of course, you would be spending that amount on supplements equal to the co-pay each month. But more importantly, you won’t feel silly going to the doctor and you will make more appointment times available for people who don’t feel silly going to the doctor, like me. While you are at it, stay off the roads too, because I have places to go and the last thing I want are people on the street causing more traffic and taking up parking spaces.
My arthritis probably started when I was in my mid-30s. I’m now in my mid-50s and I’ve got it all over, particularly in my hands, feet, ankles, and knees. I’m going to need a knee replacement somewhere down the line because I’m bone-against-bone in one. However, the doctors like to wait until one turns 60 before doing it (knee replacements usuallyh ave a 20-year shelf life and they don’t want to replace the replacement).
My mom had rheumatoid arthritis, particularly in her shoulders and hands. It never stopped her from doing intricate needlework or other fine-motor skills. She hates taking meds, so if I ever saw her taking anything, I knew she had to be hurting pretty bad. I’ve been tested twice for it myself and have been negative both times. I’ve been told I’m very lucky mine is just regular wear-and-tear.
I think, too, one’s profession has a lot of bearing of how early one acquires it. The more you’re on your feet and use your hands like me, the more it accelerates. Everybody in my family who didn’t have rheumatism had varying degrees of osteo, thanks to the restaurant biz.
Another vote for weird random joint pain in the hands. My right hand’s middle finger gets swollen and painful. So does my big toe joint (it’s not gout) and a few other small joints. I also need a knee replacement and have arthritis in that.
My rheumatologist had a huge panel of tests run (10 vials of blood, I counted) and we know what it’s not. It’s not rheumatoid arthritis, AS, or any of the inflammatory arthritises. It’s not Lyme Disease or anything similar.
Basically, we’re back to family history (my grandmother got hers very young, too) and drawing the short straw.
I take Aleve when it acts up. I may let them try a joint injection next time it gets bad.
Try using a rubber jar grip for things that twist-off. They work on bottles and creamer tops, too. (I cut up a piece of the rubber matting that I put in my cabinet under the glasses. Works well and it’s cheap.)
I take salazopyrin twice a day, but that’s not helping much. I’m seeing the doctor again this Friday, and if he can’t prescribe something else I’m going to seek another opinion.
I saw on the news people that do a lot of texting are getting pain in their thumbs and it is happening to young people . Certain foods can made arthritis worst too.