Okay, I am whining...and not much I can do about it

[southernlady]

My HANDS hurt...I know I have arthritis in my hands, hell, I have it almost everywhere. But tonight my hands hurt esp bad. Why, you ask? Okay, so maybe you don't even care but I'm gonna tell you why anyway!

It all started with dh needing a "keeper" for his yard tools, like the rake, etc. So he got one but it was very cheaply made and he wasn't happy. SSSOOO, I said, why not make one out of wood/metal braces and then it would be good for probably the rest of our life.

So off to the big box home improvement store...got the metal braces, the wood needed, screws etc. Well, cutting it was fine...but screwing the braces to the wood so they formed a box, that was the "tough" part. He did most of it with me spelling him periodically.

Now, before you ask...why not use a power tool? Too obvious! We have one, a Hammer Drill but dh doesn't like to use it...so we didn't...and now I am paying for it.

Guess it's time to find my arthritis cream for my hands.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Sorry Liz
If you can get it, China Gel is better than any other cream I've used!

 

[southernlady]

Sorry Liz
If you can get it, China Gel is better than any other cream I've used!

Actually the doctor gave me a prescription for Voltaren, a topical NSAID. It works well for localized relief.

 

[jillc]

Voltaren is a good topical analgesic. Have you tried paraffin wax baths for your hands? When I was working as an RMT a clinic I worked in used it and when I went into my own practice, I bought an inexpensive one at a box store (home use one).it is a recommended treatment for your arthritis. Do the dip and then get your husband to wrap your hands in Saran/plastic wrap and keep it on for about 15-20 mins.
Also, even though you have joint pain, the muscles can tighten and put more pressure on the joints. Massaging your forearms and hands can help relieve arthritic pain.
Sorry you're going through this!

 

[Jo777]

Voltaren really, really helped with my elbow tendinosis/itis. I try to not take a lot of ibuprofen (still take it too often..) but that stuff helps so much.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Actually the doctor gave me a prescription for Voltaren, a topical NSAID. It works well for localized relief.

Ahhhh, yeah, probably way better than the herbal stuff

 

[Charris]

Actually the doctor gave me a prescription for Voltaren, a topical NSAID. It works well for localized relief.

I use a cream like that. My son has scoliosis and he uses it also. Arthritis sucks. I hope you feel better quickly.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

I'm fond of essential oil of sweet birch, diluted in some almond or olive oil. I can use a drop or two neat directly on the offending knuckles, but not everyone has as much tolerance for EO's as I do. Better to dilute and then play with finding the strength that works best for you.

 

[southernlady]

Well, the Voltaren worked...I rubbed it on at bedtime and this morning is MUCH improved. Thankfully all the screws in the above project are in...we just have to drill the holes and that is nowhere NEAR as hard on my hands cause all I do is decide where to drill said holes for the handles.

 

[Jbandmmomma]

Actually the doctor gave me a prescription for Voltaren, a topical NSAID. It works well for localized relief.

Voltaren is a lovely local pain relief NSAID - comes in very handy for my knee pain flares.

 

[Sheanie]

Huh. I guess that's what is happening with my knitting fingers. Joints are getting slightly larger and hurt. Psoriatric arthritis is what is crippling my youngest sibling, but he's got other immune disorders too. Only two joints are hurting, my index finger last joint by the nail and my that thumb. My "quilting" fingers, curiously. Which I also primarily use for knitting.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Huh. I guess that's what is happening with my knitting fingers. Joints are getting slightly larger and hurt. Psoriatric arthritis is what is crippling my youngest sibling, but he's got other immune disorders too. Only two joints are hurting, my index finger last joint by the nail and my that thumb. My "quilting" fingers, curiously. Which I also primarily use for knitting.

My husband had marvelous success for years with Enbrel. He eventually developed a tolerance to it and switched to Humira and says it's working fine.

Of course, it shuts down the immune system and he'll probably die from sitting next to someone who sneezes in his direction. But, he'll go far less frustrated than he was with psoriasis and the related arthritic pain.


ETA... I read this to him and he told me to add that he will also LOOK BETTER, without all those patches of pink alligator skin.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

P.S. I have a foot like that. I call it my "million dollar ankle," because the chip fracture of that bone--I did it while leaving a pretend nuclear/gas attack during basic training*--was the basis for my VA disability claim. This week, though, I was ready to give the feds their money back!

What is most frustrating is that as I have aged, the pain in that foot has REALLY increased. A few years back, I went for a re-eval on that disability. The hired gun who examined me said there was NO disability at all. None. The only reason I got to keep my 10% rating was that I had had that rating for so long.

Lemme tell ya...the Hydrocodone helps a little bit, but I was eyeing the bottle of Oxycodone. Didn't take any because I'm afraid of it...but it was tempting. And that ankle makes all the old-age stuff on that side...knee, hip...hurt more.


*back in the day when Army Girls got irons and Army Boys got guns, the Army Girls went on ONE "let's pretend we were just attacked" march. We were issued fatigues...for that one day...and helmets and gas masks. We were told to pretend the masks had the actual prescription lenses we needed for stuff like SEEING. I pretended as well as anyone with 20/500 vision can pretend and walked into a hole and fractured my ankle, leaving a small bone chip floating around in there for a long, long time. Your tax dollar could have been better spent buying me the stupid gas mask lenses I needed YKWIM??

 

[JackieOnLine]

glad it is improving; arthritis sucks.

 

[Sheanie]

My brother has some type of auto-immune disorder. So when he is on Enbrel or the like, he gets these massive cystic infections just from shaving. So he goes off it for a while. He has a doctor treating him with appropriate pain meds, and he cycles on and off the Enbrel-type meds as tolerated.

Getting old sucks monkey balls.