Please see a specialist. It could actually be an inflammatory arthritis -
even some osteo is inflammatory in nature and damage can be arrested with
dmards. My husband's aunt was on mtx but they started it way too late which
was such a pity. She did incredible small wood carvings but her hands were
so bad. At 60 life is not over.
If nothing else can be done as far as traditional medication because of
allergies (and no not all arthritis meds are
aspirin and
ibuprofen) there
are things you can do. Use ice, heat, set a timer for a very short period
and try your guitar after icing your hands. If you can be pain free after
that short a time you can set the timer longer the next day. Sometimes I
can do things for 2 short periods a day instead of 1 longer period. Icing,
parafin wax treatments - experiment as to which is longer.
In the meantime also protect and preserve your joints. You might try using
large grip tools, splints for your wrists if that is a problem, investigate
whether ring splints will help your fingers with an occupational therapist
after you find out which kind of arthritis from the rheumatologist. Despite
what someone tried to tell the group very few rheumatologists really want to
see you in pain and really if they had a better solution to stop joint
damage rather than meds they would use it. The idea is to stop joint
damage - many have tried all kinds of natural things without meds and joint
protection and have had joint damage. Hand damage is hard to reverse easily
if at all.
The principles of joint protection are grip, leverage, larger muscle groups.
there are more I know but I am tired. Use rubber to make grip easier - on
steering wheels, rubber grips to open jars, (jar openers are even easier),
rubber large grips on tools, cutlery, and knives (oxo tools are great - good
grips they are known as), leverage ie: levered door knobs and handles, and
use larger muscle groups ie: use palms to open things rather than fingers,
carry bags if you have to using arms instead of fingers and wrists ie:
paper bags not plastic - better yet a bag boy and at home a wheeled cart to
carry things from one room to the other. When getting up from a chair use
larger cushions under you - higher chair and don't use your hands to push
yourself up - instead move to the front of the chair and lever yourself up
using your forearms (a physio will teach this) Strengthen your quads -
those will help - exercise believe it or not works wonders - my 86 year old
father in law has learnt this lesson well. He now attends fitness class
twice a week and lifts weights etc so he can stay in his home. 4 weeks away
from classes and he is weaker than a kitten and his knees hurt. He admitted
today that I was right (and he is english and stubborn so that admission
hurt big time).
When getting out of a car, don't put your leg down and then turn your body.
Turn your whole body and then put down both legs at the same time (will save
your back too)
Hope these things will help things a bit. It is work - I won't kid you but
they are things that will help to get the things you want back. I have
experience with this. Couldn't do without my meds but these things are the
little things that have helped me to continue quilting even through the past
year and a half when everything has gone wrong and I can barely walk or
type. Don't forget that timer - it is important!
Keep your head up and a sense of humour too. That will get you through.
Glad to see you hear - hope I didn't sound preachy but sounded helpful. I
taught these things through the arthritis self management program - another
invaluable program done through the arthritis foundation. If you can find
this in your community it is an incredible program and no you won't be the
youngest in your group - I was 37 when I got this disease.
kelly
<rfdjr1@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:n8t5r25frgcipff9g6gqs71aaaep0dpsnf@4ax.com...
> Yes, I am legit and not a spammer. And the pain in my knees and hands is
> real. I
> have a doctors appoinment Monday and I am going to ask for a referral to a
> specialist. The thing that is bothering me most is tha I play the guitar
> and
> banjo and can hardly do anything with either one now and I'd love to get
> back
> into it just for my own enjoyment.
>
> On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:36:57 -0500, rfdjr1@optonline.net wrote:
>
>>Hi. I have arthritis in my knees and my hands. I'm a 60 year old male.
>>I've
>>never been to a specialist, but my regular Doctor says there's not much I
>>can
>>take for it because I'm allergic to aspirin and ibuprofen, so I should
>>just take
>>Tylenol which doesn't do anything for me. I was looking at some OTC meds
>>which
>>claim to relubricate joints, but they have a warning that they contain
>>shellfish
>>ingredients, and yes, I'm allergic to shellfish too. Before I spend money
>>on a
>>specialist, is there any meds out there that might do me some good? Thanks
>>for
>>any input.
>
> 
Arthritis meds? 
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