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    Arthritis sucks

    Nothing makes you feel old quite like achy joints. No wonder old people are often cranky.

    #2
    Arthritis sucks

    .

    It must do - sorry if you have it, FF - but then again it's just one of the occupational hazards of this thing called ageing, isn't it?

    My great complaint (so far) is the iffy heart and lack of speed and stamina for playing football. I miss it so much.

    .

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      #3
      Arthritis sucks

      Yeah, it's just part of getting old, but it doesn't make it feel any better. I can definitely commiserate with you about not being able to do the same physical activities that I was regularly doing just a couple of years ago. It feels like I'm picking up speed on my downhill journey.

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        #4
        Arthritis sucks

        .

        We're in the lead ... but there are plenty behind us!

        .

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          #5
          Arthritis sucks

          Have you had a diagnosis? I have a "juvenile-onset" (I'll have yez know) form of the disease, connected with psoriasis, and it responds really well to non-steroid anti-inflammatories.

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            #6
            Arthritis sucks

            WE - Not yet. I see the rheumatologist on Friday. My internist had a few blood tests done (ANA, CRP, RF, CBC, etc.) that were inconclusive. The RF and CRP were both borderline.

            I guess the possible options now include RA, carpal tunnel, lupus, or any combination of those. I'm really not too concerned about what it is, I just want to get the right treatment to make it stop hurting. I have tendinitis in both wrists, my back, neck, shoulders and sometimes my knees hurt, and every morning when I wake up, the middle joints of my fingers hurt and my hands look puffy.

            I'm already at the point where I dread waking up in the morning. As the day progresses, my fingers hurt less and the puffiness goes away. Then it all comes back after I sleep. Like 'Groundhog Day'.

            NSAIDs do help, but only for a few hours. If I take something before bed, it wears off by the time I wake up. I'm sure the doc can give me something stronger than what I have now.

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              #7
              Arthritis sucks

              Try and get your doctor to put you on Enbrel (which is made by Wyeth and is also known as Etanercept).

              It is incredibly effective. It is also a very expensive drug, so they only give it to patients on whom other treatments have been tried and failed. If you are in a lot of pain then there is a good chance you can get them to give it to you.

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                #8
                Arthritis sucks

                I think they advertise that on TV here for treatment of fibromyalgia.

                Thanks, HB

                What really sucks is that the stronger painkillers never fail to make me drowsy, so trying to work while taking them is a challenge. I wouldn't make a very good oxycontin addict.

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                  #9
                  Arthritis sucks

                  I always need to remind myself that bombing down a rocky path, jumping from one boulder to the other down a river bed and assorted exertions on my knees are not a good idea when you're nearing 40, your body does not like it the day after...

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                    #10
                    Arthritis sucks

                    Knees...why are they so delicate?

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                      #11
                      Arthritis sucks

                      I had a cortisone injection into the tendon in my wrist a few hours ago, and now it hurts like a bastard, mostly at the site of the injection. Is that to be expected? (I tell you what I wasn't expecting--the injection costs around $1600--double ouch).

                      No word on the diagnosis of the other problems. There was lots of poking and mashing and tell me if this hurts, and more blood was drawn for more tests. But the doctor said that whatever it is, it is still in early stages.

                      I was given something called Arthrotec that is supposed to be easier on my stomach than the NSAIDs I've been taking.

                      Did I mention how much my bastard wrist hurts?

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                        #12
                        Arthritis sucks

                        I sympathise. I have what looks increasingly like a slipped disc in my neck and it's fucking agony. I'm maxed out on the recommended painkillers and while they can only be taken every four hours, they wear off after about 2 and a half. I'm still an hour and a quarter from my next dose and everywhere from the base of the left side of my skull down ghrough my left shoulder to about half way down my left forearm is agony. After that it's all swollen and tingly numb like you get when novacaine starts to wear off. I'm looking at the certainty of fuck all sleep and mucho pain tonight. Physio scheduled for monday morning but every likelihood that this is going to go on for about the next six weeks. No fun at all.

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                          #13
                          Arthritis sucks

                          That sounds very painful indeed. I've had the tendinitis for over a month and there was no sign of it getting better.

                          I hope you can get yours sorted in a reasonable amount of time. All the best!

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                            #14
                            Arthritis sucks

                            I had a cortisone injection into the tendon in my wrist a few hours ago, and now it hurts like a bastard, mostly at the site of the injection. Is that to be expected?

                            Yes. My doctors injected me with a steroid at the middle joint of my index finger a year ago. The joint in question had swelled up insanely and would not bend properly. The pain of the needle made my eyes water.

                            For a few days after the injection, the joint was dark blue and looked horrific, then it returned to normal. No problems since then with it.

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                              #15
                              Arthritis sucks

                              Yowie! Did they apply a local to numb it beforehand?

                              I don't know if it's because of all the bending and poking (oo-er), but my other wrist now hurts. I have a feeling this isn't going to be good for my bowling (but at least it gives me an excuse to suck).

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                                #16
                                Arthritis sucks

                                Yowie! Did they apply a local to numb it beforehand?

                                No, they just lashed it in. One of the doctors was a good-looking woman so I gritted my teeth and kept a poker face throughout the process, even though I wanted to yelp loudly.

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                                  #17
                                  Arthritis sucks

                                  ouch.

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                                    #18
                                    Arthritis sucks

                                    hurts so fucking much I can't even sit still for five minuts to try and read up how to play that civilization game thing.

                                    off to pace around sightng and grimacing again now.

                                    oh, and too.

                                    This really is no fun, but misery loves company.

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                                      #19
                                      Arthritis sucks

                                      How's the neck, PG?

                                      My doc gave me a drug called Arthrotec last Friday. It has made the joint pain go away, but I can (and do) now fall asleep anytime, anywhere. I almost fell asleep in my chair a little while ago while doing something boring in Excel.

                                      Oh, and over the past couple of days, I noticed a small hard bump on my wrist, very near the site of the cortisone injection. The doctor wanted to see it, so I went in this morning. He used the ultrasound on it and saw where it was, but has no idea what is is. His exact words: "That's weird." Not something you really want your doctor to say, innit? Well, he is a blood doctor and not a bone one.

                                      It appears as though my wrist bones have twisted, and that's what is causing the little bump. It's very sensitive to the touch, and sometimes when I'm typing, it hurts without touching it.

                                      Does anyone know what this is, and if I will have to undergo some kind of treatment that is going to, like, totally gross me out? I'm very squeamish.

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                                        #20
                                        Arthritis sucks

                                        Gradually on the mend thanks. Just had my dose of painkillers, completed my muscle-relaxing bottle of red and taken my sleeping pills. With a little luck I'll get some undisturbed kip about 90 minutes from now.

                                        Had my first session of physio today with a revoltingly bucolic and square-jawed therapist called Rod who'd just stepped out of a chick-lit dream sequence. Am now strapped up like a mummy across the whole of my left upper body. And my left index and middle fingers still feel the way your tongue does if you ever lick a battery to check if its charged.

                                        At least I'm not a full time plumber anymore. This would have seen me well and truly fucked. In fact it was the prospect of something like this that persuaded me to turn my back on that venture. There's something grimly satisfying about seeing ones bleak speculations realised, isn't there?

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                                          #21
                                          Arthritis sucks

                                          Indeed--and that can be said of growing old in general. When you're young, you don't think you'll have these problems and suddenly one day you wake up and can't bend your fingers. It's crap.

                                          My f-ing arm hurts where that bone is sticking out. I'm pretty sure that's not normal.

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