Tell me about your arthritis...

I am shocked to hear that you do not have health insurance, GW.

My sister has been battling with arthritis her whole life and I'm sure she has a few suggestion. I'll give her a call tomorrow and if she has anything that might be considered helpful to you I will return to this thread.

Yup, I'm one of the 43 million Americans. I'm typical in that I own a small business. Many small business owners in this country cannot afford insurance. It is especially expensive in NY. Even the most basic for my husband and I would be almost $10,000 per year.

Greenwitch - get insurance! I make way under 30,000 a year, live in one of the most expensive areas in the country, spend 250 bucks on animal meds every month and pay for health insurance. I can't afford it, but I do. I went without for years---

Oopsie, this isn't about health insurance.

I have, I think, some sort of arthritis developing, but I'm not sure what it is. I have been meaning to have it checked out. I sometimes have a hard time holding a mug in the arc between my thumb and the finger I point with.

Were hoping to get on a state plan for small business owners this year, but it requires we keep our income at almost poverty level (were not much above it as it is.) We are in that tight spot where our business is profitable, we're well feed and housed, but the budget just does not allow for such an expenditure each month. We barter with our family physician and I know about the local hospital payment options. We also have our own version of a health savings plan. I would like to see NY try a program like the MA one - and I think it will happen eventually.



It seems to me more people are getting arthritis at an earlier age, but maybe I'm just noticing people mentioning it now that I have the problem.

I'd like to see my insurance rate go down now that we have this new medical coverage - it's supposed to. As it is now, I can't afford medications for myself.

My body has been a mess this last week or two and I'm not sure why. I'm guessing that it might not be arthritis since it only happens once in a great while.

Aren't you doing a lot of typing lately? Maybe it's related.

Although, in the beginning arthritis does sort of come and go - and then it just stays.

I've always done a lot of typing (a2k - look at my post count!). It might have something to do with the change from a desktop to a laptop, I know my neck is revolting against the change. I have issues that belong to people 10 years older than me (hotflashes for one), so I wouldn't be surprised if arthritis comes early too.

Most common forms of arthritis are irreversable and have no effective medical treatment. If there is a specific defect in the joint, such as a frayed cartilege or a bone spur, surgical treatment may well be effective. Rheumative arthritis is an auto immune disorder that affects some people. Otherwise arthritis is the usual result of accumulatred stress and wear on the affected joint, particularly knees, hips and hands. I have a problem with one knee that is the likely result of too many deep squats with heavy weights and a lot of running. I take two food additives, glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate, which seem to have a palliative effect. Otherwise I try to find the right balance between pain and stiffness with non-impact exercise and icing the joint after workouts.

The problem you describe with your sholder may well involve a torn rotator cuff ligament, instead of arthritis. This is a fairly common sports injury which can be verified (or eliminated) with an MRI of the joint. If so this can usually be corrected with surgery. I had one and the surgery was completely effective in eliminating the chronic pain and restoring both mobility and strength. It might be worth your while to check this out.

Good luck!

I have obvious knobs in a few of my fingers, which as of now mostly don't hurt but do occasionally. I am less and less able to wrest caps off of juice jars - recently bought some rubber gloves to maintain what grip I have.

tis a pity, re my hands, in my own eye, in that I've always had great hand eye coordination - didn't realize that til I taught residents how to inject stuff into 1 mm. cutouts in agar... funny scenes.


I am an undisciplined soul. Have enough trouble remembering and taking my scheduled eye drops, much more immediately serious, and fail, fail, fail to suck up glucosamine et al. I gather it works for about 10%, according to my internist, and some here on a2k find it very useful. Still, I just take it once in a while.

She says, staring at bony spur on inner left wrist....

That's interesting georgeob1. I'll mention this to my family doctor and get her opinion. I'm a landscaper and have done a fair share of hauling bluestone, carrying potted trees and digging holes- so physical injury is a possibility.

My experience with doctors suggests that most of them are quite resigned to their patients complaints of disorders which come with age and which generally don't have definitive medical treatment. You may have to insist on an examination, just to shake him out of this lethargy. I got my internist to order an MRI which confirmed the tear, but he saw no need for treatment. The pain and restricted movement were mine and I was unwilling just to accept them (and give up some associated sports activities). I found an orthopaedic surgeon, experienced in sports medecine who instantly regognized the problem and the solution. This may be what you need

Tell me about your arthritis...
You might check out an old post of mine "torn rotator cuff surgery".

My orthopod prrescribed three specific weight-lifting exercises, warning me that they would be painful - very painful. He was absolutely right, but after a while the exercises became painless, and the original shoulder pain has also gone.I 'll have to keep doing them forever, but it's totally worth it.

I'm moving up to heavier weights, now, which is also satisfying.

Thanks Tom, the links were very helpful. I think it is the rotor cuff and I'm going to see a physical therapist to get their opinion about what can be done. I assumed it was arthritis because both my grandmothers had it, but based on my very physical job I think I injured myself.

Yep, I'd have that rotator cuff checked out, GW.

I talked to my sister today and the only thing she does for her arthritis is take 400mgs of ibuprofren every four hours, plus a vicodin or two thrown is when it gets really bad, and, occasionally, when she gets it in her knees and can barely walk she will get cortisone shots.

She has dealt with this crap since her early twenties and it doesn't sound like much fun.

So, like I said, let's hope this is your rotator cuff and something that can be repaired.

I hate to see you planting hostas in pain.

p.s. After I typed this I made a quick scan to see if I misspelled anything and sure enough I had. I had spelled arthritis as arthritits.

I think I have invented a whole new disease.

holy cannoli! that's a lot of ibuprofen!

Is it? I wouldn't know, I stay away from that stuff.

We could make it the term for a pain the boobs.

Gus, please tell me she doesn't take Ibuprofen like that every day, all day...... that's crazy.

I had wicked inflamatory pain in my shoulder a few years ago. I ultimately had an MRI taken (after xrays were inconclusive) and they told me my bones didn't align right or my cartilege didn't seperate them properly. The bones in the socket were rubbing up agaisnt each other in a bad way, causing inflamation. Surgery wasn't necessary. Basically he told me: if it hurts when you do that, don't do that. So, I figured out which motions were aggrivating the joint and I stopped doing them so much. I also stretched the shoulder joint and muscles daily. After doing those two things and using ibuprofen for a couple weeks, the pain went away and hasn't come back (I'm still careful about certain movements).

That is serious pain relief and all that ibuprofren can cause stomach bleeding. I'm now hoping it is the rotor cuff and definitely not arthritis. Thanks for checking with your kin Gus.