Not supposed to happen to me. But it did.

Gramma used to babysit me and I'd ask her why her fingers were crooked. She's tell me about rheumatoid arthritis and that it was painful.

Being a child I'd say something like, "That's turble gramma. Can I have money for an ice cream cone?"

I wish I'd had more sympathy now that I've learned empathy.

One of several reasons I gave up motorcycles. Very little grip strength in my hands and none without pain.

I take condrighton, not sure I spelled it correctly, but it's done a fair job of relieving me of the discomfort associated with joint pain in my thumbs. It doesn't work overnight so you need to take it daily for a few weeks or more before you see any improvement.

Like Bruce Willis said "Welcome to the party pal"

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...870050315#4870050315

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
I take condrighton, not sure I spelled it correctly, but it's done a fair job of relieving me of the discomfort associated with joint pain in my thumbs. It doesn't work overnight so you need to take it daily for a few weeks or more before you see any improvement.

Chondroitin? Found in cartilage.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
I take condrighton, not sure I spelled it correctly, but it's done a fair job of relieving me of the discomfort associated with joint pain in my thumbs. It doesn't work overnight so you need to take it daily for a few weeks or more before you see any improvement.

Chondroitin? Found in cartilage.

Thanks for the corrrct spelling. I buy Glucosamine Chondroitin from Walgreens and take it as a supplement daily and it's helped me with joint pain in my thumbs. I recommended it to a friend and it helped with his knee pain.

I had that and Arthritis in the Radial Head of both wrists. While staying with my Nephew for the Christmas week in 2023 his wife noticed that I had a Sweet Tooth. As she is an NP and smart as a whip I followed her advice to cut way back on Sugar. As a result I no longer have any pain in my wrists or thumbs, the only residual Arthritis present is a mild bit of "trigger finger" in the middle finger of my left hand.

The lesson here is that too much Sugar is very very bad for you. It is a major factor in causing Heart Disease because it is so inflammatory and also a major factor in Arthritis.

I will also note that it's not possible to eliminate Sugar from your diet, it is in everything we eat. What is needed is to cut back on the "extra" sugar in our diet. Basically I went from eating a bag of jelly beans until the bag was empty to eating just 2 or 3 jelly beans in a day. Cereal has gone from Lucky Charms and similar super sweet stuff to Corn Chex with some blueberries on top. Basically read the nutrition label and if you see more than 6 grams of added sugars that is an item you don't purchase. Note this does mean that you will have to give up Sugar Bombs like Coca Cola and the like. I drink tea, specifically caffeine free tea sweetened with 2 table spoon of honey per gallon. I also drink water when my special brew of tea isn't available. Get used to drinking plain old water and it is actually rather tasty.

Glucosamine Chondroitin I’ve been taking that for 25 years now. If it works I’d shudder to think how I would move without it. If it doesn’t I don’t think it’s hurt me.

Curcumin (from turmeric) and Omega 3 (fish oil) are generally considered worthwhile supplements to help with osteoarthritis, and the studies I have seen rate them better than glucosamine and chondroitin. Also, as Scooter suggests in his above post, cutting out sugars and other carbohydrates is supposed to be very helpful as well. YMMV

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimacp,

A couple years ago my arthritis was so bad I could barely open a jar, the pain would keep me awake at night and shaking hands was brutal and forget about shooting. I now take an Enbrel injection 1x week and the turn around is amazing. Like Scooter said above, too many sweets will cause mine to flare up. Of course with the Enbrel I have to get blood work every 3 months to check liver and kidney function.

I had what they call "Nintendo Thumb". I got a brace at the pharmacy and I wore it while sleeping for a week. All better. I still need to use the brace occasionally.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
One of several reasons I gave up motorcycles. Very little grip strength in my hands and none without pain.

A motorcycle with DCT or some sort of automatic transmission along with cruise control requires much less hand work and makes riding with weak/achy hands much more enjoyable.