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livingdebI really can't complain when I have one friend dead of a gunshot and another dead from breast cancer and so many friends with all kinds of pains and troubles, but nevertheless I feel a little whiny about having become a person who will have daily joint pain forever. Here's more about my current flavor. (Yes, feel free to skip the rest of this entry! As always, of course.)
About six weeks ago I started noticing a weird pain in the knuckles on my left hand in the morning when I woke up. If I made a fist, it would hurt more for a second and then be gone for the rest of the day. It didn't seem to matter what position I was sleeping in (or rather what position I woke up in), but I did notice it was always my left hand.
Since that time, other finger joints on that hand have joined in the fun and the pain has gotten worse. But making a fist still makes the pain go away.
They say you are more prone to arthritis in joints you have used a lot or abused. So it makes sense that I would first get arthritis in my left hand because I was a typist for a decade, and keyboards were designed to have many of the most common letters on the left side to help slow down right-handed people so that typewriter keys wouldn't stick.
In the past couple of weeks, I've started getting the pain during the day after I've not used my hands much and my right hand has joined in the action. I've also gotten to where I have to psych myself up to make that fist because I really don't like that feeling. But making that fist is definitely the right thing to do--when people quit moving their joints just because they hurt, they start losing their range of motion.
Online sources make it pretty clear that I have osteoarthritis (the old age kind caused by trouble with my cartilege). But they also say I should see my doctor to make sure it's not something else. Plus it was scaring me how fast it's getting worse.
Interestingly, my doctor did not know the above fact about keyboards and immediately started fake typing on her keyboard to see if it felt true to her. Fun!
She tested my blood to make sure it's really osteoarthritis rather than one of the inflammatory arthritis types. All four of those tests showed no sign of inflammation. (Giving away four vials of blood after donating blood a week earlier led to a noticeable difference in my energy levels the rest of the day. Oops!)
And she had me get a bunch of X-rays--mostly to get a baseline view. She got three views of each hand which was kind of interesting. For one, my hand was just spread open on the table. But for the other two, my fingers were arranged on stair-stepped pieces of foam.
There was no sign of any irregularities in either of my hands. Which makes me feel even more like a whiner!
My doctor basically said I'm getting older and I just have to accept that things will change.
Fortunately, the pain lasts only momentarily. Online sources say it often lasts five minutes in the morning for people--I could even handle that. I'm not good at handling continuous all-day pain. Plus ibuprofen has worked on all kinds of pain for me before, so that's another good thing for me. So, yes, I know I'm still in great shape.
I know I tend to err in the direction of not seeing a doctor and hoping things will go away magically (because they usually do), but not this time. Even though the doctor visit didn't change anything, at least I've made sure this isn't something else. And it probably only cost me the $30 co-payment. Insurance can be good.
Online sources say there's no cure. Just make sure to keep moving. In my case, I will keep opening my hands all the way and making fists periodically throughout the day.
You're also supposed to keep the muscles strong--that makes more sense to me for the knee joint. I'm not sure how to do that for my hand joints when I also read that while weight-lifting you're supposed to make sure not to grip the bars too tightly--which seems like exactly how I would exercise those joints.
Probably nutrition doesn't matter at all, or maybe it's good to make sure you get enough calcium, Vitamin D (to help absorb the calcium) and Vitamin C.
As things get worse, people start taking pain medication. When they get even more worse, they can get joint replacements (at least for hips and knees). I love living in modern times!
So for all of you in worse shape than me, or in the same shape as me but younger, you have my sympathy.
About six weeks ago I started noticing a weird pain in the knuckles on my left hand in the morning when I woke up. If I made a fist, it would hurt more for a second and then be gone for the rest of the day. It didn't seem to matter what position I was sleeping in (or rather what position I woke up in), but I did notice it was always my left hand.
Since that time, other finger joints on that hand have joined in the fun and the pain has gotten worse. But making a fist still makes the pain go away.
They say you are more prone to arthritis in joints you have used a lot or abused. So it makes sense that I would first get arthritis in my left hand because I was a typist for a decade, and keyboards were designed to have many of the most common letters on the left side to help slow down right-handed people so that typewriter keys wouldn't stick.
In the past couple of weeks, I've started getting the pain during the day after I've not used my hands much and my right hand has joined in the action. I've also gotten to where I have to psych myself up to make that fist because I really don't like that feeling. But making that fist is definitely the right thing to do--when people quit moving their joints just because they hurt, they start losing their range of motion.
Online sources make it pretty clear that I have osteoarthritis (the old age kind caused by trouble with my cartilege). But they also say I should see my doctor to make sure it's not something else. Plus it was scaring me how fast it's getting worse.
Interestingly, my doctor did not know the above fact about keyboards and immediately started fake typing on her keyboard to see if it felt true to her. Fun!
She tested my blood to make sure it's really osteoarthritis rather than one of the inflammatory arthritis types. All four of those tests showed no sign of inflammation. (Giving away four vials of blood after donating blood a week earlier led to a noticeable difference in my energy levels the rest of the day. Oops!)
And she had me get a bunch of X-rays--mostly to get a baseline view. She got three views of each hand which was kind of interesting. For one, my hand was just spread open on the table. But for the other two, my fingers were arranged on stair-stepped pieces of foam.
There was no sign of any irregularities in either of my hands. Which makes me feel even more like a whiner!
My doctor basically said I'm getting older and I just have to accept that things will change.
Fortunately, the pain lasts only momentarily. Online sources say it often lasts five minutes in the morning for people--I could even handle that. I'm not good at handling continuous all-day pain. Plus ibuprofen has worked on all kinds of pain for me before, so that's another good thing for me. So, yes, I know I'm still in great shape.
I know I tend to err in the direction of not seeing a doctor and hoping things will go away magically (because they usually do), but not this time. Even though the doctor visit didn't change anything, at least I've made sure this isn't something else. And it probably only cost me the $30 co-payment. Insurance can be good.
Online sources say there's no cure. Just make sure to keep moving. In my case, I will keep opening my hands all the way and making fists periodically throughout the day.
You're also supposed to keep the muscles strong--that makes more sense to me for the knee joint. I'm not sure how to do that for my hand joints when I also read that while weight-lifting you're supposed to make sure not to grip the bars too tightly--which seems like exactly how I would exercise those joints.
Probably nutrition doesn't matter at all, or maybe it's good to make sure you get enough calcium, Vitamin D (to help absorb the calcium) and Vitamin C.
As things get worse, people start taking pain medication. When they get even more worse, they can get joint replacements (at least for hips and knees). I love living in modern times!
So for all of you in worse shape than me, or in the same shape as me but younger, you have my sympathy.
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no subject
on 2015-08-05 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
on 2015-08-06 02:14 am (UTC)