Living With Arthritis in the Hands

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Try drinking a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar when you get cramps... Pretty strong taste but works for me. It's also good to stay hydrated, so drink plenty of water.

Is that the raw, unfiltered, and unpasteurized cider vinegar containing "the Mother"?
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
My brother in law has arthritis so bad he used to crawl from his car to the Mack truck he drove. He heard about bee stings for RA and tried it. He now takes bee stings once a week and sometimes more. He is able to walk and function normally as long as he gets his bee sting every week.

My mom had rheumatoid arthritus in her hands. After an event where some ground bees attacked her (and almost killed her) she realized that for several months she had no arthritus pain or swelling in the joints. After that, my dad would catch a honey bee and she would make it sting her (grabbing with tweezers and placing against the skin usually worked) to give her temporary relief. I believe the Mayo Clinic did some research on this, and also found some ant poisons have an even longer lasting effect. I don't think it was fire ants, though, so do some research before trying them.

I don't recall if it worked for osteoarthritus
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Is that the raw, unfiltered, and unpasteurized cider vinegar containing "the Mother"?
Jeff,
I have always purchased "organic" Bragg's vinegar and yes, it has a lot of "Mother" in it. That is the brand I tell everyone to use.
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
not to derail Mike's post, but I get cramps in my hands, specifically my fingers when sharpening a blade or a repetitive motion that requires finger strength. I am not thinking it is arthritis, but... Has anyone else experienced that? solutions?
Hank. dont laff, pickle juice helps, trust me.Dont throw the juice out after you have no more pickles
 

Flute Maker

Mike
User
My brother in law has arthritis so bad he used to crawl from his car to the Mack truck he drove. He heard about bee stings for RA and tried it. He now takes bee stings once a week and sometimes more. He is able to walk and function normally as long as he gets his bee sting every week.
Hmmmmmmm Mike I have a bee keeper friend that I just run in to occasionally that in the past mentioned bee stings when I was having neck and shoulder issues.
 

Runk

New User
Runk
I haven't been officially diagnosed with arthritis in my hands but my ortho dr feels pretty sure it is. I have overused my hands like a lot of us have for many yrs and I am feeling it.Im 63 and still work full time plus overtime....I just need to hang in there a little bit more.But the hands are really bothering me.It is my right hand at the thumb/grip area.Dr. says a lot of people have the same thing.I cant do no where near what I used to in the shop but am still trucking on along. All I use is Voltaren Gel on the painful area. Dont want to use celebrex,advil etc. because of liver and kidneys. Voltaren helps some but still not good. I wonder about the future use being affected.What do some of you do that may have similar symptoms?

Mike, I understand your pain. I do have arthritis just about everywhere that seems to move. A few years ago the difficulty became so bad that I had trouble holding on to things. I saw a specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The left hand was in real bad shape. The fix for me because of my wood working hobby was to remove a bone in the thumb linkage in the hand. There thumb was tied to the next finger on the back of the hand. It works well. After several years it is starting to ack. The arthritis does not not stop progressing. The right hand need to be worked on about two years later. With that thumb there was a cone put in one of the joints. It works and after several years is starting to ack. Again arthritis just does not rest. But I can grab things with out the pain that would in the past cause me to drop what I was trying to hold. The recovery time for both surgeries was about 3 months before I could really use the hand and probably 6 months to get back to near normal.
 

ncfromnc

New User
neil
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned CBD salve. I have been a sceptic most of my life in terms of alternative treatments. I'm 62 and my story is the same as many above....arthritis. I also have stomach problems with NSAIDs. The slave seems expensive (online I like Infinite CBD salve....4 oz with 1000mg is $50.00. I work in the shop full time and use the product most days....one tin lasts me about 5-6 months.
This stuff is amazing and is hurting the BIg Pharm industries sales of NSAIDS and OPIATES.
this stuff works folks.....really allows me to work with much reduced pain.
 

PeteStaehling

New User
Pete
I find that the best thing I can do is to keep the affected joints moving with moderate daily work. My physical therapist always said "motion is lotion".

BTW, I have digestive and other issues that make me worry about taking most NSAIDs. I started using topical Voltaren. My gastric doc told me I was kidding myself if I thought it was much better for me, even for gastric problems, than oral drugs just because it was topical. For liver, kidney, or other issues he said it had no advantage because the topical stuff got into the blood stream just the same. I am not so sure that it doesn't help by allowing the dose to be somewhat localized, but he wasn't buying it. In any case I decided to stop using it and mostly just live with the pain only taking an oral NSAID rarely when things are especially bad. My primary treatment plan has been to just keep my joints moving every day with a level of work that brings pain, but a level of pain that is manageable. So far for my hands that has been working for me at age 68. I know that my mom continued to knit every day with pain at 97. She said she needed to to keep the joints moving to manage the pain.
 

Lhloy

New User
Larry
For me, pushing 70, I've found topical Penetrex cream and the arthritis spandex gloves (tight fitting) with the fingers cut out to be helpful for the osteoarthritis in my hands. Occasionally aleve when extra bad, but I don't like oral meds. When really hurting, I naturally back off the stress I put my hands through, but I am a workshop addict and that's always difficult. No magic bullet, maybe a bullet to bite down on.
 

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