Hi there...I haven't been on much lately because I've been feeling pretty lousy. Tired all of the time and severe joint pain. I finally went to the doctor last week. She thinks that I have osteoarthritis. Both my Dad and my grandmother had this. She had me bend my knee and you should have seen the face she made. She then had me feel her knee bend to see what a "normal" knee feels like. I told her that whenever I go down the stairs all I hear is crunching and cracking. When I bend my wrist or toes they crack. She said it's called crepitus. I know, nasty sounding name, eh? To sum it up, bad cartilage. Anyway, I know that people have problems alot worse than this. I'm truly not looking for sympathy and please don't think I'm a whiner. I know this isn't a medical board, but I just want to know if anyone suffers from this. I trust your opinions and know that some of you can be very helpful. She said that there is nothing I can really do other than take Aleve. It really does seem to help. I've been taking two each morning. This happened a few years back and then it sort of just went away...into remission sort of. Is this possible? Now it's back with a vengeance...although today I feel ten times better than I did last week. I swear I feel like I lost about nine or ten days feeling like crap. All I wanted to do was sleep. I've had my thyroid checked and it's normal. She did some blood work and I'm waiting on the results....mostly to rule out rheumatoid arthritis. The doctor mentioned something about me probably needing a knee replacement when I'm older! I'm only 45! I always thought arthritis was for older people...wrong! Any suggestions for things I can do to feel better would be appreciated. Thanks so much! ~Lisa

I have arthritis and you are right there isn't much you can do for the pain except OTC.

Years ago, I went to a rheumatolgy clinic at a large Boston hospital,,,went through all kinds of tests...and was offered a bag of samples of Vioxx and Celebrex. I didn't like the contraindications so I never took either ( and good thing).

I also will take Aleve when things feel rough..but I do agree that the disease seems to go onto "remission" and the pain minimizes for a spell.

Good luck

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E. Roosevelt

My husband has this and says the prescription drug MOBIC (meloxicam) helps him more than anything with the pain~

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Smile and the world smiles with you!

Tami ~*~

I have very bad knees. They operated on the right one because the cartilage was hanging down. They told me the best thing for this was to strenghting my thigh muscle so my knee would not have to work so much. The exercise was riding a bike, putting 1-5lb weights arond your ankle and do leg lifts, laying on your back and lifting leg up, and laying on your side and raising leg. If you can go to physical therapy go,it really help with the pain for a while. Good luck and hope you fell better soon.

I have psoriatic arthritis, and was diagnosed in my late 20's. Humeria was the best drug that worked for me, but since we are trying to have a baby, I've had to be drug free.

Watching what you eat and staying active can help manage the pain.

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I'm the kind of woman when my feet hit the floor in each morning, the devil says "Oh crap, she's up."

OP, I feel your pain.

I am only 49 years old and have already had both knees replaced and am now looking at having my shoulder replaced.

My hands are so crippled I can no longer thread a needle or fasten a clasp.

I have taken Celebrex for years and while I know its not good for you, both my ortho and my family doctor tell me I need to keep taking it to keep the inflammation down.

I have tried most over the counter drugs and herbal remedies with little success.

I really have no advice for you other than to let you know you aren't alone.

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Thanks so much for all of your advice everyone. I got the blood work back and they said it was "normal" which means I don't have rheumatoid arthritis...the worst kind. It's frustrating though because I know something is definitely wrong with me...it's not all in my head. I go back to the doctor again the beginning of November. At that time I'm going to mention some of the drugs and things you listed and see what she has to say. The past week I've felt alot better...the Aleve really seems to help me. ~Lisa

Hey Lisa

I have always had arthritis pain this time of year. Sometimes it's worse than others. I have it mostly in my hands and hips. When I've brought it up to my doctor she's always said, "It's just a bit of arthritis. Let me know if it gets worse."

I've found that things like Bengay and the icy hot rubs and patches do bring some relief for me, as well as Motrin. Maybe you can try sometihing like that for a bit of temporary relief.

As far as age. . .I've had this pain in my hands when the weather changes since I've been a teen. I know that there are diets that are suppose to help, and I have to admit that when I was a vegetarian it was better.

I hope you find some relief. The pain can be horrible. I missed two days of work this year because the pain wasn't just in my hips . . .it was my entire pelvis. At least I know with me it is temporary and only happens in the fall and spring when the weather changes.

HTH

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I have arthritis in my left hip. It is much worse when the weather changes - I can attest to the fact that it is not an old wive's tale; I know at least two days in advance when it will rain due to the pain in my hip. Exercise helps a lot - I try to walk two miles a day. It's not easy every day and sometimes I have to stop and stretch out my hip to keep going. But I avoid all pain relievers as much as possible - my mother developed kidney disease due to over use of pain relievers. I maybe take Ibuprofen once or twice a month. If I have pain at night I lay on a heating pad. I won't take any arthritis prescription medication unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

My doctor gave me a sample of a Glucosamine Chrondroitin powdered product that you mix into your food because I can't swallow capsules. I liked it and would have continued using it but the cost was very high - it is an OTC product so not covered by insurance. I haven't found anything else like it that is affordable.

I hope you are feeling better soon -

I , at age 36, was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Even as one of the "bigger" types, there are amazing treatments. I am leery of the prescription drugs, but I really need to be able to walk. My arthritis is in my knees. I had a major flare 6 years ago and then did well until this last spring. (To give you an idea, I atempted to go to the zoo last summer and many employees ask if I was OK as I was walking so poorly). My doctor drained almost 4 oz. of nasty fluid from underneath my knee on 2 occasions before I began the drug therapy.

I take Methrotrexate, Medrol and a folic acid supplement. The first 2 make me nervous, but I have to have blood work to keep an eye on my kidneys. Now after 2 months, I feel OK. I see some issues that may or may not be from the disease or the drugs (shortness of breath, acne, tiredness, etc) or they could just be from my crazy, stressful life! I also find that I feel worse when the weather changes (I dread the upcoming OH winter) and when I am tired. I am doing water aerobics and they make me feel good too. Good luck!

Sure I have plenty of OA (Osteoarthritis) I'm 61 and it has invaded my back, knees, and feet.
For me OA in the Knees were first, then back, then feet.

Yes, the "beginning" is generally the snap, crackle, pop and stiffness in the mid to late 40's
By 55+ you will discover it gets worse.

Cold pack for 20 min, then a heating pad for no more than half hour.
After that Aspercream on the joint helps does help.

Athletic knee braces worn overnight can help the knees realign better and put less stress on the surrounding muscles and nerves, making for less overnight and next day pain.

Get a cane for extremely bad knee days. Forget your ego, falling because of a knee not doing what it's supossed to is not a good idea.

OA in your back, hernietated disks, hip and or shoulder Bursitis can appear, oh yeah lots of things can happen on the journey of OA.

OA shows up very plainly on X-Rays as the cartilidge shrinks away and disappears, whereas other arthritis types may not.

Since you say your parents have it you might want ot ask them how to help yourself control your pain levels as it advances. (It is a progressive disease)

Word of advice ->
Avoid limping. Limping to favor one leg because of a sore knee joint results in pulling the skeletal joints in the hips and pelvic back, lower back area in odd directions and actually makes things worse.

Be nice to your spine NOW, avoid heavy lifting, avoid sharp quick turning in of the spine in opposite directions and for goodness sake watch that posture! Stop slumping now! It's VERY important.

Look around your home and consider it's booby traps. Work on fixing those before your arthritis gets worse.
Stairs will be problematic later.
A walk in shower where you can place a shower bench and attach a hand held shower is so very helpful.
Grab Bar placement is important to the bathroom safety.

Redo your storage concepts.
You want lighter wait items (paper/ plastic) to be the highest up and heavy stuff (Canned good etc) at waist height or lower.
I'd love everything to be at waist hieght, but that is not really feasable.
Buy a "grabber"

If the OA gets to your feet thicker carpets are a huge help in pain relief.

If you know you are going to do an actvity that will make the OA of your knees hurt, put on athletic knee braces before starting the activity.
This cuts down the the stress of the muscles and nerves around the unhappy joint and you will end up with less pain.

Begin sleeping with a Knee Countour pillow.. actually any pillow placed between the knees or theighs while you sleep.
Also another one between lower legs ankles helps many people.
This keeps the joints of the skeleton, lower back, hip, knees and ankles better lined up as you sleep and therefore you experience much LESS early morning lower back pain.

Newest studies, last year, show only some pople, not all people, get some pain relief in the OA of the kness by taking Glucosamine Chrondroitin.
Knee OA pain seems to be the only thing it helps and that is only helpful for some people and not others. It does not help OA of other joints at all.
(That I can testify too since I've been taking it about 8 years. It really does tend to help my knee aches, just the daily knee aches, not the horrid pain when it hits the knees and not the other OA affected joints))

Amazingly diff joints, having OA, will have diff amounts of pain and get pain relief from diff meds.

Once OA in the back is diagnosed a good Chiropractor can be a wonderful help at controlling pain.

BUT have faith in the future of medicine.
Right now, in a British country they are doing active experimental testing on some for of cell therapy that suposedly gets rid of OA.
Study will be completed five years from now and the reports so far are very good.
So hang in there.
For your generation OA may not be crippler it was for generations of the past.