Newly diagnosed OA. Not enjoying this at all.

MickeyJoints

Hi All,

I'm a 56 y.o. male who is fairly healthy with a medical history of renal stones, hepatitis A + B (+ve immunogloblins and -ve antigens), hypertension (controlled with amlodopine). I'm not overweight and do exercise with dog walking. I enjoy a vegetarian diet with white meat now and again. We are a salad first household.

About a year ago I started noticing quite a bit of pain in my joints of my hands, especially the left hand. I'm right handed and while there is some discomfort there too, it's my left hand that give me the crippling horrors. And, I dread to add, in my toes and feel. While not bursting in to tears with it, I've come pretty close and would have if I'd not been so angry about it. I've developed nodules in a couple of places, but I only have pain in the nodules occasionally. I've been to my GP who said, yes, that's OA. Thanks for that. The RH factor in a blood test was -ve. No referral but I'm not sure who I would need to see at this stage of the condition. I'm taking glucosamine and chondroitin with codliver oil but I can't honestly say I think they're helping.

What I'm looking for I guess, is confirmation that the symptoms I'm having are normal for OA. I've been reading here some of the descriptions of the pain and they are all too familiar, albeit much worse than mine.

On waking up my hands are as functionally useful as a couple of paddles and I apply ibuprofen gel to help recover movement. The pain during the day can be negligible but there can be periods when there are sharp stabbing pains in the fingers and joints. This can last a hour or two. My hands have had a swollen feeling for the past year and full range articulation of the joints is difficult, but not impossible.

So there is constant low level pain in the joints of the fingers and into the hand when typing and generally moving. When applying pressure across the joints (like when making the bed) it can cause me to drop the pillow (aren't they nasty things for OA!) and generally whimper or suck air in between the teeth.

Is this description all too familiar for everyone? I suspect it is, but I'd like to hear from others that this is indeed OA.

Thanks to all of you being here!

Mickey


_

dreamdaisy

Oddly enough I don't think anyone on here enjoys having arthritis.

Hello, it's nice to meet you but I am sorry you have had to find us. I have two kinds of arthritis (and occasionally find it hard to distinguish between their effects) but I usually wake with stiff fingers - I soak them in a basin of warm water, gently flexing them to help them ease. I am in pain from head-to-toe but at the moment it's my auto-immune arthritis to the fore thanks to the lovely weather.

Each and every one of us on here is troubled by pain etc . but we vary in how our personal variations of arthritis affect us. My auto-immune (psoriatic arthritis) began in my left knee which is not the traditional area for that beast but it's one of the sero-negative autos so it may be worth your asking your GP for a referral to a rheumatologist to discover more. Were your inflammatory markers assessed too? That's what gave the game away with me, my ESR and CRP were always in triple figures. GPs are not that clued-up about the auto kinds (which number around 200) as they deal with OA. I suggest you post again on the Living with Arthritis board on here as more people look in on there and you may gain more helpful replies than mine. DD

villier

Hi Mickey

I am very pleased to meet you, I have OA also and a very rare neurological condition and live with chronic pain.

As DD said we are all different but like you wake up with the stiff hands in the morning, I soak mine in lukewarm water with Epsom salts which also helps a little with the neuropathic pain.

I have had two operations on my right hand so far a fore finger DIP joint fusion and a Trapeziectomy on my thumb(seven months post) my right hand is the worst at the moment and suspect I may have a few joints replaced in the future.

As DD suggested repost on LWA as a lot of pope don't come on here, this is the best forum you could get for information support and not forgetting the laughs(best form of medicine). Lovely to meet you, hope to see you around.........................Marie x

MickeyJoints

Hi DD and Villier,

Thanks for your responses and I'll post this into the living with thread.