Painful Hands

Wendas1960

Hi

I'm a bit nervous as I've never used a forum before. My name is Wendy and I have osteoarthritis in various joints although my hands seem to be worst. I was advised to keep moving and do a lot of knitting to keep my fingers supple, however my hands seem more painful at the moment. Am I doing the wrong thing

Jona

Hi Wendas1960:

I have it in my hands I use stress balls and use hot water and cold I just put them in alternate it helps with the swelling I use wrist and thumb splints too you can get them off the internet or from physio I also knit too I’m a little slower now but keep them moving but do as much as the pain allows don’t overdo things

welcome btw keep sharing and the lovely people here will give you valuable advice

take care

love Jona 😊💪

Wendas1960

Thank you Jona

I've been reasonably OK until the last couple of weeks and all the Dr seems to say is I'll give you some Codeine and Piroxicam. I don't have swelling although it sounds strange but sometimes when I try to make it feels like they are swollen. I have a left hand split I use when I need it as the left is sometimes worse being my dominant hand.

Wendy

Jona

Hi again Wendas1960,

its a bit rubbish I know but funny enough I’ve been using my rolling pin ( not for baking, I’m a rubbish cook) but I roll my hands fingers to wrist it just keeps my hands functioning but I stop when it starts hurting

Sending people on their way with just pills isn’t always the best thing but it’s what they do I’m afraid there’s no magic pill I used to think drs could do anything but I’ve had a hard lesson they’re just like us and don’t have all the answers some are rude too but it’s great your here and your sharing keep strong your not on your own

love Jona x

Wendas1960

Hi again

I was talking with my daughter and her boyfriend and explaining what you said about the stress balls. He said he has some and is going to bring them for me so I'll give it a try.

Thank you for the tips. I'm very grateful

Wendy x

Jona

My pleasure Wendy you can also use wool make up balls to fit your hand and tightly bind into a ball and it’s just as good 😊

take care

love Jona 💐

Wendas1960

That's a good idea. And with all the knitting I do I've got plenty wool spare 🤣

Wendy

Jona

See not only arthritis comes with age ingenuity and wisdom do too 😊😊😂

love Jona x

crinkly

Hi Wendy. I'm glad you decided to post on the forum.

I too have struggled with OA in hands for many years. The initial generalised pain has either reduced or I have become accustomed to it but there are still some times when specific joints - especially thumbs - object strongly to over-use or just to remind me about their plight!

Like Jona I've used a number of 'therapies' over the years - wax bath (which I love), soaking in hot/cold water, compression gloves, splints of various designs - but haven't avoided all the stiffness, limited function and lumpy appearance caused by the formation of bony nodes. I understand entirely the sensation of swelling and its accompanied weird sensation of mobility loss, which I usually counter by getting the digits moving again in warm water.

When my OA began resting hand splints were reserved for patients with RA and related conditions but I now understand they can be custom-made for those with OA too and worn at night to stave off the worst of the deformity. With hindsight it could have been a very positive addition to the armoury so is well worth exploring with your Physio or Occupational therapist.

Early advice from an OT introduced me to a range of gadgets, many of which have proved useful in the long term so that may be worth pursuing if you haven't already been referred by your GP or made a self-referral.

Hand OA is a frustrating condition that varies from person to person but in my experience it has been a matter of trial and error; of pain-relieving meds, adapted daily living tasks, knowing when to stop and ask for help. Most of all it's been a case of learning to pace myself (with the knitting as with everything else) so as to retain mobility but not to exacerbate pain while simultaneously trying to retain a sense of humour when held or carried objects suddenly land on the floor, seemingly of their own volition. I readily admit that I don't always succeed but live in hope of 'getting there' some day!

It's a challenging journey and I wish you well at each stage of it.

Wendas1960

Thank you for your advice. I'm not under any OT or physio as every time I speak to the Dr he says "I'll give you a bit of codeine" and that's about it.

I have bought myself various gadgets as I thought I would just sort myself out and they have been invaluable. Especially the gadget for getting lids off jars and bottles.

I've had good advice from this site so shall be trying the new tips I've learned

Wendy x

Shell_H

Hi @Wendas1960 - just thought I'd add the information that you can self-refer to both a Occupational Therapist and a Physio Therapist. Where I live I can self refer to the physio through my doctors surgery - although I would have to pay for this - and the occupational therapist is through the council, which is free. It may differ in your area, but it's worth looking into.

Wendas1960

Thanks Shell_H

I will definitely look into that to see what I can refer myself for. I believe there is a self referral system for physio in my area but I thought the Dr had to advise you to do it. I'll give them a ring

Thanks again

Wendy

Jimbo

Hi

This is my first post. I have OA in my hands which is getting pretty bad in that I can’t open bottles and sometimes as the person above my coffee or other things end up on the kitchen floor. I am now on naproxen 250mg and 30/500 which I take as prescribed. However more and more there are days when even these don’t help the pain. My fingers are twisting quite a lot now, the middle finger in my right hand now has a a small nodule at the top joint - very painful and struggling now to make a fist.

Anyhow with this and the constant pain in my wrists 24 hours a day can anyone advise on how they manage with my symptoms. GP is trying to get me back to the Rheumatologist who I’ve seen before though basically said it’s only osteoarthritis.

Thanks in advance

Jona

Hi again,

If you have a nearest and dearest I forgot to mention hand cream and massage are really good I’m trying hard to avoid more meds make me so tired, I dropped my glass vase yesterday my son asked if I was of Greek heritage as I’m always dropping something I did throw a cup once but I was feeling a little frustrated oh well gone are the days when I had a full dinner service

Jimbo go back to rheumatologist mine only said it was arthritis but since found out it isn’t so take gps advice did they scan your hands with mri?

love Jona 😊💪

Jimbo

Hi Jona

thanks for your comments, your right even the meds I’m on aren’t helping that much and leave me with a hangover every morning. The GP is trying to get me to see rheumatologist again. I’ve only had my hands xrayed. This was only when my thumbs were sore, deformity has spread since then.

Did you get an MRI on your hands?

Jimbo

Jona

Hi Jimbo,

Yes I had one hand mri they couldn’t get the needle in to put the dye through so just normal mri, but they can tell from that either rheumatoid or osteoarthritis they also tried to mri the other hand but as I have it in my spine also they wanted me lying on my front with my arm up which was very painful so I couldn’t do it, I’m rather disappointed with medical people at present as just found out something quite serious that’s just been dismissed as anxiety so really get a referral to rheumatologist and get those hands checked

love Jona 😊💪