Pain relief creams
Hi - I have just been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and looking for a pain relief cream for my hands - one that really works! Can anyone recommend one?? Many thanks. Andrea
Comments
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Hi @AndreaB welcome to the Versus Arthritis online Community.
I see from your post that you are hoping to find a cream which will be effective for pain in your hands. Hopefully some of our members will be along to share their own experiences with you, but in the meantime I am going to attach a couple of links which you might find useful.
One is about hand and wrist pain per se:
The other is about capsaicin cream which many of or members seem to value. I know early last year it was difficult to get hold of and is prescription only:
Best wishes
Ellen.
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I have used the non steroidal anti-inflammatory creams in the past I took the advice of the pharmacist and used an ibuprofen one and one with diclofenac in it. I didn't think oe much better than the other just preferred the one which properly absorbed!
I haven't tried capsaicin, but and very very interested in it.
Also I have known people in here in the past talk about wax hand baths for hand pain.
That's just me others may have better ideas.
take care
Toni x
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Hi @AndreaB
The trouble with using cream on your hands is you're constantly washing them and a lot of them say do not use on your face! I had a trapeziectomy in 2020 and know how hard it is for you - I now have problem with the wrist on the same hand.
This is what worked for me - keep your hands warm - I invested in some fingerless gloves so that I could continue to work as a PA and I supplemented these with Hot Hands (or similar) which I still use with my gloves, tucked inside. You can get them from most shops in packs of two. If they work for you, and they stay warm for about 10-12 hours, I suggest buying them in bulk from somewhere like Amazon (other sites are available) and usually work out about half lthe price of buying them separately.
Ibroprofen cream may work - buy the strongest you can get, but if you use this at night time then make sure you wear some gloves as well.
You may also find splints available - not sure whereabouts is most affected for you but with my thumb I tried various ones and the one that worked best for me was a fairly small one that did up with velcro around the wrist. I did try the big ones that went down my arm and found these too restricting. It is worth remembering that if you restrict your hand movements too much and don't use it then you'll probably feel worse.
I hope this is useful to you, please let me know if you need any more advice - doing things with only one hand working properly is challenging!
best wishes
Trish xx
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Hi @AndreaB
I've problems with my hands and use compression gloves that certainly help in my case. You can buy them from Amazon and you specify the size of your hand to get a good tight fit. I also use capsaicin cream for my shoulders and knees. I wouldn't recommend using it on your hands as I've inadvertantly rubbed my eye after applying it to my shoulders and knees but before washing my hands thoroughly and it was certainly very uncomfortable. I also immerse my hands in hot water and that helps me as well.
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