How were you diagnosed ?

Reen
Reen Member Posts: 4
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:11 in Living with arthritis

Hello . I've had pain and swelling in my hand over a year. Woke one morning in absolute agony with crunch limited movement . Emailed docs . Had a phone call back . Quick chat about symptoms. Told I had arthritis and did I want Naproxin? . Surely there is more to diagnosing this awful condition?

Comments

  • noddingtonpete
    noddingtonpete Moderator Posts: 1,243

    Hello @Reen and welcome to the Community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that will be your experience as well.

    I understand that you have recently been diagnosed with arthritis in your hand. I have put a couple of links in below from our website that might give you some more information.

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-of-the-hand-and-wrist/

    and

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

    Please keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and if you need any more information just ask.

    Best wishes

    Peter

    Need more help? - call our Helpline on0800 5200 520Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • Reen
    Reen Member Posts: 4

    I find ALL printed information unhelpful .

    Arthritis in my hand All advice is about maintaining movement !

    I feel my joints need a rest!

    My job involves heavy lifting and deep pressure massage on others !'

    how on earth will stretching help my pain

    There is an assumption that arthrities can be helped by exercise?

    Mine is caused by over use !

  • Reen
    Reen Member Posts: 4

    So the support group is just you lot SIGNPOSTING ?

    Not helpful! .

    Do you not think most of us have spent HOURS !!!!!! Looking at information leaflets

    Your group is pointless

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764

    @Reen , to answer the question in your header, I was diagnoseď with RÀ back in 1961 when I was 15. I went to the GP with what my family thought were chilblains but a blood test showed RA.

    I think it's a pity your GP didn't see you or, maybe refer you for an x-ray but it does sound like OA.

    Pain and uncertainty make us scared, frustrated and, at times, angry but I don't think that's an excuse for being bad-mannered and rude. Mod @noddingtonpete was trying to help. Most of us find the info on this site very helpful.Ànd we find the site itself very useful and supportive. Pleàse give us a chance.

    Re exercise - it's vital to get the balance right berween rest and exercise. With OA (I have that too now) if we do too much we suffer for it. You have a job which sounds to be very demanding on your hands so you probably do need to rest them more. But I've always been told (and found the advice spot on) to do gentle range of movement exercises even when things are bad to ensure the movement is not lost. When things have been really tough I've often gone straight to my exercises and found they eased things. By moving in a different way to the daily overuse, we can strengthen the weqker muscles. Strong muscles support our joints and so the joints hurt less

    I hope you'll get other replies but remember we all have arthritis in one form or another, and pain and fatigue are constant factors in all our lives. We can't always just leap in to reply.

    I hope the naproxen help i'd suggest you give it a few wewks and, if it's not helping, ask for a face to face appt. But, sadly, there are no quick fixes. Good luck.

    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 30,032

    @Reen


    https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/comment/715073#Comment_715073

    I was diagnosed some time after waking up one morning 'stuck in position' in bed and in agony. Feet ankles knees and hips. 6 weeks like this before things eased up and a while later I got meds to dampen down the disease.

    A trip to the Dr with the help of my bro some bloods a referral to rheumatology and here I am. I have also added Osteoarthritis to my inflammatory type some way down the line.

    I am also sorry that you did not get to actually see a Dr I agree with @stickywicket it is always best to see someone in real life. I hope you tried the Naproxen many people find it very helpful. Some swear by capsaicin too and I love my microwavable wheatbags.

    There is definitely a balance between rest an exercise, but even when I cannot tolerate the pain of a sheet on my joints I do at least do what we call range of movement exercises.

    Most people here are supportive and kind to one another. I can see you are in pain and quite possibly frightened, but in general it's best to be nice to others. This forum/online community is a wonderful resource one I value very very highly.

    Toni

  • swimmer60
    swimmer60 Member Posts: 202

    @Reen

    OK pointless for you, but I find it good to share experiences.

    As for your hands, yes horrible. I've got arthritis in my fingers/thumbs too, makes gripping difficult. Just had hip surgery and it's so frustrating to keep dropping things, as the grabber is useless.

    Doesn't the strength for lifting come from your arm muscles rather than your hands? Your hands are just for holding /gripping. When I'm lifting heavy gardening stuff I try to engage my core. Have you thought of Pilates?

    And stretching, flexing is absolutely essential for keeping everything moving.

    Docs love Naproxen and I found it useless. Co-codimol helped as well as an iboprufen gel.

  • Nurina
    Nurina Member Posts: 458
    edited 19. Nov 2023, 11:42

    Hi. @Reen I saw your post yesterday but I didn't know what to answer. I find your last post really aggressive but I'm taking my time to answer you. I was diagnosed at the age of 5, in the 70s. I was attending Ballet classes and the teacher noticed I couldn't do some exercises. All my joints were swollen. I visited many specialists each of them making different diagnosis. Some of them really pesimistic. I had hundreds of xrays, blood tests treatments, injections. I was in hospitals several times and I had a surgery in my wrist to analyse a sinovial node. After many everything, they said I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

    Now, I'm suffering OA as a consequence of the attack of my immune system to the bones. I've been prescribed Naproxen and Omeprazol I'm not taking them because I'm risking something worse than the pain.

    Exercise is very important. Muscles hold our bones and stretching makes the soft tissues around them more flexible.

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