20 replies to this topic

[olcowhand]

Just wondering how many of us here suffer from arthritis? I'm going through a bout of it today. Extremely sore feet & hands, plus pretty much hurt everywhere else. I take a prescription drug "Meloxicam" every other day & it keeps it in check pretty good, but now & then I have a bad day of it anyway. Sure takes the sap out of me when it peaks.
I'll have to say, that Meloxicam has changed my life. Before I started it, I had bad pain about 1/2 the time. It's just $4 for a month's supply of 30 pills, but that lasts me 2 months, so cheap as can be. I only take it every other day because it can affect your liver, so I try to get by with less of it. I have to get my blood checked every 6 months for my liver due to cholesterol meds that can affect it too. So far I've been on it for over a year & a half & no bad effects yet.

[poncho62]

I'm pretty much in the same boat......58 years old, good days bad days......joints hurt....I take an anti-inflammatory when I need it....This past week was pretty bad.

I am on Lipitor for high cholesterol too.....They say a side effect of it is joint pain.........can't win.....lol

[nra1ifer]

Sorry to hear about the arthritis, Daniel. I hope you get some relief soon. Luckily, I don't have any problems with that. My doctor wanted to put me on some cholesterol medicine a couple of years ago, but I think most doctors will do that, rather than encourage a healthy diet. I was able to get mine down by cutting out a bunch of unhealthy food I was eating.

[massey driver]

I hear you.I actually just use tylenol for Arthritis the one thats made for Arthritis.It's supposed to be good for 8 hrs.I don't use to much unless I really need too.I"ve been on Lipitor for high Cholesterol for a few yrs now and haven't had any problems yet.I was told by Dr and Phramacy that if you take it like your supposed to it's not hard on your liver, but if you skip days and don't take it everyday like your supposed to , thats when you'll have problems. Larry

[olcowhand]

I asked the doc about not taking my Meloxicam every day & he confirmed that would be fine, with no harmful effects. I take my Simvastin every day for cholesterol.
You know we're getting older when we post about our aches, pains, & medications!:rofl2:

[Bill56]

Well, I don't know if it's arthritis, but I do know that I can't do near as many things as I used to just because of pain. Hope you're feeling better soon Daniel.

[DH1]

I'm 52 and I feel it when the damp weather comes, manly the toes and finger joints, I don't take any thing for it as I can still function.
I consider myself very lucky in that I am not on any medication for anything but nobody knows what tomorrow brings.

[coldone]

No arthritis yet but was put on simvistatin this year for chloresterol. I told the doc that i wanted to wait until I was 40 before he ran the my blood test. I knew he would suggest some changes. He insisted and I yeilded and I was right, he suggested some changes. I look at it now as I take medicine so I can eat what I want and not worry about chloresterol.

[Rickski]

I'm pretty much in the same boat......58 years old, good days bad days......joints hurt....I take an anti-inflammatory when I need it....This past week was pretty bad.

I am on Lipitor for high cholesterol too.....They say a side effect of it is joint pain.........can't win.....lol

Talk to your doctor. That family of medicine affects some people in a bad way. My wife has been on Lipitor for years with no side effects. My brother was on Crestor and his joints hurt so bad, he got off it and decided to go the fish oil and diet route. Talk to the doc and see if there is something else he can put you on.

I'm 52 and have always used my hands, so the fingers get locked up every so often. I'll continue to deal with it because I'm not going to stop doing the stuff I love.

[massey driver]

You know we're getting older when we post about our aches, pains, & medications!:rofl2:

The other thing that I notice lots now is that when I look into the mirror ,I have to turn my head just to make sure that there's no one standing behind me. I think to myself who is that stranger in the mirror ,then reality sinks in and I realize yep its me.LOL Larry

[grand]

Old age is not for the faint of heart. I have been bothered by major aches in my right knee for the last several weeks. Try to ignore it as much as possible. I was on Crestor at one time and started experiencing severe pain in my left arm when I slept. Came home from a trip and was watching the news with my wife when they showed a fellow in a hospital bed with pain so bad that he couldn't walk. He was taking Crestor. I quit taking it right away, and the arm pain disappeared. This drug may work for some folks but not for all of us.
Just enjoy each day that we are given and hope that tomorrow will be even better.

[grnspot110]

I'm 60 & have dealt with it to some degree for several years. Had surgery on my right shoulder 6-7 years ago because the spurring was pinching nerves, never knew what part of my arm or hand would hurt next. So far, I'm able to get by OK with Naproxin (Aleve) or I do have a pain killer prescription if it gets too bad. Hurting more tonight since I pushed on a screwdriver quite a bit this afternoon. Lots of people out there worse off than I am! ~~ grnspot110

[Reverend Blair]

I'm a hemophiliac, so all of the bleeding in my joints over the years has left me with pretty bad arthritis, especially in my knees and ankles. I've got it in my right hand and shoulder too, but those aren't bad yet. I also can't take about 99% of the arthritis drugs because they make me bleed. Ladders and stairs give me the most trouble. Stairs are probably the worst, since a ladder allows you to use your arms to take a lot of the weight. Roof-work is out. I can't swing my legs well enough to get back on the ladder once I'm up there. Kneeling is bad too, especially trying to stand up after. Too much walking, especially when carrying loads, really does me in.

When this first started happening to me, I wasn't quite forty yet. I was wondering how I was going to make a living. The part of my work I hate is the paperwork and the estimates, so I didn't want to be one of those guys who just hires crews and lets them do the work. I also figured I'd need at least three crews working all the time to earn what I was used to. I switched from general renovations (basically everything, but heavy on framing, insulating, painting and roof-work) to landscape carpentry and light landscaping.

I've found is that I can do pretty much everything with the right tools.

Sawhorses keep me from having to kneel much. The hydraulic auger I use is pretty easy to drill with. I pull it and the materials, rock etc. around with a GT. Air nailers save the shoulder and arm. So does driving screws with a little impact instead of a drill.

It's not perfect, and I'm a lot slower than I used to be and considering a student for the summer instead of just using casual labour for some jobs, but it works okay overall.

The best medicine I've found for it is having a couple of beer and using ice to control the swelling and heating pads to loosen things up.

[mjodrey]

I broke one of my thumbs pretty bad a few years ago,and I would say that "Art." has moved in.

[petepete]

No arthritis thankfully. But have been dealing with sciatica since I was a teenager. Almost can't walk at times then it may go 6 or 8 months with no ill effects. But I have noticed since getting a little older I have ever so slight tingling in one foot.