Painful Hands

[dinger]

I am getting arthritis in my hands . My fingers are swollen and I am finding it difficult to grip things. even holding a cup is painful. Squeezing them seemed to help but since the cold weather set in they are worse . hard to move my right hand and get it moving first thing in the morning. Any tips girls.

[franbee]

I think you have to keep them as warm as possible, dinger.

[souter girl]

Oh yes, I sympathise. My left forefinger knuckle stings in this cold weather even although I always wear gloves and my wrists and ankles "click" and are really sore. Bring back the sun!

[jazzactivist]

An elderly friend of mine who had serious arthritis in her hands swore by her home made chilli oil, dinger. She used to make it by infusing a handful of chopped, fresh, red chillis in olive oil over night, then straining it and rubbing it into her hands every day. She managed to take up knitting again after not being able to do it. I think that you can buy chilli oil / cream for this purpose in health shops now. The heat from the chillis warms up the muscles around the joints to help keep them more mobile.

[dinger]

thanks Jazz I will try to get some. it is very painful so when I try to hold a pen to write or grip find I can't.x

[buecherwurm]

I also have arthritis in all the knuckles of my fingers. Quite painful and not very goodlooking. My doctor told me there is nothing I can do except take some painkillers with anti-inflammatory agents in them. But, I don't like to take those for a long period as they might cause other problems. I try to massage my fingers and do exercises to keep them from getting stiff. I remember when I was small people talking about keeping conkers in their pockets to avoid getting arthritis in their fingers. For a long time I thought that there must be a secret ingredient in the conkers; which of course was stupid. But when you have something in your pockets your hands will automatically play with it. So it's worth a try. Put 2 conkers in each pocket and while on your daily walk exercise your legs and your hands at the same time.

[cindy]

My SIL had her knuckle joints replaced and it was very successful

[cindy]

Just in case anyone is interested this is an url to a link about replacement knuckles

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/2009/01/03/T03010927/

[Crocus]

Hi Cindy, I never knew that one can have a knuckle replacement! x

[souter girl]

The other place I notice is my thumbs! It got so bad last week I could hardly hold a newspaper - poor old dear. (Can still hold a glass of wine tho!):D

[Crocus]

Oh that's good SG, as long as you can hold a glass ........;)

[dinger]

It is strange how it can affect just certain parts of the body. I have no problems in knees or anywhere else just my hands, Still after suffering Polymyalgia Rheumatica years ago and knowing that pain this is nothing to that . I have sworn if I ever had that again I could'nt live through it . It was the worst pain ever affecting every muscle in my body and took 3 years to get better.