treatments for Osteoarthritis

[Aleka]

What are the avenues that those of you who have this condition have gone through?  I have it at a relatively young age, and was prescribed celebrex, which I hate the headaches from  and stomach pain (and its not all that effective) which irritates my stomach ulcer. All my doc said was to up the protonix. Im in PT to help as well but if anyone would like to share a short summary of their story from pre-diag symptoms through successful treatment,  I would really like to see how the different docs have handled your speciific case.
The most effective thing Ive done on my own was recently bought an herbal cream that has capsicum in it whihc has done more than any of the other pharma routes. Its still kinda unbearable but Ive at least noticed it being somewhat alleviated.
Im new here so anything, short and sweet or detailed, I would love to hear about.

thanks.

[akshayv]

I am very heavy, my feet are sensitive, Plantar fasciitis, Achilles Tendonitis, Arthritis. Nothing I have purchased before including at the Podiatrist office has been this durable and this comfortable. I know I will buy more in the future as they wear out. If you are thinking about it, don't, your feet will thank you, I know mine have by being painless. orthofeet is very comfortable.

[SherylH]

I too developed arthritis at an early age - both thumbs - and I am/was a dentist. It forced my early retirement. I have gone through the cortisone shots and the Celebrex. I was limping along pretty well just using Advil when the pain ramped up exponentially last winter. My hands were in extreme pain 24hrs a day. I couldn't sleep from the pain. So I found some Tramadol that had been prescribed to my 18yr old daughter for her shoulder pain and long story short - do not resort to Tramadol. I never got the high or euphoria from it that others I guess have and never felt like I had to have it, but I did take it right before bedtime each night and was rewarded with a good nights sleep. Chronic pain can really put the weight on a person. So after gaining 25 pounds I decided it was time to take it back off. I went on the yeast-free diet (which is likely also anti-inflammatory). After about a week, my thumbs still hurt but not as much as they did last winter. So I decided to give my body a break from the Tramadol as I hate exposing my body to drugs on such a constant basis. The withdrawal from Tramadol was eye-opening as I had no clue how accustomed my body had become to it. I didn't sleep for 6 nights. I mean no sleep. Even Benadryl didn't help. After 5 nights I thought I'd check into the side effects of Tramadol and stumbled upon this site. People are incredibly supportive here.
So I guess the best advice I can give you is try out an anti-inflammatory diet. It takes time, so don't quit after just a day or 2. But if you can get the inflammatory products out of your system that will help. I assume since the pain is in your jaw, you have been seen by an oral surgeon. Find one that specializes in TMJ disorders.
I feel your pain. Literally. Hang in there. There will be an answer.

[Julievee]

Hi... I just found this forum and though i am 3 years late, I hope someone will reply.   I'm 37 years old and have OA of the tmj with both discs displaced.  I am 6months pregnant right now and can't take any medication. At first I was ok with is as the pain was pretty manageable.  Lately however, since I have been sleeping in my side due to my growing bump, my jaws and ears have been in pain.  I have just been using warm compress for the pain.  I'm sad and scared that this will get worse.  I am living in the Philippines so my medical options are limited.  

How do you keep the pain at bay?  How do you keep the anxiety away? How do you keep this from taking over your life?  Lastly, how do you stay positive?    

[LivingInHope]

I chose not to do it because residents, I was told, would be involved when I requested he, the experienced surgeon do it and residents could watch.  Most people in my area don't do any kind of jaw surgery.

[LOVINGALLTHINGSCUTE]

You're surgeon told you correctly.  I was told back when I had my surgery that it would last about 5 years and I would need to have it done again. I feel like I've been in the bonus round for the past 15 years.  I wonder if the scar tissue is actually doing good by holding things together.  Even if the surgery had lasted only 5 years it would have been worth it for me.  I really hope you can also find some relief.  :-)

[LivingInHope]

So glad you had a great experience and surgery helped you!  I was told by an experienced surgeon/professor that surgery for me only had a 60 40 chance of success.  You are pretty far away from where I live.

[LOVINGALLTHINGSCUTE]

I live in the Twin Cities MN.  I had the surgery at Fairview Southdale in Edina MN.  GREAT surgeon!

[LivingInHope]

Where'd you get your surgery at?

[LOVINGALLTHINGSCUTE]

Hi  ~  I had arthritis in both sides of my jaw back when I was 26.  It cracked, popped, brought me to my knees a couple of times the pain was so bad.  When they did the MRI they found the left side of the jaw locked open, and the right side was locked shut.  They did TMJ surgery to strengthen it and scrape part of the arthritis off (that never did make sense to me) and said that I also would be on a soft food diet, but 20 years later, the surgery is still a success in my book.  I did find relief (pre surgery) not from the prescription meds, but from an old remedy my dad use to use for his bad knees.  It is quinine.  I'm not a doctor, and am not advising anyone to take quinine, but for me, it helped.  Since I now have OA in most of my body (knees, shoulder, hip) I find that taking quinine infrequently does help even now.  I also believe in the water aerobics.  Warm water where you can move your joints but not cause them paid.

[4Maddie44]

I was told to keep moving, see a physiotherapist, take glucosamine.  Exercises shown to me by physiotherapist help a lot.  TENS machine can help too.  I hate strong pain killers, and find paracetamol (only in UK) help with the pain.  I have refused injections.  

I enjoy aqua aerobics as no strain in water.  It helps.

[LivingInHope]

Yeah,  it probably does stiffen some.  I was encouraged to try to talk normally rather than the ventriloquist type thing I was doing when I was initially diagnosed.  I'm one who flaps her gums a lot though, and nowadays I do go into the ventriloquist type thing occasionally, when I am extremely sore.

It is tough dealing with chronic pain.  Are you taking Naturemade brand of Sam-E and flaxseed oil capsules or enteric coated fish oil capsules?  Are you exercising your hands in hot water to help with the keeping limber?  Yes, it is sad you are not as active for your younger kids, but sore joints can not prevent you from giving them a gift of greater value- your love. :0)

[mellie4]

I just found this forum, though I've been a member of the chronic pain forum for months now.  I developed osteoarthritis young.  I can remember back to my twenties and feeling it on and off, though it was mild.  My mom was debilitated by it and on my dad's side, I had two aunts crippled by it.

I'm 48 now and have it in my hands, hips, knee, back and ankle.  The worst is my hand.  I won't go into too much detail as it's a very long story but I think I have the details in my profile.

Six years ago my hands started getting bad.  I did cortisone shots, medication and ended up doing a joint replacement in my left hand (at the thumb joint), which failed.  Nine surgeries have followed along with getting RSD, probably from so many surgeries.  I've been in PT, OT and now pain management.  I also get different procedures done and am on a ton of pain medication.  I can no longer work and my quality of life has really changed. I'm still processing it and still trying to learn new ways to do things.  You use your hands for everything; so it's been had for me to adapt.  I also use a special compounding cream and lidoderm patches. My medication list is long and the dosages are high.

@SurgiMenopause, I can't imagine having it in my jaw!  I imagine, like me, movement/motion makes it worse but if you don't move it at all, it would just stiffen up.

Arthritis is really terribly debilitating.  My surgeon, when I first went to him and he took x-rays of my hands, told me he never saw anything as bad in someone my age.  My joint had basically just crumbled to nothing.

My last major surgery was a fusion in the hope that would take away the bulk of the pain.  It didn't.  It's likely that I'll have chronic pain my whole life and will be in some kind of pain management program my whole life.  What makes me the saddest is my younger kids don't have the mother my older kids did.

[LivingInHope]

Well, it is a very dehabilitating thing to have arthritis in one's jaws.  I can feel really down about it sometimes.  It limits my talking, singing, chewing, yawning and I was told I would need to be on a soft diet the rest of my life.  I can start to feel sore very quickly when singing at church and talking to a friend on the phone usually winds up making me very sore.   I was diagnoses in late 2004 when I was a little younger than you are now with the arthritis in my jaws and got the MRI this year so I could find out about the discs.  I likely have arthritis other places, but not diagnosed.

When were you diagnoses and which joints are affected?

[Aleka]

Thanks for such a quick answer. How do you feel on a day to day basis? How long have you known about the arthritis?

[LivingInHope]

I don't have a success story, but celebrex, if I remember correctly what I heard, can be even nastier on the stomach than ibuprofen and I don't know why your doctor would have you taking it with a known stomach ulcer.  I think you need to find someone who cares more about you for a doctor.  I have taken ibuprofen for weeks at a time in the past for the osteoarthritis in my jaws.  I try to take it sparingly for it now.  But I get frequent heartburn and was recently put on cytotec generic, which is supposed to help with stomach lining.

I have tried acupuncture, which I thought helped some, herbal heat pack, ice, valium, ibuprofen and wear a flat-planed splint for my jaw osteoarthritis.  I recently got an MRI after years of suffering and learned about disc displacement, one of them displaced all the time and it's torn.  Pool exercise might help you some if they are joints that go underwater.  And if you have knee arthritis, I saw on tv where I scientific study was done proving acupuncture can be a help.