Re: *** on Arthritis

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:50:27 -0500, jerry.ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

For about 4 weeks now, the thumb on my left hand, both joints, has
been getting progressively more arthritic. The whole thumb is red,
and swollen. It hurts like the dickenms to bend it, or even hold
anything in the hand.

This really sucks.

I see the Doc next week. I've had some history of minor arthritis (or
joint pain of some etiology), but this episode is by far the worst.
Aleve (naproxen) is the only legal drug that even remotely lessens the
pain. Sometimes the pain is so sharp that it takes my breath away.

I am not happy. I have lost interest in everything.

I've done a lot of web surfing to asses the current state of the
medical art, vis-a- vis arthritis, and it doesn't look good. Some of
the monoclonal antibody treatments utilize weekly injections into the
joint..that sounds like I'd want to do that. Some use weekly IV's.
Better, but the potential side effects sound positively disastrous


Jerry

The first and most important step is diagnosis. If this came on
suddenly the list of possible causes is very different compared to
pain which develops gradually over a period of months.

Consult your doctor before taking any treatment steps, be they
prescription or non-prescription treatments. Monoclonal antibody
treatments are for documented active rheumatoid arthritis and other
"destructive arthritides" and would be inappropriate for the
age-related osteoarthritic syndromes.

If the onset was sudden, consider Lyme disease and acute gout, or
trauma.

"Arthritis" is a generic term applying to ANY process leading to
inflammation/pain of any joint - the true information content of this
term is quite small.

Best wishes for an accurate diagnosis and a speedy recovery.

HK
.

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