Iâm pretty sure that âyouâre too young for thatâ is just a way of saying âgosh, I didnât know that could happen to someone so youngâ.
Arthritis is a misunderstood condition, at least in this country. Many people I know associate it with Grandmas Big Pill Tops, and then are completely and utterly baffled when they encounter someone in their prime with arthritis. They ask or say embarrassing and infuriating things, which is compounded because itâs so. fucking. painful. âWell, at least you are all right!â. All right?! yeah, i guess being bed ridden for 30 days is all right in the scheme of things, but the intense pain that can (and for me usually does) follow is the worst I have ever felt.
I wish you luck, and I hope the injections prevent further degeneration. And yeah, prednisone is awful stuff if you have to take it more than a day or so.
I think you need to come up with something more interesting to say, like it got whacked in a bar fight, and they should see the other guy.
Yup. My daughterâs friendâs dadâs (gah. Convoluted associations. Itâd be easier if sheâd deign to introduce us, then I could just say âmy friendâ -which he clearly should be, as he built his own pub in their garden) knees are shot and now heâs got titanium ones, and heâs only my age.
With one parent who has this, another with Rheumatoid I am doomed. Considering how it hurts to stand up from kneeling I imagine it is kicking in. Though nothing I need to hit the pills for regularly yet.
You have my sympathies. For what it is worth both parents have had knee replacements and are moving about quite nicely now so when it comes time for that it does get a bit better.
Thanks. I know itâs not going to get better but I do know I still have a lot of mobility left in me. And with current research there will hopefully be better treatments or possible a cure when I am in my 60s and 70s.
I think one of my most favorite things I was asked once was why I didnât drink more milk. I just looked at them and said âThatâs osteoporosis.â and walked away.
When they see me deadlift nearly 200lbs they already know what the other guy would look like. Being direct works best.
Pretty much the exact same story with me, except that I used to run â a lotâŚ
Problems started in my teens and I quit running after the first cross country practice my sophomore year of college. In my early 20âs a crusty old rheumatologist told me that I have the knees of an 85 year old and that it wasnât a question of if I would need replacements someday, but rather when I would need them (and that was up to me). Besides âtake as many ibuprofen as your stomach can handleâ, that was all of his advice. By my count, they are ~110 years old now⌠I use braces if I am doing anything that involves any lateral movement, but for hiking/biking/etc I am fine without any support (perhaps an elastic band-type support).
Thanks, Iâll have to check out the DonJoy.
Itâs worser if youâre overweight, you know, one those fat asses who rides the scooter when he should be walking.
My own buddy: âYour problem is you need to lose weight.â
OK, then, explain the arthritis in my hands. Too many push ups?
I found that Naproxen Sodium (Aleve) 2 a day as needed works best and has the fewest side effects.
I get ($$$) Orthovisc injections in my knees about twice a year. It takes a few weeks to take effect but it works amazingly well.
SighâŚI know this feeling all too well - mid-40âs with moderate to severe arthritis in both hips. Doctors already suggesting total hip replacements and I just canât summon the courage to pull the trigger considering I am most likely facing multiple revision surgeries in my lifetime. Eventually the lack of mobility will force me to go down this path but Iâm working to postpone it as long as possible.
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Iâve had a bad knee since I was fourteen. Forty-five years with the damned thing.
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800 mg of ibuprofen is no joke. Regardless of whether it upsets your stomach or causes bleeding, itâs going to do nasty stuff to your kidneys due to peak concentration. I found that out the hard way â so take the âwith foodâ very, very seriously.
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There are injectable lubricants that gave me several years on what my orthopod called âa very bad knee.â Better them than steroids, or if necessary better them with steroids.
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Know in advance when itâs time to escalate. People put off taking serious measures while their condition deteriorates and all they get is a harder recovery afterward due to loss of muscle tone and mass. In my case, I set the threshold as âcan I do my daily workout without limping the rest of the day?â When I couldnât (almost 45 years from the onset), I called up the doc and scheduled surgery.
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The new knees are dramatically more durable than the older ones and even those lasted longer than originally expected.
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Itâs been four years since my replacement. The replacement on the right is better than the original on the left. Lots better.
I get the hand pain in the winter and it drives me nuts.
Thanks for the tip on the injections, something to keep in mind.
I hear you about the ibuprofen, taking it without food always scares me. I even set an alarm to make sure I donât take doses too close together.
Right now I am making sure to talk to my doc and keep up what I need to do. Replacement isnât a matter of âifâ right now, but âwhen.â
Please let me know if it works for you. It would make me happy to know someone else can get some relief off of a recommendation I made.
Thanks! My issue is an old teenage ACL surgery, not arthritis, but thanks for alerting me to the fact that there are high quality knee braces out there that are in between custom-molded-from-an-orthopedist and the crap available in Walgreens. My own custom brace went missing (why someone would steal a custom fit brace I have no idea) during college and Iâve never been satisfied with the usual cheap consumer stuff.
Iâve had problems with my knees since I was a kid. Childhood arthritis that was never diagnosed until it was plain olâ adult arthritis. Lately, though, theyâd been giving me MAD troubleâŚuntil I went to the doctor and he hooked me up with one of them for each knee. I havenât felt so good in ages! Plus, they make me look like I have Robocop knees.
Not trying to sell these, but a startup in my area is in a competition to win some cash to put these into production. They will be expensive, but if they are as good as advertised, they could be pretty awesome.
My right knee sometimes just collapses and down I go like a demolition. I am wearing a similar brace on that knee now and hope it saves me a tumbleâŚ
My little brother, like you, was told he needed a new hip when he wasnât yet 50 and put it off for years. By the time he bit the bullet and did it [1], heâd gained over 100 pounds and could barely get around.
Today heâll tell everyone he should have done it sooner. Biggest grin on his face around â the weight is gone, heâs back to his old activities, etc.
[1] The combined effort of me (as example), his wife (donât argue with HER!), and the brother between us, who had also put off knee replacement and as I understand it did an âI will if you willâ with him.
