Living with the BIG A Pain

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Simply given our general age profile on FWW there must be more than just me that is having to adapt to life with the big A ...Arthritis.

I saw a presentation by this Dr Vijay Vad the other day and have been wondering if any of you have read this book but even more important do any of you have any specific proven tips to improve living with the big A. http://www.amazon.com/Arthritis-Rx-Cutting-Edge-Program-Pain-Free/dp/1592402747

My youth and two motorcycle accidents are really catching up with me and affecting the quality of my life. Ever since I went away 3 months back and went fly fishing in a river in NY state, my knee has been hurting like crazy making for a pretty irritable day each day. Went for MRI the other day (yeah the negatives of state provided health I had to wait 3 months for an appointment) and found out I have chips of cartilage floating around the joint. Already had one of those clean outs (arthroscopy) on the same joint and these days they saying they possibly do more harm than good. Currently waiting for an appointment with a specialist to check out the MRi. I aint one for taking pain relievers so I am looking into alternative ways of dealing with this, its not going anywhere anytime soon. :eek:

So anyone have any home style tips. When it gets to food and what to eat and not, I have felt the effects of red meat and its amazing how quickly it puts you off eating it, same with a glass of wine, but chip away at all these things and man I might as well become vegan and if that has to happen I rather go in a box. :D

So what's your way of dealing with this nuisance. I certainly don't wish to be sitting all the time and currently once I am standing I don't wish to sit because of the transition pain both ways.
 
This might sound a bit strange, but it worked for me... I had chronic knee pain - mostly from all the wonderful abuse my knees got during my 22 years USMC, compounded by an automobile accident - for many years. I was wearing a knee brace nearly every waking hour, and still had pain. Medical doctors said surgery - short of knee replacement - wouldn't help.

Later, my chiropractor prescribed in-shoe full footbed orthotics for a lower back condition. They didn't help the back much at all, but after wearing them for a month or so, my knee pain went away. I haven't needed my knee braces for about five years now, and I have orthotics in every pair of shoes I wear.
 
Well Rob, all I can say it that gettin old ain't for whimps. :rofl: I am dealing with the A thing also and Have been for a few years, I just finished going to Physical Therapy sessions a few weeks ago, and that seemed to help a little, but I do take a couple of pills a day for the pain and they really help, Nothing strong ,but enough to get rid of the aches. I am now walking with a cane, I'm sorry to say, but we do what we have to do to keep going. I am sure not going to let it stop me from doing what I want to do. Hope that you find something to get relief from your pains and get back on track.
 
This might sound a bit strange, but it worked for me... I had chronic knee pain - mostly from all the wonderful abuse my knees got during my 22 years USMC, compounded by an automobile accident - for many years. I was wearing a knee brace nearly every waking hour, and still had pain. Medical doctors said surgery - short of knee replacement - wouldn't help.

Later, my chiropractor prescribed in-shoe full footbed orthotics for a lower back condition. They didn't help the back much at all, but after wearing them for a month or so, my knee pain went away. I haven't needed my knee braces for about five years now, and I have orthotics in every pair of shoes I wear.

Jim its interesting you mention this because being an ex South African I like to walk around barefoot if I can. But at the same time I have orthotics and when I put my shoes on that have the orthotics in them it sure makes a difference to the extent that I now try not to go barefoot, but for a African that does not come naturally. ;).
And I wondered about you and the service because for my short time in the military we sure did a lot of stupid things that helped the damage along. Jumping off the back of moving trucks with solid rubber soles onto hard asphalt and concrete (you gotta wonder) and then loading yourself like a pack mule with kit and running along asphalt and over uneven terrain for hours on end (go figure). Our boots had great leather uppers but the soles man they left a lot to be desired. I notice things have changed a lot since my time but we sure beat up the legs and knees for no benefit.

Yeah Charles I aint going to let it stop me but after watching this Dr Vijay talk I think there are a load of things we can do to help ourselves and live with it at a more acceptable level without the medication. Here is a You tube of his talk on pbs the other day. I just hate the way PBS shows the audience. Man its like kindergarten as if I need faces to corroborate what he is saying. It makes it into an commercial which devalues the content. :huh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikId4l68iVA
 
Last edited:
Well, as you know my wife had surgery on one of her knees and they cleaned up the joint, but the other knee hasn't had the surgery and was almost as bad as the one that did. She's been doing a diet where there is hardly any gluten and she says the other knee hasn't been hurting her like it did. She's also lost about 20 lbs, but by default I'm usually put on the diet as well, and have also noticed a reduced amount of joint pain and haven't lost 1 lb. Most of the meals aren't any different, just don't have bread. We are eating more brown/wild rice and potatoes.
 
I woudl suggest what Darren mentioned. A lower gluten diet is supposed to remove inflamation thruought the body. I've recently been eating a paleo diet that pretty much cuts out grain and dairy. I have knee pain that comes and goes usually but it is all but gone when I stick to the diet. I had some pizza and beer last night and my knees hurt this morning. :doh:I still have a few beers now and then and that doesn't really make that big of difference on the joint pain, but if I have bread I will notice the next day. I've dropped about 10lbs in the last month since starting this.

There are also lots of "natural supplements" that are supposed to help with joint pain (No I'm not talking about the "bud" that is now legal in a few states :))
 
Funny you mention this Rob. I went in to see a spine Dr. as my doc thought I had a pinched nerve in my neck. This spine doc was a hoot. She says, you weld? I say yep, she says, "a little arthritis in the neck probably from (and she makes the head motion of flipping a welding helmet down over your eyes)!!!! Then she says my arm pain isn't from a pinched nerve. She holds her two thumbs over my arteries on my left hand and has me make repeated fists. Hand becomes white, she lets go of the arteries and the hand becomes pink quickly. Does the same to my right wrist and the hand stays (started somewhat white) white a long time. She thinks I have something torn in my shoulder that is causing inflammation that is cutting off blood flow as my arm is six degrees cooler than the left arm. So, maybe next week a shoulder doc added to the list of docs I go to! My dad says, "the golden years are us handing our gold over to doctors!"
 
Loml has been taking "egg shell membrane" supplements alongside the normal glucoasime chondriton supplements and both her and several others have noted that it seems to help a lot. Interestingly the chondriton studies I've seen show that it helps but only at doses a fair bit bigger than what the "normal pill size" is - so like 3-4 pills/day seems to be around where the benefit would kick in.
 
I understand your pain!

My left knee has been cleaned out, lateral release, and now it is up to me to tell my surgeon when I want it replaced. The right one just aches all the time. The occasional bone on bone rubbing makes me want to drop to my knees - literally. The damage was from an overactive life compounded by putting on weight. Be honest, most of us are gluttons.

My "solution is to eat clean - limit the grain (try to go gluten free) and focus on vegies. I read ingredients and, if there are 5 or more, it ain't food, it is a compound! If there is only one ingredient, congratulations, you most likely found the fruit/produce/meat section! I take vitamins with fish oil, glucosomine and chondroitin. Ask your doctor about Synvisc (http://www.synviscone.com/) I quit drinking. I work out - hard. In the past 12 months I have done P90X, P90X2, Insanity, 2 rounds of Les Mills Combat, and am doing a mix of workouts waiting for a buddy to start Focus T25.

Bottom line is eat right, drop the excess weight, strengthen the muscles. Your doctor will be impressed, your wife will be pleased, and your bank account will remain positive. Your knees will still hurt, just not as much.

Anyway, that is what works for me, your mileage may vary. If it matters, I'm 52 y.o. Good luck.
 
I guess only going on 40, you've all given me something to look forward too :rofl:

But seriously, I think I have been blessed in that it hasn't been an issue with me (yet). I had an uncle die at 40 something, from rheumatoid arthritis so do know the really bad side of it.

I did have an annoying pain in my shoulder once that I lived with for a year and then decided to do the gluco/chond route and after three weeks, it went away, for good...so I would not dismiss that (may not be related to arthritis, but all I know is, it worked).

Yes, all us fatties need to lose weight because we are not doing ourselves favors...can't blame our bodies for what we do to them.
 
An area I should be expert in. The doc's figure I have several kinds of arthritis, maybe a few that ain't on the books yet! Not recommended but Enbrel isn't an option for me, been that way for a lot of years. Without Enbrel my hands have been so bad I wanted to scream like a girl child just trying to press down the keys on a keyboard. Several medications similar to Enbrel, all bad for you but one will work great and one terrible for the same person so if you have to try them and one doesn't work try another before giving up. Humira is the magic ticket for my brother. Worked terribly for me and Enbrel doesn't work for him.

Moving to more pleasant things, the Glucosamine Chondroitin with MSM does make a big difference in all over aches and pains for me. I don't notice the gradual improvement taking it that takes a few months to see but I notice quite a negative difference when I quit taking it for three or four weeks. I started taking a supplement with all three and never tried splitting them up for long although I am out of MSM right now so I don't know if all three are needed together or not.

A simple issue almost all of us have is tight hamstrings. Many years ago a physical therapist had me try a heel board. Thought it was one of the stupider wastes of time when he started me on it one Monday. As soon as I got home Friday evening I built myself a heel board so I didn't do without it for two days! Helps knee pain, back pain, stride, leg cramps, the wonder toy for me.

I need to give more detail and a picture for anyone wanting to try a heel board but I'm going to do that in a new thread, don't want to derail this one.

Hu
 
I know exactly what you mean, Rob. I have arthritis in my fingers and lower back, and as it's cold and rainy today, the pain is driving me nuts. My pharmacist gave me the strongest non-prescription pain killer he can (Ratio-Lenoltec #1,) and it give me some relief. I just live with the pain most of the time. I was shopping with my wife a little earlier, and even leaning forward to fill the grocery bags caused me to wince. I've talked to the doctor about it, but he just suggests I take Tylenol. Robaxicet and its generics used to help me, but I can't take aspirin based product any more. I have a heating pad which makes it feel better as long as it's on. Good luck with this!
 
Mine's not as advanced as many of those posting here, but it was starting to get in my way. Mostly in my fingers. It affects my grip and any lateral pressure on my finger joints - pressing sideways against the joint (on bad days) would always illicit a yelp from me). I'd like to stay away from drugs so I do stretch those joints every evening while watching TV by pulling my fingers back as far as I can and holding them there for about 30 seconds each - over and over. That seems to help.

A homeopathic remedy that has wildly contradicting reviews on the web is drinking a tea made from hot water (of course), two tablespoons of honey, and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Some people say it works wonders, others say hogwash. I tried it for two weeks a while back when the pain was acting up and I noticed a marked improvement. No way to say it was the tea. Might all have been in my head. God knows there plenty of room up there for such things.:rofl: In any event, it's cheap, easy, and does not taste all that bad.
 
Top