Osteoarthritis questions for all you lay doctors

[crazymama30]

The other cox 2 is Celebrex Dj--dh takes it.

[Dammit Janet]

LOL...yep CM...my mind is like swiss cheese half the time. I swear words escape me when I need them most. I normally can just walk away from the computer until I remember the word unless I really want to post fast. Then I just give you all my "whatchamacallit" random verbiage.

[Shari]

I have OA, as well, and have had the RA testing come back significant, tho with monitoring, the RA factor has decreased...so not sure what's up there.

I know that once my joints are irritated, tho, it takes months if not years for them to calm down.

I take maintenance ibuprofen, and most generally have joint pain every day...but I've had this since I was 28. I'm not replacing my knees yet! I also learned recently that sugar for a person like me is an inflammatory. For the past year or so, I've tried to follow closer to 130g carbs/day and have seen significant improvement in my joitn pain as a result.

My dad had OA as well, and an injection into his knees, Synvisc, helped him tremendously until he had his knees replaced.

[Dammit Janet]

Shari...I have had a cousin to that...cant remember the name of it but instead of only one shot like Synvisc, mine is a 5 shot series. I have done it three times in my left knee and twice in the right.

This last time...well lets just say it was a failure.

[Shari]

It got to where it wouldn't work for dad anymore, either, but it did buy him a few years.

[MidwestMom]

Thank you, thank you all!
I bruise easily and all the time. I always have. I am definitely going to look into it. My sister and I both bruise so badly that people have asked us if we have Leukemia! This has been since as long as I can remember. The thing is, I had surgery and don't seem to have trouble with clotting, but I still want to have that test.

As for OA, how do you exercise on it? They want me to, but that just makes it worse.

Nobody has spoken of surgery and I don't want it yet. I would just need it again in ten years. No thanks!

[Lothlorien]

Janet, it's Hyalgan. Synvisc used to be three shots, but now they have Synvisc 1. Hyalgan is five shots over a course of about 5 weeks.

[crazymama30]

Try non impact excercise, water aerobics and the like are good. Maybe an ellipictal instead of a treadmill? Walking and jogging are higher impact.

[Marguerite]

I walk as much as I can. It's not much but every bit helps. Gentle walking too, not Olympics grade walking. More like a long stroll.

Whatever you can do is good, to keep the joints moving. OA should ease up in the joint stiffness after about 10 minutes of gentle exercise, while RA takes longer.

Marg

[Dammit Janet]

Loth...we call it the WD40...lol.