My fingers really hurt.

[CathyA]

My osteoarthritis just seems to be moving much too fast. I have 3 fingers on my right hand that are misshapen and painful. Now I'm getting pain in the fingers on my left hand. Yesterday I pruned some plants in the back yard, and my fingers hurt the rest of the day. Its sort of hard to do much of anything, if your fingers really hurt!
I can't take NSAIDS and I try not to take acetaminophen too often. I try putting my hands in very warm water, which helps for about 10 minutes. I'm still contemplating buying a warm paraffin bath thing.

Have any of you with this problem ever tried the capsacian-type of creams?
I have a pretty big trunk, but my ankles and wrists are very small............so maybe my feet and hands have had to do too much of the work.
I'm wondering if I could strengthen my wrists so my hands wouldn't have to over-work??
Do any of you know if the finger/hand strengthening exercises really work?
I'm only 62 and still have alot of living to do............so I want to be able to use my hands!
I went to a hand doc once and he said there was absolutely nothing to do to help except surgery. That ticked me off, because I'm sure there are alot of alternative ways of dealing with this.......at least to minimize some of the pain after I work outside.
Thanks.

[iris lily]

For one thing, pruning can be strong work that is stressing on hands, so maybe you should cut down on that work. Or use the big loppers (awkward, I know for small pruning) and make the tool bear the brunt of the force.

[Aqua Blue]

hugs. I quit work 3 years ago because of hand arthritis. Both my thumbs bother me so much it is hard to do many things. As far as pruning, I find it easier to saw than to use pruners. I use a new, very sharp blade and just do a very little at a time, like maybe one bush. It takes me all summer to do my bushes, LOL. Another possibility would be a very small chainsaw. Cold seems to settle my hands down better than heat, but YMMV. I also find immobilizing the joint for say 24hours with no cheating helps. I almost always sleep with hand splints, I think I really tend to clench my hands during sleep which adds to the problem. I am a sight, with both feet in Plantar faciitis splints, my right knee in a splint and usually at least one hand. I can't sleep on my right side because it bothers my brusitis. etc.

Actually if I had health insurance to cover it, which I don't, I would do the surgery. I have know quite a few people who have had the surgery with good results.

[kally]

is there something you can do for diet to help. I changed my diet to reduce inflammation and it seems to help.

[redfox]

Acupuncture is awesome for reducing the pain and inflammation of osteoarthritis. You've reminded me that I need to make an appointment!

[citrine]

Hand massage works wonders...you can even do it on yourself with some lotion...work from your elbows down to the fingers. Accupuncture would help as well, finger strengthening with the stress balls, paraffin baths, and Arnica gel which you can get in Shoprite.

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone,
I didn't know if the exercises were okay to use on 2 very deformed fingers.
Interesting about the acupuncture! I'll definitely keep that in mind. I've heard its good on bad knees too. I'll need to make a bunch of appointments for all the parts of me that hurt! haha

[krystal]

Finger pain can be due to any discomfort in the tissues or joints of the finger. Paresthesias can be due to damage or pressure on the nerves carrying sensation messages of fingers to the spinal cord.
The finger is composed of nerves, bones, blood vessels, muscles plus skin.

Very common cause of finger pain is injury or trauma like hyperextension or repetitive finger use, an example is using keyboard for long periods.Diabetes can also be a cause of finger pain.Depending on the cause the pain can fade out in weeks or may be in months.Finger pain is also a sign of serious infection or inflammation so you should immediately contact a good medical professional.rrrrr

[Aqua Blue]

is there something you can do for diet to help. I changed my diet to reduce inflammation and it seems to help.

What are you doing diet wise? I pretty much have eliminated grains and milk products.Anything else?

CathyA, one thing that seems to help me is overnight immobilization. I have all kinds of apparatus to immobilize various parts.

[Sagewoman]

CathyA, I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties.

I had a startling thing happen a few summers ago. I'd planted a bunch of veggies in the nightshade family: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes. I was harvesting all of them and eating pretty much exclusively from my garden, like 70-90% of my diet. During this period one of my finger joints was starting to get deformed and my hands and some other joints hurt a lot. When my doctor looked at it he asked me if I was eating any nightshade veggies. :doh: Well, I stopped all of them and it went away. The deformed finger joint got better though there's still a little tiny lump. I'd suggest that anyone with these symptoms go nightshade free for a few weeks and see if it makes a difference. I now eat some potatoes and tomatoes, but not in large quantities, just very sparingly. Also, I think things like cayenne (but not black) pepper, paprika, etc are nightshades, so if you are doing the test for it, make sure you eliminate them all.

I found this article on nightshades and it does include some info on how this works due to alkaloids, including some things about joint problems.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=62

[Rosemary]

Also suggesting an anti-inflammatory diet. Cut out sugar, grains, dairy. Nightshades as noted above are commonly mentioned in conjunction with arthritis. Sweet potatoes are not in the nightshade family. Black pepper is not in the nightshade family to my knowledge; paprika comes from a particular variety of sweet pepper and that's why it is included.

Turmeric, in combination with black pepper in particular, is noted to be anti-inflammatory. Turmeric can be added to many dishes without causing a noticable color or flavor change, if the quantity is fairly low - no need to limit it just to curries.

This website has many interesting articles and short (3 minute) videos on a nutrition topics. The author, an M.D., discusses findings in recent peer-reviewed journal articles. Here is a link to the videos about arthritis and diet. Note, however, he has a strong vegan slant.
http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/arthritis/

[Sagewoman]

Black pepper is not in the nightshade family to my knowledge; paprika comes from a particular variety of sweet pepper and that's why it is included.


Correct! I just re-read the article I posted and it says "It may be helpful to note here that black pepper, which belongs to the
Piperaceae family, is not a member of the nightshade foods."