Hi,
I am new here. Officially diagnosed with OA, but still have lots of questions. My pain moves around alot, but mostly is in my hands, hips and shoulders. My questions now is I have bben getting a lot of numbness in my fingers, face and legs and wonder if this is arthritis? Or is is something I need to call my doctor about. She is wonderful ....but I feel like I am always calling with another new complaint. I have seen a rheumy twice, but it has been when I am coming off the pred. and not having much pain. I currently take Ultram, tylenol and Vicoden. I was on Bextra which helped a lot, but cannot find any other that works for me. Any help would be appreciated.
Mindy
Welcome Mindy.
I'll be honest; I don't know that much about OA. I live with RA and have for years. I do have a great deal of knowledge in that department...and I understand about the pain moving around a bit. I think that's one thing that's hardest to deal with; the unexpected changes. I wasn't aware that OA was like that too. (You'll learn something new here everyday;)
You might want to give your doctor a call in regards to the numbness. The face numbness concerns me the most...that doesn't sound quite right. Could be a side effect of one of your meds.
Good Luck to you; and welcome to the boards. We're glad you're here.
Lovie
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I did call my doctor,but she was out yesterday but she is supposed to call me today. I have just come off 14 days of prednisone, due to pain and swelling in two of my fingers. Now the pain is mostly gone, but do have numbness in those fingers also. I do wonder if the correct diagnosis was given, but I have had all the tests done and nothing shows up currently. I think that I have a lot of the symptoms of RA.My doctor is unsure herself if it is just OA or something else.Thanks for the welcome. Take care.
Mindy
Hi Midy,
Nice to meet you, Welcome! I'm no Dr, but it sure sounds alot more like RA than OA. As far as I know OA is not typically symetrical (?sp).
Also your bloodwork being normal does'nt mean you don't have RA or some other inflamatory arthritis. Are you stuck with this Dr because of ins? or can you get another opinion? I'd definately consider having someone else take a look. Not all RD's are with it either, the first one my son went to told us he had a deviated septum and that was the cause of all his aches and promblems
Anyway, just though I'd say hi and welcome you.....please let us know how you're doing!!
I also have just been diagnosed with OA. Blood work came back that everything is else is normal. I was concerned about RA or lupus, but the doctor says no, which is good news I guess. Xrays show severe OA in my right hip, moderate in left hip and degenerative disc disease and OA in my spine. Fingers and toes ache and swell a little, but nothing severe.
It is a bit overwhelming. I expected to hear that I had some arthritis, but not that it had already gone so far! I'm sure everyone has had the same feelings, but I can't help getting upset knowing that the rest of my life is going to be spent in pain! Haven't allowed myself a pity party yet, but fear there is one on the horizon!
I start physical therapy next week in a heated pool. I'm hoping that it will be beneficial. My only prescription is Ibuprofen. I've been taking Glucosamine and Chrondroitin for years. The doctor says statistically glucosamine/chrondroitin works for 60% of those taking it. It does seem to help me - I can definitely tell if I don't take it for a few days. I've never heard of DONA.
Hi,
I am new here also. I have had OA for a few years. I am 58 years old and a nurse-aide by profession for 40 years, so I have a lot of wear and tear on my body. I have multiple areas of DDD (degenerative disk disease), DJD (degenerative joint disease), DFD (degenerative facet disease), sacrum and lower back and spine, middle spine, top of spine and neck. I also have it in both my knees, feet and ankles and hips. I have severe spasms on the major muscles going up on both sides of spine. The doctor says it is moderate. But I am living in pain everyday. I have had epidurals in my lower spine and upper neck. I cannot work right now because of the pain. I am off on disability from work, but not on disabilty as far as any kind of financial payments or any help at all. I run out of my FEMLA next month so I will not have any insurance either. I also have emphysema in the early stages. Yes, I am a smoker. I am overweight and it is hard to lose weight dealing with my pain on a daily basis and emphysema. I am not looking for any kind of sympathy because I brought it on myself but just wondering if anyone else is in this situation and how you are dealing with it. Thank you and I'm sorry for this being so long.
Hi netwits, heh heh, like your nick.
I quote from your sig "May they soon find a cure for Arthritis ". I think that before a cure is found, a cause will have to be better understood. I have started a thread on RAsushi that might be a cause for nurses to be more susceptible for arthritis than the general public.
Here is the start of the thread, "An Infection Connection?".
Ron
Hi all,
I would like to ask for your help in starting research into disease transmitted to us from nature. I am sorry that there is so much speculation in the following; I sincerely believe this is speculation that needs to be researched.
When I, others and my dog showed symptoms of Lyme disease and arthritis in 1985 I noticed that the snowshoe hare populations were declining severely where I live and becoming less noticeable 100 miles northward where I became infected. I have spent 20 years trying to understand what happened to these hares. Just a few years ago I learned that we had a local outbreak of Brucellosis. We know that Brucella has been known to kill hares. We know that hare ticks will attach to migratory birds and I know that hare ticks will attach to mice because I have removed ticks and had them properly identified in the
I would like to ask for your help to identify other areas where this has happened because if Bruce did kill the local small mammals; then it has happened before. This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack but I think there are enough of us to find another area to get research started into this enigma.
I will appreciate you taking the time to ask your friends, parents and if you are young enough ask your grandparents if they know of any Brucella outbreaks where the cattle were grazing in hare habitat and the hare populations severely declined after the cattle were destroyed and replaced. Your local trappers are a great source of information. You can see that these areas of severe small mammal decline may not be large, just where the cattle were grazing. Locally, the most noticeable decline was in the hare, porcupine and chipmunk populations. I can only guess that other areas may see a groundhog/gopher or any small mammals that have been predominant in the area since the beginning of local knowledge. Locally, it took 30 years of steady decline for the hares to completely disappear for a winter, last winter I saw the odd track and hopefully look forward to see if populations increase this year.
Tick-borne Brucellosis is quite a candidate for arthritis; there is a possibility that you can contract it from biting insects, is sexually transmitted and also spread by cough droplets.
Brucellosis is thought to survive for three generations in humans. This may explain how this disease killed the local mammals and then became less virulent as it passed though hosts and or vectors. Is this partially what we accept as genetics?
I will be happy to try to answer any relevant questions.
Thanks in advance,
Ron