About eroding joints and a special kind of hell…

I’m 68, and have just lately picked up enough computer skills to share this with you. It hurts very much to type this out, though. I have severe osteoarthritis. It set in seriously three years ago, but had been brewing for many more years before that.

I remember taking my first painkiller for the pain in my joints thirty years ago. Nighttime had been becoming something I dreaded that is when the pain would be at its worst. I have now learned that the cushioning cartilage in my fingers and feet had been wearing itself down. There was wear and tear of the joints in my fingers, shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles and I could hear them creaking. The pain got progressively worse.

Sometime after my fiftieth birthday, the joints in my fingers, knees and ankles began to swell after any period of rest. I visited a specialist and he took X-rays, after which he diagnosed me for osteoarthritis. This meant that my joints were wearing themselves down, just like un-greased mechanical joints. That was literally the reason why they had begun creaking.

The thought was terrifying. My body was rebelling against me, and I was told there was little that could be done. The physician put me on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and they helped for a while. But a year later he had to put me on steroids ? the pain was too great. My immune system weakened almost immediately. Apart from my inability to pick up objects, bend or even stand for long periods, I started putting on weight. The extra weights put even greater strain on my joints.

The condition is irreversible, but exercise and controlling my weight helps. I am on painkillers constantly, and that is taking its toll. But I have also joined a self-help group of fellow sufferers and we give each other some motivation and hope. I can’t afford joint replacement, but have moved to a state with warmer, drier climate and that has helped. Just the other day I heard that one can now have silicon lubricants injected into one’s joints for long-term relief. I might just try that. Aromatherapy and light massage with herbal oils help a lot on my worst days, and I recommend them strongly.