At age 65 suddenly arthritis has flared up on my left hand, am planning on seeing a specialist, but any wisdom out there to share?
Clayton
At age 65 suddenly arthritis has flared up on my left hand, am planning on seeing a specialist, but any wisdom out there to share?
Clayton
I'm 75 and in the same boat. Mine is mostly in the left thumb with only occasional problems with the fingers so I'm usually able to work through it. Aleve and Salonpas help me.
David Hopkins
2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.
Very bad arthritis in my lower back to the point bone spurs break off my spine and tweak things at times until reabsorbed. Hurts quite a bit but I switched to a keto diet and the pain actually went away and my mobility increased. I can say I never have felt pain like most people do but I noticed a lot of aches and pains went away. And I lost weight dropped my A1c and Triglycerides and bad cholesterol went down, good went up. It is very hard to follow at first, sugar is so incredibly addictive! My triglycerides went back up some overtime but I understand that to be normal. FWIW it is an entire lifestyle change and not to be tackled without complete dedication or it will not work.
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I have arthritis in the right thumb. Hitting the strings with a flatpick can be painful. Cortisone shots have helped some. Also there's some stuff called Voltaren gel for topical application that helps as well (you'll need an rx for that). Good luck!
there are a number of people who have had good luck with change in diet and exercise, there are a lot of natural
anti inflammatories , ginger tumeric , and also hand exercises, but these things seem to be different for each individual so good luck
There are lots of things to try. Some work, some don't. I, too, think it depends on the individual, like kjbllc said. Some of the off-beat things should probably be run by the doctor and remember, even some herbal treatments can cause interactions with pharmaceuticals.
The pain in my left thumb is pretty constant but it does vary in intensity. I've been able to ignore it most of the time. As many have said, "Old age ain't for sissies."
David Hopkins
2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.
This is kind of odd. However, I didn't begin playing mandolin again until I was 64 years old, after a 23 year hiatus. I'm 68 now. I had pretty severe arthritis in the left hand when I began again at 64. A little bit in the right. It's actually gotten better. The only thing I could possibly attribute it to is playing the mandolin. I worked with tools and machinery all my life. My hands used to cramp up and fingers just freeze stiff. Worse in the left hand. I couldn't come close to doing a chop chord. Now its all pretty normal. Doing chop chords and any chords I want to do. Double stops are improving. Besides a little bit of hand massage with Arnica oil now and then, I really haven't done much. All I can figure is the way I use my hands now is so much different that I did when I worked on machinery its actually loosened them up?
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Since I live in Colorado we have a lot of places selling medical and recreational marijuana. I'm not a fan of legalization but one out come has been a number of salves and oils that are touted as being particularly useful with arthritis. I've tried a couple and in my opinion they don't work any better or worse than the traditional over the counter stuff. I use Aspercreme on my two thumbs before I play and that has helped somewhat. Applying warm towels over my hands before I play also helps. My doctor told me that he'd be a very rich man if he had a remedy for arthritis, which pretty much tells me we can control the pain but it doesn't go away. I think we just move along and continue to do what we can, regretting all the things our mom warned us not to do when we were kids....
As others above have said, different things work for different people. I’ve had 30 surgeries, ranging from little stuff like hernias to being pieced together after getting crushed to having spinal bones sawed away to get at a spinal cord tumor. Three surgeries in my right shoulder, the last of which was a total replacement, making it all four limbs that have had numerous operations.
They replaced shoulder had a previous surgery after which the surgeon said it was the worst arthritis he’d ever seen in a patient under 90. I was 50. Since then, it’s much better, but still hurts if I whang too much on the mandolin.
Someone suggested CBD oil for my dog’s anxiety issues. It didn’t work and I took a shot of it myself. Within five minutes all pain in that shoulder gone. I was using 4000 mg Tylenol per day and 800 mg Aleve, now I use none and feel much better. I’ve given it to other friends with arthritis, though, and it did nothing. Worth a try - best pain treatment I’ve ever experienced, and that’s coming from a one-time aficionado if the hard stuff.
I've had osteo arthritis in my left thumb base for around 15 years.
Acupuncture worked wonders for me and had immediate positive effects. Never taken any type of
meds for it, and I avoid steroid injections.
My acupuncturist said if it's going to work for you, it will within 3 treatments. It worked on the first treatment to relieve pain, soreness, and allowed normal movement once again. I avoid stressing or overusing it to hopefully prevent any flair up. It's been working for 10 years now. I've not had any acupuncture for around 5 years now.
As others mentioned, diet can have a huge effect also. I'm very health oriented and watch with care what I consume.
There's an excellent book that contains a lot of info, yet is easy to read. I'll find the full title and list it here. Be sure to get the updated 2nd edition.
I also go to extreme lengths to setup any musical instrument I play, with a very low,easy to play action. I don't use my left thumb to fret much at all.
Here's the book, this is the updated 2nd edition. Tremendous amount of easy to read and understand info to improve your diet in many ways to positively effect many things.
The chapter on refined sugar will help you a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/14654...ob_neva_mobile
I would say its important to check with a specialist that it IS arthritis and not rheumatism. I know its not black and white, but I had similar problems in the hand, and had coincidentally recently been to a rheumatologist for pains in my ankle. He had, through various test (including some blood tests) excluded rheumatism as a problem for me.
This was a help to me when I started Googling to see what I could do to help myself, because it seems that where there is a rheumatism element, the problem is exacerbated much more so by things, such as diet. I would have had to have cut out so many otherwise healthy foods (starting with tomatoes and peppers, which is bad enough), but I decided not to go that route.
My tip: Don't be overly discouraged - in my experience it can improve again, although you may go through painful phases. Physical over-exertion can make the problem worse, but maintaining mobility (exercises, stretching, playing etc) is a good thing. Assuming a reasonably healthy basic diet, the following are good: Green tea (no milk) and herbal teas generally. Glucosamin Sulphate + Condroitin+msm tablets and Turmeric+Ginger +Black Pepper capsules are totally natural supplements that I also take, and I believe they are beneficial, as my condition has improved.
I did try a rare earth magnetic bracelet on the basis that it might have a physical benefit (nothing esoteric), but have not used that for a long time, so I don't think it helped...).
BTW, when the orthapaedic doctor diagnosed my arthritis, he said simply: "there's nothing I can do to help you." Disgraceful really but there is plenty of help to sift through online.
I hope that you find some relief and that you can keep on playing!
"What's that funny guitar thing..?"
My left hand developed both osteoarthritis (thumb joint, probably) and carpal tunnel; I moved to a mandolin with a thinner neck and stopped playing every day. I had a wrist brace for a while and the doctor said to use an OTC anti-imflammatory like Aleve which, along with rest and stopping when the shooting pains showed up, helped a lot. Rest and a thinner mandolin neck worked for me. YMMV
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David Hopkins
2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.
I would highly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Terry-Natural...NrPXRydWU&th=1 taken on a regular basis. Also https://www.amazon.com/KidSafe-Syner...ay&sr=8-3&th=1 as needed
We have all these home/homeopathic/snake oil remedies but I would recommend a conversation with the doctor first.
David Hopkins
2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.
I've had success with a herbal product by Solgar called (the numeral) 7 which was touted as the next step beyond glucosamine. I've been using it for years and have observed when I forget to take it for a while my hands start to ache a bit. I use 3 caps a day and I'm 73 YO.
https://www.solgar.com/SolgarProduct...e-Capsules.htm
Billy
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