That Arthur is worst one of those Ritis boys

[trekgeezer]

Been having random pain in my left thumb for last year or so.  I finally went to the Doc a couple of weeks ago and I have Osteoarthritis in my left thumb and my right index finger.   Right now I am wearing a thumb splint to help it rest and to keep down the inflammation.  The splint immobilizes the base of the thumb, but allows full use of your other fingers and the tip of the thumb.  They gave me some anti-inflammatory gel to try, but that stuff is pain to deal with to.

Anyway, it's not really keeping me from doing anything right now, but if it gets worse, the next thing is a steroid shot , and eventually surgery is in the cards.

For a guy like me that has spent most of my adult life building and repairing all kinds of stuff this is not good news. Apparently it takes a year after the surgery to get back to completely normal.

At least it doesn't sound as bad as the shoulder surgery I had last year.     


Getting old sucks, and don't let anyone tell you it doesn't .

[Sleepyskull]

That really sucks!

I don't know what to say except, best of luck!

My mom has some similar stuff going on (she might have arthritis) and it really is horrible.

On a similar note my Dad (who does not have arthritis) has a highly physically demanding full-time job (package deliverer and driver for UPS) so while I have not experienced what you're talking about for myself, I sort of understand how that sort of pain can affect a person.

[Trevor]

All good wishes, Trek. 

[Newt]

Best wishes TG; hopefully one or more of the strategies they have for osteo will work for you.   

[Mofo Rising]

Rough news, Trekgeezer.

Did they tell you if its rheumatoid arthritis or arthritis due to bone growth? Since it seems to be localized to single joints I'm guessing it is due to bone growth. Kind of a good news/bad news deal. An inevitable part of aging is that your bones keep growing over time; often you get nodules that end up being awfully inconvenient.

The good news is that it's probably not rheumatoid, which is your own immune system attacking itself, which causes systemic problems. The bad news, is that if it's a growth nodule, eventually you will need surgery to grind down that extra bone growth. Good news, though, because it can be fixed through surgery. Lots of downtime, though. Hopefully the treatment they give you takes care of the problem before you have to take the surgery route.

Note! I am not a doctor (or qualified to give medical advice), I'm just guessing here, so take everything I just said with a huge grain of salt.