arthritus in hands

[Horsepower]

I can’t live without the following girth tightening tool from Dressage Extensions. It is the greatest for tightening girths when you have bad arthritus in your hands. I highly recommend it.

http://www.dressageextensions.com/ProductDetail.asp?KEY=1295

As far as before riding, I rub my hands in SportsCreme, which is sold in most large drugstore chains: CVS, Walgreens, etc. I also use it on my neck, lower back, or anywhere else I am muscle sore (it does not have the dangerous ingredient in it that killed some college athlete in a fluke incident I read about this year). I use tylenol extended relief or Celebrex on a really bad day. I can’t seem to use the Glucosamine/Chondroitin products for too long as they upset my stomach.

[MontanaDun]

two things.

Get tested for Lyme disease - it can cause horrible arthritic pain.

Try Regenicare from Univera - it has done wonders for the arthritis in my hands. Great stuff.

MD

[petitefilly]

[QUOTE=tollertwins;3150351]
So PF…

How much Lubrisyn do you take? Have considered trying it myself - but am not sure how much of the gunk to get in me…[/QUOTE]

I loaded with about 15 cc daily, and am down to about 7cc now for daily. If I have a bad day I take a bit more for an afternoon “punch” back to ten or fifteen. It only lasts about twenty hours, I can feel when it is all depleted. You have to continue using it for results, there is no cure for arthritis.

good luck.

[pricestory]

Is Regenicare from Univera a cream, oral vit? Where do you get it???

[MontanaDun]

It’s an oral supplement - powder that you mix up and drink.

I have some sample packs. PM me and I will mail you some.

MD

[tollertwins]

[QUOTE=petitefilly;3151446]
I loaded with about 15 cc daily, and am down to about 7cc now for daily.
good luck.[/QUOTE]

Holy crap! That’s a HORSE dose! :eek::eek::eek:

What do you mix it in…the consistency is icky…

[petitefilly]

[QUOTE=tollertwins;3155721]
Holy crap! That’s a HORSE dose! :eek::eek::eek:

What do you mix it in…the consistency is icky…[/QUOTE]

I mix it in a glass of water and take my “regular” pills for the day. I will try to get it to a minimal dosage, but less does not help my knee. I do not know what to tell you, maybe less arthritis could be managed with less. A horse loading dose is 30cc, and 15 cc as a daily dose; I’m thinking if your horse is really bad it could stay at the 30cc dosage. Again, I am self experimenting, knowing that my doctor thinks it will never do a thing. From experience it helps me___ a great deal___ I “LIMP” all the time, and with this I barely limp, and even take some good steps from time to time. Just call me “Chester”.

[AndalusianMom]

I take 1500 mg of glucosamine daily, use the paraffin bath regularly, especially in winter, and take Celebrex when I have to.
I tried taking my horse’s Conquer HA gel–it was really disgusting and I didn’t notice any improvement–but maybe I wasn’t taking enough. I based it on body weight, so I tried about a tenth of the horse dose. Perhaps I’ll give it another try…
It helps me to concentrate on keeping weight in my elbows, rather than in my grip.
I too find fatter reins harder to hold than thinner, sticky ones. I like the thin kind of rubber lined reins.

Yeah, it sucks that when you finally have the time/money/horse(s) to really learn something, your blasted body says…ummm…not so much…

[I_m_EBO]

There’s a type of osteoarthritis–perhaps the type that afflicts HHH and others–which is hereditary, mother to daughter, that causes those horrible, painful lumps on fingers and toes. When mine started forming, it felt like my little fingers had been hit with a hammer. Now, the lumps don’t hurt much unless they’re forming.

What helps me: Capsacin (OTC) on the knuckles and joints. Do NOT get this in your eyes or mucous membranes. This also helps on the underside of the wrists for those with carpal tunnel/repetitive movement problems. (Stretching exercises help this as well.) I’m told that aspercream helps. Probably anything that warms will help. The little hand warming thingies that you slip inside your gloves help.

I take Celebrex. I also use Excedrin when I’ve overdone. For the finger lumps, small dose HRT seems to help this.

My physical therapist recommends that chores, such as grooming or cleaning stalls, be done in short segments; do 10 minutes, rest & do stretching exercises.

Watch your diet!! My trigger seems to be sugar. If I mainline it for a day or two, things really go south.

Growing older is all about maintenance, IMO.

[Dr_Doolittle]

I have the same issues (not as bad as some of you!), and have been taking a Glucosamine/Chondroiten sulfate/MSM supplement for over 10 years; it definitely helps! I also take Sam-E.

I didn’t notice a huge difference when I was taking Celebrex and Bextra (back when it was "street legal ;)), and Ibuprofen only takes maybe 15-20% of pain “off the top”, so I try not to take it too often (I think I already have a tolerance :sigh:)

There is something new on the market: Thermacare for athritis in the hands! I use the Thermacare back wraps for my bad lower back (this getting old crap is really for the birds :(), and it helps; I haven’t tried the hand wraps, but have seen them in the store…they fit over your hand (sort of like a glove), and I’m presuming that they deliver constant heat for about 8 hours–like the back wraps. Something to try, in any case!

[petitefilly]

Not all HA is the same. Lubrisyn works better due to the higher molecular weight, I too tried the human Synovial 7 with no results, and when my friend noted her horse doing better on Lubrisyn than any other HA I tried it. Lo and behold a big difference. I used Hylarun, and Synovial 7 with NO results. None, nada, but I was willing to give it one more try. I am glad I did. Lubrisyn is different… trust me. GAGS in pills never did any thing for me either, I have tried nine out of ten on the market.

I cannot tell you without sounding like an ad for the product. I know this, it is different and others are mere pretenders. In a glass of water you never even taste the stuff, it washes right down.

When you are in enough pain your trials with meds gets to be a real grind. I really-really have no use for medication at large for pain, with drugs. This being my reason for always trying something that inherently makes the problem better with lubrication other than giving myself more pain meds. Aleve and all those other OTC drugs eventually cause other problems, bleeding stomachs, kidney problems, liver problems, etc. I do not know if others will find the Lubrisyn effective, who knows. But I do know this, I take one Celebrex once a day and nothing more now.

Good luck to the rest of you. :):):):)