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Understanding arthritis and managing the pain from arthritis are like two vast stars on each side of the universe. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people that have arthritis pain and they don't even realize it is a disease. About two years ago I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I never thought that it would be related to Arthritis. I was wrong in that assumption because I have arthritis in my hands, wrists, elbow and knee joints. Not to mention my feet. I went to a rhumatologist for the pain in my feet (thinking it was completely from my diabetes). When they x-rayed my feet and ankles it showed inflammation in every joint in my feet. Then they x-rayed my hands and wrists. The conclusion was that I have arthritis in practically all of my joints. In trying to understand it I asked many questions and didn't get too many answers back.

I was ready for the doctor to tell me what we would do to cure this arthritis. His conclusion was that there is nothing to do but manage the pain. Managing the pain is actually taking a class 4 drug up to three times a day. This drug sure gets rid of the pain but I am reduced to acting like a zombie all day.

I found out on my own that the best way for me to manage the pain is to move around and exercise these joints as much as possible. When my feet hurt the worst, I jump on my elliptical exercise machine and walk as long and as fast as I can. I have some clay that is soft enough to squeeze into different shapes which exercises my fingers, hands and even my wrists. I squeeze that as often as I can. They sell these stress balls in many of the health food stores. I also found that I need to stay away from salt. It tends to swell up my joints and makes the pain worse. Each persons body reacts differently to pain and stress so check with your general practitioner or a licensed rhumatologist for more information on Arthritis if you think you might have it. If you have some ideas on how to manage the pain that you want to share, please send me an e-mail. I would love to hear form you.

Learn more about this author, Debbie Scutt.
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