Possible arthritis in my fingers - any help or experience?

[Guest]

12 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

You do learn to adapt to compensate for the pain and lack of mobility, but my concern would be that depending on the extent and frequency of the flare-ups, they can cause progressive damage to the joints over time, and eventually leave you in a much worse state than if you used medication long term.

 

Me: how about I just put up with pain?

Consultant: yeah fine

 

No deterioration since the initial progression. The consultant, who I saw every 6 months for several years, eventually concluded (very tentatively) that the damage had been caused by iron overload (from my haemochromatosis) and that once that had been brought under control, no further damage was done. 

[gadji]

I'm late to the party here but stumbled across this thread and felt compelled to chip in. 

 

I too had a serious auto-immune disorder following a serious bout of food poisoning. I had a condition called Reiters Syndrome which you might call a reactive arthritis. 

 

This attacks the soft tissue insertions to the joints. 'Luckily' in my case it went for my ankles-mainly my achilles tendons and plantar fascia. Fortunately it didn't target my shoulders, elbows, wrists or fingers.

 

In any case I became an outpatient in the rheumatology dept and ended up on 32 tablets a day and injections into my achiles every month. Each month a different leg in plaster. I couldn't walk for 2 years. I was told the fight I had was with inflammation. Eliminate inflammation and you eliminate the disease. Hence all the drugs-some for pain, some to fight the disease and some to fight the side effects of all the drugs I was on.

 

AND THEN....I happened to read a book...How The Ryder Cup Was Won (Ian Carter was the author I think). This charted the European victory, in golf, against Team USA at Gleneagles (just up the road from me) in 2012 I think it was. In the book it touches on Tiger Woods desperate attempts to get back into the team for USA following back surgery. One monumental sentence changed my life. It stated that TW had put himself on an anti-inflammatory diet in a desperate attempt to speed ip recovery and get back into the team. I almost dropped the book-this was my eureka moment!!

 

I had been seeing specialists for 5 years by this point and not one of them had suggested this. I changed my diet instantly and within 3 weeks I was off all my meds-33 tabs a day gone. I thought I was okay when I was taking all these drugs BUT when I came off them it was like someone turned on a light. I was so heavily medicated I had gotten used to living in a fog. I know I was hellish to be around at this time, but at the time I thought I was fine. Only when I came off all this stuff could I look back with clarity and appreciate the reality....I was like a zombie, and a foul tempered one at that, while on all these meds.

 

My take-home message to anyone with an auto-immune disease of any kind would be to go on an anti inflammatory diet. Stop feeding the inflammation and you will get better. Of course doctors don't mention this. Their training, broadly speaking, is about prescribing post second world war medicines backed up by clinical trials-funded by pharmaceutical companies. And because there is no clinical evidence with diets etc...they don't recognise it. This evidence will never exist because who would fund it? Nobody, because nobody stands to make a profit out of it. It's sad but it's life. Pharma companies do amazing work and produce some miracle drugs but they do make vast profits from these. They can afford to invest $billions into clinical trials because they will profit from it. Who's going to profit from good dietary advice? Nobody, therefore who is going to fund the trials? Nobody, therefore there is no clinical data. This means that doctors will not advice you on this because, in their eyes, there is no clinical data-just common sense. Not good enough because they must be seen to be taking an evidence based approach to medicine.

 

I am 98% cured and play upright as well as electric bass gigs. I no longer consume an anti-inflammatory diet incidentally and probably don't treat my body with as much respect as it possibly deserves. That said, I do keep relatively fit and allow myself plenty of indulgences as a reward.

 

I hope this helps somebody. If you need any pointers I'd be happy to help.

 

Andy

[jonnybass]

So the doctor has ruled out Psoriatic arthritis, now waiting on a further appointment to try and figure out whats wrong.  Still only in one finger, not one i use to pluck strings, still painful to move but not to touch, has been happening since mid december.  its worse in the morning and when its cold its allot worse.

[Dov65]

Arthritis in both thumb bases here. I left it far too long in seeking medical help working away from home didn’t really help either but I tried all the natural remedies without success & ended up being prescribed co-codamol for the pain. Cortisone injections x 2 in both thumbs but didn’t take long before the pain was back. I wear tight wristbands pulled down towards the thumb bases tho & it does help

[jonnybass]

46 minutes ago, Dov65 said:

Arthritis in both thumb bases here. I left it far too long in seeking medical help working away from home didn’t really help either but I tried all the natural remedies without success & ended up being prescribed co-codamol for the pain. Cortisone injections x 2 in both thumbs but didn’t take long before the pain was back. I wear tight wristbands pulled down towards the thumb bases tho & it does help

That dosnt sound great Dov65 but at least the wrist bands are helping.

[ScottyHill]

I’ve found that warming up slowly with gentle finger stretches really helps, especially on cold mornings. Lighter strings and a lower action made a big difference for me too.

[chris_b]

I've thought about this situation and plan A would be to switch to a keyboard bass.

Edited Wednesday at 12:54 by chris_b

[Musicman666]

as you age the one thing that is sure to decrease is collagen ..the stuff that lines the surface of your ball joints.   

[Stub Mandrel]

The oroblem with collagen supplements is that for the body to absorb them they have to be broken down into bits - the same as any other protein. Rather like dismantling a lego model to push it through a hole.

 

Just as you can make a multitude of things with lego, the body will use these bits to make whatever proteins it needs.

 

Any balanced diet with plenty of protein is just as good at supplying these bits, and there's twelve time as much protein in 100g of baked beans as a typical collagen capsule.

 

Usually the collagen in the capsule is already broken down but the gut is damn good at digesting protein anyway.

 

The other issue is the body is full of collagen and won't necessarily target the joints that have wear. 

[ian61]

Had some finger joint problems a few years back and found a simple change of technique helped a lot. 

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, ian61 said:

Had some finger joint problems a few years back and found a simple change of technique helped a lot. 

I’ve developed arthritis in the top joint in my left thumb over the last year or so and similarly a change in my fretting hand technique has really helped. 

[WalMan]

I have had rheumatoid arthritis for getting on 30 years now. It has been under control with drugs for many years now though I have had a number of joint replacements in that time most around 20+ years ago - left shoulder, right wrist and index and pinkie knuckles.
 

Have started to get twinges in my left wrist and down the outside of my left hand recently and I ache after some gigs but it’s not too bad at the moment.

 

Funnily enough my memory is that I have a pick pretty much exclusively until recently, though have found videos from years back that suggest that’s not actually the case, but have started to use fingers more and that seems to keep things moving at the moment.

[JoeEvans]

Turmeric is a well-proven anti-inflammatory which is also cheap and free of side-effects. A teaspoon a day in a smoothie would be worth a try although obviously might turn out not to help in any one particular case...

[JazzyJ]

I've had excellent results using Boswellia extract. Both thumb ip joints are now pain free, took about 2 months to kick in. Snake oil? I dunno, I'm happy with the outcome.

[Cornwall Steve]

I have severe arthritis in the little finger of my left hand. So much so that a couple of years ago it started to cease being straight and align with the ring finger next to it. As it got worse (and the knuckle more painful) my little finger elected to head off in a different direction and folded underneath the ring finger next to it. As time went on I began to lose the use of it and it started to get in the way too. I'm right handed so my accuracy on the fretboard started to diminish with a useless little finger waving around as my left hand moved up and down the neck. More recently I've been through the investigation process and very soon I have an appointment with a hand consultant at my local hospital to discuss amputation or permanent fusion. Should make playing bass (and keyboards) interesting !😂

[WalMan]

11 hours ago, Cornwall Steve said:

I have severe arthritis in the little finger of my left hand. So much so that a couple of years ago it started to cease being straight and align with the ring finger next to it. As it got worse (and the knuckle more painful) my little finger elected to head off in a different direction and folded underneath the ring finger next to it. As time went on I began to lose the use of it and it started to get in the way too. I'm right handed so my accuracy on the fretboard started to diminish with a useless little finger waving around as my left hand moved up and down the neck. More recently I've been through the investigation process and very soon I have an appointment with a hand consultant at my local hospital to discuss amputation or permanent fusion. Should make playing bass (and keyboards) interesting !😂

My right hand fingers have twisted which makes keyboards difficult as all the fingers get in the way of each other.

 

Fingers to pick on the bass is ok though little finger tends to get ignored as twisted too far a slightly shorter, as is the index finger by a bit over quarter of an inch than the left hand after the first knuckles (hand to finger rather than second or third on the finger) were replaced 10+ years ago.

 

if I had to have the same replacement on my left hand I would as it worked/works well on the right hand.

[Stub Mandrel]

16 hours ago, JazzyJ said:

I've had excellent results using Boswellia extract. Both thumb ip joints are now pain free, took about 2 months to kick in. Snake oil? I dunno, I'm happy with the outcome.

 

Not snake oil, it virtuallysaved my life. Arthritis UK surveyed the literature on scientific trials of traditional medicines. 

 

Studies: A 2014 Cochrane Review found that a three-month course of 100 mg a day of enriched (AKBA) Boswellia reduced OA pain by nearly 20 points and improved function by eight points (on 100-point scales) without serious side effects. In a 2018 systematic review of 20 OA supplements, Boswellia extract was among the standouts, providing significant short-term relief for knee, hip and hand pain. The Natural and Alternative Treatments database, which contains over 12,000 clinical studies, also gives Boswellia high marks for OA pain relief.  

[JazzyJ]

6 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Not snake oil, it virtuallysaved my life. Arthritis UK surveyed the literature on scientific trials of traditional medicines. 

 

Studies: A 2014 Cochrane Review found that a three-month course of 100 mg a day of enriched (AKBA) Boswellia reduced OA pain by nearly 20 points and improved function by eight points (on 100-point scales) without serious side effects. In a 2018 systematic review of 20 OA supplements, Boswellia extract was among the standouts, providing significant short-term relief for knee, hip and hand pain. The Natural and Alternative Treatments database, which contains over 12,000 clinical studies, also gives Boswellia high marks for OA pain relief.  

Looking back on this  thread, it was yourself that suggested the Boswellia.

So I took a punt on it, started off on two a day initially and reduced to one over the last few months.

All is good 👍