HI Anna, I know how you are feeling as I am a veteran from the Kingdom of Arthritis. Do some gentle stretch exercises when you wake up in the morning. For every two hours spent sitting down, get up and walk around for 15 minutes to allow flexibility in the joints. Try to do some exercise each day instead of sitting down. For people with arthritis, weight bearing exercise is best, but walking may be suitable if aerobics hurts your joints. Yoga is good for arthritis, but it is quite difficult if you are unfit and unable to bend yourself to impossible positions !

It sounds that you may have osteoarthritis, and that you may need to take supplements such as chondroitin, glucosamine, and omega fatty acids which may slow down the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. I take high concentration fish oil which helps with my arthritis. Otherwise, you can take mild analgesics such as Tylenol, but stay away from NSAIDS as it may cause stomach ulceration as well as kidney impairment if you take it on the long term. Good luck my friend !

Anna,

First of take a deep breath, in through your nose, hold it a few seconds and let it out through your nose, you can repeat this a couple of times to help you calm down.

Now you'll notice as you did that, the world did not end, nor did anything drastic happen because you took a few moments to stop and take care of you. Remember that, Its Very Important.

Lets start with your neck, okay? When your depressed and get stressed and anxious, tension builds in your neck, your shoulders, back and some people limbs. This is not permanent. It can be quickly undone by a good Chiropractor. He can adjust your body so that your joints and bones are sitting in the places and positions they need to be in.....not all tense and screwed up into tight little balls or pain. I know some people may think they are expensive, but it money well spent and you don't have to go to them over and over every week like regular Dr. seeing your for an illness.

Here's what you do have to do, you have to learn to calm down. I get the worry, and work ans stress and trying to get everything done, I really, really do...I'm a CPA and this is the busiest time of the year for me. And since Corona and I work --2/3's of my time at home....I get people calling me all day every day, 24/7 like I'm an all night call center. They don't get that just because I work from home part of the time I still have the same hours. Which is why I love a well made answering machine.

So girlfriend, take a step back. Set time limits for when your working and when that work stops and you walk in your door. Don't let the work overtake you, it's not worth it. Make plans with your friends, even if it has to be over zoom. On the weekends get out and take a hike, find a lake to talk around, get yourself some fresh air and let your mind clear of all the crap from the week.

hang in there and I have faith in you that you will handle this.

Kat

Thank you for writing. Such good advice.

Hi Anna, I have arthritis in my back and neck. I have gone to physical therapy for it and it was helpful. As older person said, exercise definitely helps.

I went to a Chiroprator, it was ok. I stopped, because if Covid. There were a lot of people that went.

I might add. Some people say the CBD oil helps. I can't take it with psychiatric drugs. If you don't take psy drugs you might want to try it for pain. The Doctor I work for said Charlotte's Webb is a good brand. It suppose to relax you also.

There is oxycodone, a d tramadol, which is not for everybody.