Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Help for the Hands

melissaenderle
melissaenderle
Despite being on Orencia, methotrexate, prednisone, and most recently Sulfazadine, my inflammation continues upwards and along with it, pain a and stiffness. Yesterday, the thought of even holding a spoon was more than I could bear for a while. I'm so used to pushing through the pain, but it's pushing back harder. How am I to teach art if my hands don't work? I'm going to call the Dr tomorrow.
What are some things that can be done to help the hands? Thanks for your input and advice.
deleted_user
deleted_user
arthritis gloves , they really help relieve pain and alsogive a little support , teh fingers are cut out so you can hold things , pencils ,paint brushes etc...Im a artist so i understand a little of your plight . A freind told me about items you can buy on the Arthtirits Foundation site for help aids .maybe you could use some of those during teaching , or pick a student you feel is a keader or more achieved and use them to help you demonstrate brush strokes or what ever it is you need .
Sorry , this is realy hard on artistic people ..all of us actually ..goodluck .
Tami
annettearizona
annettearizona
I agree with having students assist you-that way they feel they are really learning hands on from the expert :) Also,my father squeezes a stress ball to help his hands.
RCross
RCross
Sometimes I feel like it's a never ending circle. Hurts to move, hurts more not to move. Heat helps my hands....so gloves, heated hand warmers, heated gloves, etc. When I need to use my fingers a lot I use arthritis gloves with a hand warmer pouch inside.

Hopefully your doctor can give you something to help.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I work with children and I find if I rotate between ice and heat that it helps with the swelling and pain. Hope it helps you too!
melissaenderle
melissaenderle
Thanks for the gloves tips - will buy some. What medically might I expect the doctor to do? Can cortisone injections provide any relief.
RCross
RCross
Yes, if you can tolerate cortisone injections they can help! I've had a cortisone flare before so I nervous about trying it again. The injections hurt quite a bit for me but that only lasts an hour or so.

For some people cortisone injections are better than taking oral steroids. It can really calm down the joints quickly.
Sistahbear
Sistahbear
I'm so glad you asked this question! I am newly diagnosed and the impact on my hands has been horrible. They hurt so bad, esp the tops of the back of my hands. I'm going to try the gloves and the heat packs. I'm on Prednisone but I was on sulfasalazine but had a bad reaction with shortnesss of breath so they had to stop it right away and now gotta have chest xrays before we can start something else..BUt the tops of my hands and the tops of my feet get the MOST painful out of everything that hurts. Thanks for everyone's tips.
melissaenderle
melissaenderle
So does an injection in one finger help alleviate symptoms in other fingers of that hand as well?
melissaenderle
melissaenderle
Interesting technique, RA Sally. I may try a contrast bath technique