I'm sorry to hear you have to make some adjustments to your activities.

I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis as a teen. Dr told me then I could do what ever I wanted to do, just understand there'd be a price to pay for it. :)

I have arthritis in my hands now.I can't bend my rt pinky finger. :( Gripping things is hard on me. But I just keep on doing what I can. Dr said to keep fingers moving as much as possible with out trauma or over use.

I also have a condition similar to stenosis that affects my neck, shoulders and arms. That's the worst.
I'm not supposed to lift or drag stuff! HA!!!
They can give me steroid injections --but it involves being put out, and loss of several days recovering.. It only lasts a few weeks. I'm not doing that anymore unless I simply can not function at all.

There are no anti inflammatory drugs I can take. :(
The only pain pills I can take are Tylenol and darvocet.
Everything else does funky things to my stomach, heart or skin.

Be thankful you have options and just keep on going. :)

don't over do it, you reach a point when you have to say: someone else is going to have to do --that--.

I no longer carry big rocks, or dig big holes, or move heavy plants. Someone else has to do that. I have to plan ahead, schedule, or just wait for someone to have the time to come help me do some of the stuff that needs to be done.

Like take stuff up to the attic, or get it down, or drag my plants in or out.

I have a wagon that helps me a lot, to carry bags of mulch and stuff.. but sometimes I can't even get the bags into the wagon! Some days are much better than others. On the good days I work on the bad days I don't.

You'll learn what you can and can't do, and figure out ways around it all.
Gosh this sounds so depressing! :( But I'm a lot better off than a LOT of people I know. :)

Yesterday and today were good days. I got a lot of stuff done and feel ok.
Probably will need to take it a little easy tomorrow though.

Hang in there, take care of yourself and keep moving.

My stomach won't tolerate anti-inflammatories either, but there is an Ibuprofen creme that is absorbed through the skin and it works VERY well. Before I had a knee replacement it was the only thing I could use to lesson the swelling. BioEntopic 15% Ibuprofen Creme.

Nobody wants to hear this but for a high percentage of the people with arthritis symptoms simply eliminating foods of the nightshade family works like a miracle. My knee was like the canary in the coal mine to tell me what my system was sensitive too. If I ate tomatoes or peppers, and to a lesser degree, potatoes (processed potatoes were worse, like potato chips) about three or four days latter my knee would swell so much that I couldn't walk. A registered nurse clued me in on the nightshade thing. Only a few M.D.s will tell you.

Once on vacation we were served Thia food in someone's home (hot peppers!) and I came home in a wheel chair. At least we got to go to the front of a long line at the air port, LOL! After knee replacement if I indulge in foods of nightshade family the affect is that my joints are very achy and stiff.

From the internet: "In a study published in the Journal of the International Academy of Preventive medicine, of the 5000 arthritis sufferers who eliminated Nightshade, seventy percent reported relief from aches, pains, and disfigurement."

And yes, keep moving. Love of gardening will help you do that :-) And remember that problems, including health problems, come and go. "And it came to pass."

Be happy gardening!

Here is a link that might be useful: Arthritis and foods of the nightshade family

Roselee,
I asked my dr about the patches and told me that as sensitive as I am to NSAIDs I wouldn't be able to use them either. He said it gets into your system and I'd have the same side effects anyway. :( Even so much as a baby aspirin will have me laid up for days.

I've heard about the nightshade connection, but haven't noticed any correlation myself... yet.

What I have discovered is diet sodas, especially diet dr pepper --make it worse.
So I now pretty much limit my intake and drink sweet tea
unless I'm really on the go and don't have any.

One of the things I have had to adapt to is the "choose your battles" kind of approach. So when I go to the grocery store, I use the electric cart (even though it is humiliating) and I get help out with my groceries. If I do, then I might be able to work in the garden. If I don't, I'll be out for the rest of the day and maybe the next. So. . . . I get help on the stuff I don't enjoy if I can so I save my strength to do the things I enjoy. If I didn't, I would probably have to give up gardening completely.

I use a large ice chest (planning on getting a rolling one soon) and I can put my hand tools in it and drag it to where I need to weed or dig. I can sit on it instead of trying to kneel or squat -- which is not at all possible for me any more. Kneeling pads won't work for me and most garden seats are so low, if I get into it safely, I cannot get up again. Since I live alone, getting stuck in a garden seat is no bueno.

I've learned to dig holes with hand tools since trying to use a shovel would totally wreck what little I have left of my knees.

And I've learned (the hardest lesson of all) not to expect to get as much done as I used to. Which is why I'll be digging holes for roses until kingdom come. Once I pull out all the grass, dig the hole, put the plant in, mulch the area, I'm pretty much done with most of the gardening for the rest of the day. I can sit and deadhead or put in little plants, but not another full size rose or other plant.

And remember "getting old ain't for sissies."

good luck

I've seen some connection between arthritis flare-ups and coffee. When I cut back on the coffee the arthitis pain is not as bad. I still have a lot of stiffness, but I also eat a lot of potatoes, tomatoes, cherries and peppers. I could give up the nightshade family foods, but I'd really hate to give up my coffee. I never heard of this before and I'm definitely going to try it. Cheryl

Well, Great Roselee and Cheryl, you both have let me know that the two thing's I live on is bad for arthritis.

I have had problems for 8 years now and every year it get's harder. My hands can't hold tools for long, knees can't stay bent long, can't sit on ground due to getting charlie horses. Can't pick up heave things. Somedays I push myself but that is getting less and less. I just do what I can and if I have no one to help me out I've learn to let it go. Sure I wish I could be outside getting thing's done but it just isn't going to happen.
It does bug me but what can you do, after this many years of dealing with it I live through my gardening dream books more than having that dream garden.

I have a mind that never stops thinking, what can I do next or what do I want to do next. This year I am trying to make my gardens easier to manage, plant thing's that don't have to be cut down, I had canna's in a bed and I dug them out this year and placed a maple tree with hosta's.

Barb

Hey Betsy. I've been taking Mobic for joint pain, for several years. It works for me.
Jim

Thanks everybody for your words of advice and encouragement.
I know I'll have to ask for more help (16 yr old son) and
do less, if that's possible, and let things go.

Jim, the Mobic hasn't bothered your stomach?

Betsy

No, Betsy, not at all.
Jim

Well, I went cold turkey on the nightshade foods and since the 25th I haven't had a pepper, potato, tomato or cherry, and that's not easy since they are four of my favorite foods (along with chocolate). Maybe it's psychosomatic, but I have had less pain in my knees every day. I worked out in the yard all day Saturday and Sunday and although they are still a little stiff, and I still can't bend them to squat down and pull weeds, I don't have the arthritis pain that I've had for the past umpteen years. Thank goodness chocolate isn't in the nightshade family!!!!! Cheryl

Good for you Cheryl!

I'm afraid I did the opposite.

A couple of days ago I could hardly get out of bed. Oh my aching joints had aged overnight. And then I remembered I had eaten out a few days before and one of the dishes had hot peppers in it. I rationalized, "A few bites aren't going to do me in" but apparently they did. So I slathered on the Ibuprophen cream for a couple of days and now feel better, but it was a good reminder.

Psychosomatic? Well, some people say all illness is psychosomatic and cures are too. So whatever works, go for it.

And I agree about the chocolate. They should have never told me that dark chocolate is actually good for you -- at the rate of two squares a day :-( Oh well ...