Osteo Possibilities

[so lucky]

This reinforces my resolve to take Glucosamine Chondroitin, bobm . Thanks for your comments. Maybe Steve will get some good results from it, too. We can all dance a jig in a couple of months!

 

[digitS']

Glucosamine Chondroitin.

I like the idea that Glucosamine is "naturally occurring in humans." I wonder if it is somewhat like steroids, that way.

I don't mind having something in common with a horse. Oh no, wait! They shoot horses don't they?!!

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not if they keep winning the race!!!

 

[ninnymary]

Knowing Steve, he'll win the race. Steve, why don't you try it for at least a month. Even if it helps just a little it's better than nothing. You can find it at costco if you have one nearby.

Mary

 

[NwMtGardener]

Seedo brought up hot peppers - i have a capsasin cream i use on my hands when they start bothering me. I think i have that Reynaud's phenomena where if your hands (or feet) get cold, your body thinks it should go into shock survival mode and clamps down the blood vessels to your extremities. It can happen if you're just getting a bag of frozen veg out of the freezer, or holding a cold drink. So, primarily i modify what i do - use hot pads for cold things, wear gloves lots, use drink coozies. BUT the capsasin cream works GREAT for warming my hands right up and getting the blood flowing again. Unfortunately its tricky to use because of the burn factor - cant touch your face or lips!! Its well worth the side effects though, because it works so good - i'd definitely recommend it for circulation issues.

 

[hoodat]

I guess my age is beginning to catch up to me also. Recntly I've developed sciatica, which apparently originates in the sciatic joint of the lower back. Not too bad so far and I can keep it under control with over the counter pain meds like common aspirin. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

 

[lesa]

Hoodat, sciatica is a strange thing...you may find that you wake up one morning and it is just gone! Fingers crossed that it doesn't bother you too much!

 

[digitS']

Mary, I might be able to finish, puffing and blowing!

It is the capsicum cream that interests me, right off the bat. I do seem to be okay after hammering all that gravelly soil with the muck rake yesterday! I don't know if I can credit the anti-inflammatory cream I'm trying (Voltaren). The wrist is just stiff and tender as usual.

I've got 2 things for Hoodat, and he is of an age when he can safely use his own judgment and ignore me .

Aspirin and all inflammatories are risky for the stomach, especially aspirin. After the years that I used them, I'm not supposed to take any.

Sciatic problems can lead to permanent nerve damage. The lower left leg isn't much more than a prop and the right one doesn't have much more to it. Both are likely to keep me in the paddock and out of the winner's circle. I might have to cultivate my own blanket of carnations.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

I guess my age is beginning to catch up to me also. Recntly I've developed sciatica, which apparently originates in the sciatic joint of the lower back. Not too bad so far and I can keep it under control with over the counter pain meds like common aspirin. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

@hoodat, I had a horrible flareup of my sciatica a dozen or so years ago. I went to the Dr. and he prescribed pain meds, Vicodin as it turned out. I knew nothing about it and he didn't warn me of any possible problems with it.

The sciatic pain continued to worsen to the point of having me in tears, and I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance. The prescription said I could take one V. every 6 hours, and I'm telling you, I could absolutely tell when I had 15 more minutes to go before I could take another.

I was desperate. A friend of ours referred me to his son, a Dr. of Chiropracty, and even though I had had been to one for a different problem before and wrote the chiropracty field off as ineffective, I went to our friends son.

He was extremely professional. First of all he educated me on the pain medication and said plain old ibuprofen would have been better to take because it's an anti-inflammatory and would have settled the nerve down.

Then he began a program of adjustments which were just short of miraculous to me. He also showed me some simple stretches to do to keep it from becoming a problem again.
I have been free from that horrible pain ever since, and if I feel a twinge coming on I do the stretches and it goes away.

I don't think all chiropractors are created equal, just like any other profession. A good one makes all the difference.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Totally agree with Thistle on the sciatic pain. Sciatic pain is an inflammation of the sciatic nerve, the inflammation and pain could be caused at any number of areas where it could be impinged - a bony abnormality in the low back, irritated mucles that have entrapped the nerve, a bulging disc, etc. Stretches (back bends and side to side with the hips, think hula hooping, works for me) and taking a few ibuprofen RIGHT AWAY when i start to feel some of that going on, and i can usually get it under control really quickly. But since it can originate for different reasons, its hard to say if that will work for everyone.