Hi there
I had an appointment with my rheumy yesterday .
I am in a flare and have been most of the summer. My hands are really swollen ( to the point that I can no longer drive ) and the last remicade didn't even make a dent in the flare. Anyway I have to start the methotrexate and move the remicade up to every 4 weeks. If this doesn't help then he said he will change to one of the other meds. I hope it helps . I am getting tired of the constant pain .

Bummer. I pray you get better soon.

Good luck with the new treatment!

As for the hands; a hand (physical) therapist has saved me several times in the past.

And on my own, when my hands flare, i'll do contrast baths several times a day:

1-2 minutes in very hot water, 1-2 minutes in ice cold water, back and forth for a total of 15-20 minutes, several times throughout the day as needed.

I've also learned a lot of ergonomic tricks (from the hand PT) to save my hands.

when my hands get bad, i stop using my thumb on the track pad and pull out the mouse.

i avoid reading anything that requires lots of thumbing through pages (like magazines).

in the kitchen, hubby does all the chopping and peeling, til my hands are a bit better. i do the rest of the cooking that's not so hard on the hands.

i only use gel ink pens; uniball are my favorite / easiest to use.

i'm very selfish with my hands, especially when they are flaring. i think about that spoon theory and really save my hands for only necessary tasks. though sometimes i understand that even that is not good enough.

hope you are doing better soon.

Sorry you are fealing so yuky, Hope new meds give some relief.

re hands: Mine dont swell visibly but they often ache, the right one especially.
The new Sharpie pens are great too. I use them now instead of gel and have found improvememnt. but i want to get the foamies to bulk them up a bit.
Also I use the Cutlery holders on spoons and on my toothbrush. It helped me alot. I dont need on spoons all the time but toothbrush yes. Again hope you feel better soon.

Hi Val, I had no idea you were having so much trouble with your hands. I have a lot of pain and swelling in my hands and wrists, can't use my thumbs anymore. We really take our hands for granted until we can't use them amymore. There are a few things I do for my hands one is a parafin bath for my hands, two, soak them in hot soapy water while doing my finger exercises, three, I have a jar of salve that has Glucosamin, Condroitin, and MSN that I use daily. If I can help you any let me know.


Cindy

Hi Wallwe.

Hopefully the methotrexate will make a difference for you. It helps my hands heaps, more than anything else I've tried, but it took a few weeks at 15mg per week to start making a difference and improved even more once I increased to 20mg per week. I can even open cans again! Just be sure you take the folic acid to prevent side effects.

For me it is essential to use an ergonomic keyboard with the computer - I have one at home and one at work recommended by an occupational therapist who did an ergonomic assessment at work. I also got an ereader as holding ordinary books is too hard on my hands. Oh and an electric toothbrush - it's hard to cover everywhere properly when your hands don't work well and I also have a dry mouth etc, so I ended up with a row of fillings in one place where my toothbrush hadn't been reaching properly.

Good idea to go to a hand therapist to get any ideas about how to protect your hands while they are so inflamed.