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Struggling with Rheumatoid Arthritis lately

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq said:
I actually don't like pot. Micro-dosing magic mushrooms actually works really well for my pain. My tolerances are high enough now that I don't really get high.

But stem cells are where it's at. Total game changer.
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What are the magic mushrooms? Is this the same as the ones they dig out from underneath cow shit?

Would like to know more about stem cells and how you use that for pain? Very expensive I'd guess. Insurance approved? Do you get a doctors prescription?
 
I'll be honest. Mmj does nothing for the skeletal pain such as arthritis for me. Where it helps me is this....when I was run over, I suffered severe muscle and nerve damage in my back. The longer I stand, the more the muscles in my back tense up. What mmj does for me is relax the muscles and nerves. Allowing me to go from a 7 or 8 out of 10 on the pain scale where I'm immobile to around a 4 or 5 where I can still feel the pain but at least I can move.
 
This has been an interesting discussion.
I've had back problems for about the last 30 years, not crippling but I have to be careful. Whenever I tweek it, it takes a couple of days rest for it to calm back down. 10 days ago, I was moving the portable generator and changing the oil when I hurt it big time. I've been recovering ever since. I've reached the point where I can walk but feel every step and I can now sit without pain. Getting up from a sitting position takes a while and involves much teeth clenching and, heaven forbid, that I twist or turn in the wrong way. I could fall and have. It feels as if it will take another week or so before I can function semi-normally.
It's so frustrating as I was getting so much done around the place. It was starting to look good and now I'm falling further and further behind. My poor wife tries to help but after mowing our 4-acre yard, she had to rest up for a couple of days because she got bounced around so much. What a pair we are. It'll be interesting to see what the next few years will bring.
 
I don't know why, but my arthritis pains were probably down 50% on Wednesday from the prior week or two. Today is a good day too. I'm not saying I don't feel my joints, but yesterday I took only 1 tramadol, and that was mid-afternoon. Today I'm probably going to end up doing the same? Hoping to just get by with ibuprofen.

When I started the new Rinvoq medicine it seemed to take effect pretty quickly and overall I was a lot less 'achy' at the 4 to 8 week time period into the meds. Stopped taking the prescription pain killer completely, and ibuprofen was not even a daily thing. Then the aches started coming back.

Generally I first notice the pain in my fingers and my wrists. Usually don't bother taking meds at that point. Some days that is the worst of it. Other days it starts in the fingers, wrists and I start to feel my elbows. I need to take meds when it hits the elbows. If the pain is up into my shoulders and across my neck it's too late to start the pain killers, they won't do much good, and I'm just miserable. At that point I quietly moan doing just about anything, even breathing.

I try NOT to take the pain killers but if I don't it's worse. And it takes about 60 to 90 minutes to get some relief from the pain killers. So while trying to not take them, I also have to try to be proactive and take them early enough that I get relief. That worked well yesterday. Probably be doing it again today before I go to fencing. But early this week I was waking up and already in a lot of pain. Those are the miserable days.

When I experience RA pain, it seems to come in "flair ups", that to me are more like WAVES. Over a course of days or weeks the pain builds to a peak and then, again over many more days it seems to diminish.
 
Doc said:
I'm amazed at you both (Bob and Brian) after hearing how much pain you both are in you both are so active and get so much done. Very impressive.
I have severe stenosis in my back. I am in major pain after walking 50ft. Sitting alleviates the pain. Pain pills do not touch it. Medical MJ does not help. Weird thing is when shopping if I grab a shopping cart I can walk pretty much without pain. It takes the pressure off the back. Last April I had radiofrequency ablation done on the six lower vertebrae. It seemed to relieve some of the pain, I could walk further without the pain. The doctor said it could last for 2 years at best. Or one year, or ever six months. It varies per person. After two month it does not seem to help me much, if at all.
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I'm in the same boat left side lower 3 vertebrae ablated cut the pain in my leg 100% back pain to a level 2. I go late July and August to do the tests to fix the right side I can hardly sleep thats when Im in the most pain worked on my motorcycle most of the day and I'm fine right now.
 
Doc said:
I'm amazed at you both (Bob and Brian) after hearing how much pain you both are in you both are so active and get so much done. Very impressive.
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tommu56 said:
I'm in the same boat left side lower 3 vertebrae ablated cut the pain in my leg 100% back pain to a level 2. I go late July and August to do the tests to fix the right side I can hardly sleep thats when Im in the most pain worked on my motorcycle most of the day and I'm fine right now.
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I think a lot of it is state of mind. We are just not quitters.

Yes, it hurts. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sit, it hurts when I coach fencing and when I garden and when I am on a tractor and when I toss on a backpack. But what are the f***ing options? I'm not ready to give up and die. That is really the only other option.

So like you, like Brian, we have the choice of going on with life or not. Why would we not go on?
 
tommu56 said:
I'm in the same boat left side lower 3 vertebrae ablated cut the pain in my leg 100% back pain to a level 2. I go late July and August to do the tests to fix the right side I can hardly sleep thats when Im in the most pain worked on my motorcycle most of the day and I'm fine right now.
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I misspoke on my ablation. They did the lower 3 on the left and 3 on the right. It helped for a while but it has not lasted.
 
Exactly. I figure that if I can stand I'm going to get something done because there's definitely times when I can't for days on end. I try to not complain about being sore but the fact is that I wake up sore daily and just tough through it.
 
Old men complaining about constant pain from old age, used to annoy me.
Now, I am one. Perspective is different.
Still, at 78, I cannot complain.
However, I can describe.
It is the shits.

I am just now getting a taste of the future pains life holds.
You guys who are suffering from the real pain of old age, have my sympathy.

And my respect.
 
Doc said:
I misspoke on my ablation. They did the lower 3 on the left and 3 on the right. It helped for a while but it has not lasted.
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My doctor said to expect up to 1 1/2 to 2 years on them and they can be redone. mine ablation was october 2023 It's sure better than drugs in my opinion.
 
tommu56 said:
My doctor said to expect up to 1 1/2 to 2 years on them and they can be redone. mine ablation was october 2023 It's sure better than drugs in my opinion.
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Agreed. Way better than any drugs I've tried for relief.
 
FrancSevin said:
Old men complaining about constant pain from old age, used to annoy me.
Now, I am one. Perspective is different.
Still, at 78, I cannot complain.
However, I can describe.
It is the shits.

I am just now getting a taste of the future pains life holds.
You guys who are suffering from the real pain of old age, have my sympathy.

And my respect.
Click to expand...
Poor baby. I’ll give you a rundown when I get home from work.

…you other guys …sending hugs …but you have to get your own dates. 😉
 
Does your arthritis flare up when the weather changes? Mine sure does. I can feel a storm coming. Yesterday evening my lower back started burning limiting my standing ability. I woke up this morning to heavy rain on the skylight window above my bed. Thankfully I have physio this morning so he can tweak my back. I still go every 2 weeks for a tune up.
 
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Doc said:
What are the magic mushrooms? Is this the same as the ones they dig out from underneath cow shit?

Would like to know more about stem cells and how you use that for pain? Very expensive I'd guess. Insurance approved? Do you get a doctors prescription?
Click to expand...
Mushrooms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom

Probably illegal in your state but usually not hard to find. I kind of accidentally found that they helped with my back pain. Now I just take a small enough dose to numb the pain but I can still function. Worst case scenario if I take too much - I'm just a little happier than usual.

Stem cells (and exosomes) are interesting they kind of work like a systemic anti-inflammatory. Yes they are expensive depending on how many you get. $2000-15000 USD.

To be clear, I'm referring to Mesenchymal stem cells that are extracted from placentas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesenchymal_stem_cell

They are not covered by US medical and I do not recommend getting them done in the USA because the FDA has pretty much blocked the domestic production. Any stem cells you get in the US are likely to come from a foreign source and will have been frozen an additional time which reduces their effectiveness.

I got mine in Tijuana and even saw the lab where the cells are extracted from the placentas the day of injection. I have had it done twice and plan on going back in September to get topped up again.

I used: https://r3stemcell.com/

There are lots of foreign companies that do this now a days. Just about every professional athlete with an injury is using them. I was skeptical but after two rounds. I'm a total fan boy.
 
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NorthernRedneck said:
Does your arthritis flare up when the weather changes? Mine sure does. I can feel a storm coming. Yesterday evening my lower back started burning limiting my standing ability. I woke up this morning to heavy rain on the skylight window above my bed. Thankfully I have physio this morning so he can tweak my back. I still go every 2 weeks for a tune up.
Click to expand...
Yes, I definitely hurt more when it's about to rain.
 
EastTexFrank said:
This has been an interesting discussion.
I've had back problems for about the last 30 years, not crippling but I have to be careful. Whenever I tweek it, it takes a couple of days rest for it to calm back down. 10 days ago, I was moving the portable generator and changing the oil when I hurt it big time. I've been recovering ever since. I've reached the point where I can walk but feel every step and I can now sit without pain. Getting up from a sitting position takes a while and involves much teeth clenching and, heaven forbid, that I twist or turn in the wrong way. I could fall and have. It feels as if it will take another week or so before I can function semi-normally.
It's so frustrating as I was getting so much done around the place. It was starting to look good and now I'm falling further and further behind. My poor wife tries to help but after mowing our 4-acre yard, she had to rest up for a couple of days because she got bounced around so much. What a pair we are. It'll be interesting to see what the next few years will bring.
Click to expand...
ETF, I think what you are experiencing could be fixed with moderate exercise, I don’t think it your back, it’s your back muscles. When you don’t exercise regular, you muscles tend to be strong but not conditioned, then when you use them to there potential without that conditioning you can pull a muscle where it spasms and that is where the pain comes from, and quits hurting when the spasm releases. I’ll bet if you drive your fingers into the area of your back that hurts, you will feel your muscle spasm, feels like tight chords and when you press on them they hurt like hell.
 
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