Anyone with Carpal Tunnel or aching joints?

Lord knows at this time of year we need some help for our body aches. :o) I had Carpel Tunnel surgery 2-3 years ago but I still have pain & aches at night in my wrists & shoulders from digging, pulling weeds, etc. Give this a try. At night use 'Icyhot' ( or Equate)medicated roll/bandages on the achy spots. It has truly helped to keep my hands from following asleep and shoulder joints from aching when lying on them. I was pleasantly surprised! I hope this might work for anyone with the same joint pain. It aint's easy getting older but it doesn't have to be painful. There is so much joy now in watching our gardens grow and sharing this beauty with everyone.

Who me have achy fingers and hands? LOL. thanks for this tip... will give it a try. Old age ain't for sissies..
Elaine

good Idea !!! I wonder if they sell rolls big enough to wrap my whole body ;0(
Gloria

I have to wear wrist braces at night anyway, but I have a mild case of carpel tunnel. the wrap sounds interesting for shoulders with tendinitis.

Icyhot on my shoulders, I cannot wait. Already visited the doc this week with major muscle pain in my neck and shoulders. Prescription is a joke. Have an MRI scheduled in a few days. This is a drag.

K

I have the same problem -- numbness in arms and shoulders wake me up every morning before I am ready to get up resulting in inadequate sleep. I have had MRI and nerve tests and the doctors tell me there isn't much they can do other than shots of steroids in the spine. Yipes! I had carpal tunnel when I was working but this is more widespread than that -- arms shoulders and neck. I will try icyhot and probably acupuncture as well.
I agree that getting old is tough.

Oh yes....body aches from too much bending, pulling and hauling buckets of weeds to the dump pile. I have been having charlie horses at night in the calves of my legs and I wake up with the stiff neck and my hands are swollen. I haven't tried anything other than taking some Tylenol, but my Mother uses apple cider vinegar mixed with juice and I am almost....please note that says "almost" ready to give that a try. She is 88 yrs. old and very spry and does her own gardening still. She puts me to shame.

My daughter and I have gotten at last count (it will be more than this) 212 new iris into the new iris bed. No wonder we are aching.

Nana3

Good for you Nana! It's nice you have your daughters help...makes it twice as enjoyable!

What is in the Hot & Icy is like metholadium. (Vicks) I've always wanted to try acupuncture...Hmmm Hot & Icy is probably cheaper.

If someone would tell me that all my aches and pains would go away if I didn't garden anymore, ..nah, I don't think so! Instead of counting sheep when I can't go to sleep, I go through the names of Iris I have...beginning with 'C' or Women's names, or 'blue's. Now you all know for sure that I'm an addict! It's a good addiction if you have the space. Everything else you can figure it out.

S

Nana Try drinking tonic water with quinine to help with aches at night. that is what I have been told to do. I found some diet 'Tonic Water' without sugar.

I eat bananas and take 2 buffrin every night or I don't sleep at all the bananas replace your potassium then the cramps go away and the buffrin helps my other ackes and pains works for me ;0)
Gloria

Another thing you can use is dill pickle juice. Just drink a little before you go to bed at night.
I played volleyball and softball for over 40 years and every joint in my body has been over used, over extended, worn out and so forth. Of course that's besides pulling weeds, digging plants and so forth for the same amount of years. I also have total knee replacement, Restless Leg Syndrom among a few other medical problems.

I found one thing that really works pretty good for aches and pains and very easy to use is "STOP PAIN" .The best part is it comes in a spray bottle. Therefore you don't get anything on your hands and it doesn't smell as bad as Icy Hot, or any of the other rubs and so forth. Many a times I've threatened to get a truck load of it and take a bath in it. LOL I also take 2 ib. for swelling and pain relief. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't . (frown)

I don't know about any of you but I just need a whole new body and while I'm at it, I might as well ask for a much younger one too. LOL

Marian

You said it all, lovelyiris.

For the leg cramps, my DH's doctor told him to take magnesium and, sure enough, it stopped them. I had heard one should take potassium but his cardiologists said potassium wasn't good "as we grow older". Luckily magnesium worked very well. Maybe that's what's in pickle juice?

Thank y'all....I am going to try some of these to see if it will help with those charlie horses. I just hate them. The only thing I can do is jump to my feet and stand beside my bed to get them to stop.

irisMA, where do you find that tonic water with quinine? Is it in the beverage isle at the grocery store?

I am going to give that dill pickle juice a try tonight....thankfully my little 4 yr. old grandson simply loves dill pickles and we just bought a new jar during our last grocery order.

I have always eaten bananas for the leg cramps, but they don't like me anymore and give me horrid heartburn....and they were one of my favorite fruits.

lovelyiris, while you putting in your order for a new body...go ahead and order one for me...just make sure my younger new body isn't pear shaped like this old one is. ahaha
I'll take hour-glass shape and a nice thin one that is nice and toned.

Nana3

When I get legs cramps I drink quinine water, too. Ours is in the mixers area, and I get the sugar free. I love dill pickle juice and will have to try that, although my Dr. did tell me to cut back on salt, so that might not be good.

Husker that's funny. When I can't sleep I tend to go thorugh my irises too. I've got the for sale irises lined out in rows, and I try to name them down the row. It's actually helping me to find them. I don't know if it's helping me sleep though.

LOL! You are probably right Pollyk...but at least I am smiling and not worrying about getting back to sleep.

I'll fall asleep naming my new irises tonight..lol. hmm have to try the pickle juice...hold my nose. I know vinegar is suppose to be good also. Now quinine.
E

I looked in the water section & it wasn't there. So I asked a boy shelving things & he pointed to the other side where the soft drinks are. I thought they said water. I found the Polar brand but I think that is mainly in New England. I'm sure others make it & the 'diet' has no sugar.

Pickle juice is the best thing in the world for charlie horses. I don't take it very often but when I do I know that I'm going to get alot of relief and fairly quickly. Those are some of the darndest pains one can have. You just stretch a little bit or something and BAM that hard knot feeling and cramping is unbelieveable.

Nana if I'm going to order us some new bodies you can bet your sweet bippy we're all going to be 10's. Hourglass figures, hair to die for, fingernails that will not break or discolor while we're working out in the lovely gardens, and our new bodies will be bug resistant too. LOL

Happy Gardening Everyone and may your aches and pains be few and far between.
Marian

Lord help us!! We are all ready for the old folks home!! And here I thought I had the market cornered on aches and pains! For the past few years I blamed my pains on my knees, then I had them both replaced. The pains didn't go away so back to the docs I went. Now they say I have fibramyalgia! Heck, I can't hardly spell it, so how did I get it? Love and Kisses to all! Happy Thursday BIF's! pic Cashmere Rose

Nicky, that is one of those "you can't pronounce" names they give to what they "can't understand". I am sorry they have put that one on you. I am probably about to hear the same diagnoses in a couple of weeks with regard to my neck, shoulder, back problems.

You still seem to be a bundle of energy.

Hope you get some relief,

K

After talking to a friend on face book, I consider myself lucky! At least I can sleep okay and don't have brain fog! That brain fog thing, I've never heard of that before! She had to give up driving. I would hate that. Another thing to worry about getting. (friends will tell you I'm already nuts) pic Bonkers

oooo, those are pretty irises,, they make you forget those aches and pains for a while.. lol

Brain fog? I have that. I didn't realize it came from neuropathy. I thought it was from the meds. I don't have it so bad that I can't drive, but I definitely have it.

my DIL gets bad leg cramps and told her to drink Tonic water a little at a time, and she hardly has them now. What really causes hers is standing on concrete at work for 8-10 hours a day and many times, just standing in one spot.

D

best thing I can tell your DIL D is to take a long hot soaking bath before she gets ready to go to bed. If she can get some epsom salt from the dollar store add a cup of it to her bath water too. I think the mag. in it helps the human body just like it does plants. LOL So I stole my gardening salt to use in my baths.

Every night I have to use a massager on my legs and right hip to relax them some before I go to sleep. If I don't use it I toss and turn and my legs jerk all night. That of course is from the restless leg syndrom. I did take meds for it but then after a few months the side effects were worse than the RLS. Severe headaches like someone hitting you in the back of the head with a baseball bat as hard as they could. I could narrow it down to that med because as soon as I'd take it the headaches would come.

All I can say is it's awful getting old and not being able to do the things we've taken for granted and done all our lifes. Brings a whole new meaning to slowing down and smelling the roses. Just remember we lived in the good ole' days and got to enjoy our plants while others were to busy to appreciate the great outdoors, wildlife, and plants!

Happy Gardening Everyone, I'm off to different hospitals to visit some of my friends who are not doing as well as you and myself. Anyday I can wake up on this side of the dirt, I just say "Ain't God Great" it's a wonderful day! Regardless of all my aches and pains!

Marian

One can take a magnesium tablet from the supplement section of the drug or grocery store for leg cramps as well. That is what the doctor surprised for my DH and it worked. He hasn't had a leg cramp since he started taking magnesium supplements.

I have been drinking a mugful of tonic water during the evening just for a week & it has helped. The heat packs (boil water, then take it off burner & let the pack set) have helped. The first one which I was geiven at the Dr.s office knocked out the severe one just below the knee. Now they tell me that I need B-12 injections. Fun! Don't have neuopathy in the upper part of my body, but I need meds for the feet & it is creeping up the right leg.

Well my dad was a Pharmacist and he always took Quinine for leg cramps so the water with quinine would be great. Also Aleve really helps with inflamation of muscle and tissue. Another thing he told me was when working in the heat for long stretches day after day you need more Potassium to help replace what you lose from perspiring. When I worked at the Greenhouse here we all ate 1 a day. For a rub he always recommended and I have used with great satisfaction Analgesic Ointment. smells I agree but works on muscle.tendons/ligaments/inflamation. Unfortunately we are going to hurt as we get older. Who ever said golden years meant those raking in the money for all this stuff. I think it is really the RUST YEARS. LOL

I meant we ate 1 Banana a day (not 1 a day like a vitamin). Must be late

This message was edited Aug 22, 2009 10:38 PM

Ruth Gordon, the funny movie actress from years (like 45 years ago. Boy! Time flies when you age!!!) once said that growing old is not for cowards. I laugh because it's a hunorous observation, but how rigt she was. lol.

Bananas are our lunch dessert. 1 apiece that is. right now they tell me that I need B-12 injections as I am low. First shot on tues. Have to work around lab schedule.

I dont know if this is helpful to anyone but by accident when I was working for a couple contractors, I would be cleaning their tools with WD-40 and i have carpel Tunnel and i think arthritis, sometimes cant straighten out my arms,as I would clean the tools some of the spray would rub on my skin and it really does take the pain away...took me awhile to figure out it was the WD-40

Wow! I'm going to experiment with that! WD40 and Duct tape are the 2 things no one should be without! Don't know about the smell but if it works... Great!

Husker11, let me know if it does work for you. It did for me every single time I used it...when I realized that it had to be the WD-40. I'm tempted now to try it on my lower back!

This will be a 'tickle' and will let you know! I love the simple cheap home remedies instead of paying for prescriptions. If this truly works, maybe we can persuade them to invent a WD40 that smells better! Sorry, jumping ahead of myself!
P.S. I think it's already feeling not as sleepy or numb in my wrist! :o)

I had thought of something...for many years talking with farmers and growing up around them, I dont recall any having arthritis in their hands, could it be from using this when they work on their machinery? I do remember always seeing them take their bandanas and just rubbing their hands on it after they get greased up from working on the tractors. Hmmmm.

That's very possible. And perhaps men have bigger hands to accommodate their nerves & tendons. I have done many things involving hand motions...bowling, macrome, quilting, crocheting, & knitting and of course gardening!... it's no wonder.
I tried the WD40 last night on my right hand/wrist and it seemed to lesson the 'needles' through the night. Tonight I'm going to wrap my left wrist the same way. I'll report back. LOL Yah' don't know until you try it! Thank you bluesky!

I friend who is very nutrition contentious told me to eat as much fresh fruits and vegetables as I can stand - The flood of vitamins and enzymes helps your body heal. It works! My ankles used to feel like they were breaking and it had gotten to the point that I couldn't walk without a bunch of pain. I've been eating all fresh fruits and vegetables during the day until dinner when I allow myself to eat cooked food. Started this June 5, 2009 and have lost 27 1/2 lbs (I weighed today!). My ankles no longer hurt, carpel tunnel has gone away entirely and my knee injury also healed.

This friend explained to me that we lose 80-90% of the vitamins and enzymes in our food when we cook it. He was right! :)

Tall Bearded Iris: Honey House. Photo by: CathysHobbyGarden

Cathy, you have a really smart and informed friend! Wow, to have lost that weight and then feeling better is great! Nice going!
I love Honey House too and hope it blooms for me next summer.

love that Honey house. and we sure don't eat enought fresh frutis and veggies.

Bluesky, I'm really starting to believe in WD40. I'm still experimenting but I don't seem to have the extreme numbness
in my wrists. I'll keep you posted, but I really think it is a 'postive'. :o)