Guns and Arthritis...

[Old Ironsights]

While I haven't gotten a definitive diagnosis yet, it appears that I'm developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hands.

Anybody else dealing with this, and how does it impact your shooting?

[Nazgul]

Had to admit it this last year myself. Worked as a mechanic for 25 years, still do and my fingers have twisted/hurt. Dr says it is rhuematoid and there isn't much to be done.

Started to wear padded shooting gloves when it flares up. Notice it in my knees and other joints too.

So far have just put up with it. May have to limit the heavy recoil handguns some.

Don

[AJMD429]

Rheumatoid arthritis can be confirmed with a blood test called a citrulline cyclic peptide (or something like that - we just call it a "CCP"). There ARE some major new treatment changes for rheumatoid arthritis that are due to use of an entire new class of medications, so be sure to check with your physicians and see if you for sure have rheumatoid, and/or if they're familiar with the latest treatments (mostly it's the rheumatologists who prescribe the newer meds).

The commoner osteoarthritis hasn't had the dramatic breakthrough in treatment, but is also sometimes quite responsive to treatment.

One thing for sure about arthritis, when you get older, the term 'morning stiffness' takes on a whole new meaning...

[SteveR]

While I haven't gotten a definitive diagnosis yet, it appears that I'm developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hands.

Anybody else dealing with this, and how does it impact your shooting?

I supose shooting holes in your hands can't help either!! Just kidding, how is the hand doing since the shooting???

Steve

[Old Ironsights]

While I haven't gotten a definitive diagnosis yet, it appears that I'm developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hands.

Anybody else dealing with this, and how does it impact your shooting?

I supose shooting holes in your hands can't help either!! Just kidding, how is the hand doing since the shooting???

Steve

100%. Not even much of a scar. The scar from the big hunk-o-meat I nearly pinched off with a hammer & tent stake up in NWTC at -70 deg bothers me worse...

[SteveR]

Good to hear, amazing when I saw the first pics, my first thought was that is going to leave a hole.

I do wish you well on the arthritis, I have it from when I broke my neck (seems its caused with the fusions and such) and cold seems to be the worst time for it.

Steve

[Old No7]

Well, my 26-year-old daughter has suffered with JRA, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis since since was 3, but that's a much different disease and prognosis than the RA that adults get.

I've been dealing with sore hands & wrists and flares of arthritis for the last 5 or 6 years, so much that I sometimes welcome a Monday morning return to work, if I've been using hand tools and my hands all weekend. (Scary thought, isn't it... ) And for the last 4 years or so, I've been wearing hand/wrist supports each night in bed. That helped some.

The last 6 weeks though, have been much better than the prior 6 years!!!

And to that I owe all the credit -- I think -- to taking Fish Oil 2X per day. These are BIG tablets too, they look like a horse pill! That is the only thing I changed... But now I can really wrench on a wrench (pun intended!) and not be sore like I used to be. Wow! It feels like my hands and wrists are 25-year old again (and I am 2X that...).

My twin suggested I take these, when we talked about it at Easter Dinner with the family; as he started after shoulder surgery and said it really worked for him. Took me a few weeks to start up -- but now I will never stop with the Fish Oil!!

And you know what??? Even if it is just the "placebo effect", it is working for me!

Maybe it will give you some relief too -- and I'd bet you'll know within 3 to 5 weeks if there is any difference, if you try it. (Let us know if you do and it works, and we can jointly market some Paco Kelly's Old Tyme Fish Oil for LeverGunners & Shooters. )

Good luck, and tight groups OI.

Oh, and some "Old Number 7" helps me too -- in moderation, of course!

Old No7

[pdentrem]

My shoulder hurts at times. Doc says that heavy recoiling rifles from bench is likely the cause. I have since sold the heavy stuff but will not let my 6mm PPC gun go!

This weekend I did shot one of my Win92 in 44-40. Had a blast! Only 25 rounds and not from bench, standing as it is supposed to be done.

[AJMD429]

The fish oil certainly can help arthritis, and many other diseases of 'inflammation', including atherosclerosis. It's not all in your head; it's real. (Now those voices you've been hearing, that's another story... )

[Chas.]

AJMD429 may be referring to a class of drugs called TNF Inhibitors. They can, in fact, produce remarkable results in RA candidates. But they are a bit pricey. My wife has had RA for 35 years and started TNF Inhibitor therapy a few years ago. She had great success with the RA. Unfortunately, she developed a large T-cell granular lymphoma, which she blames on the TNF Inhibitor. May be, or may just have been coincidental since RA patients have a higher than normal risk of lymphoma. Either way, after consulting with the rheumatologist and Pfizer, she chose to cease therapy. Now she's just on methotrexate, another nasty drug.

[Old Ironsights]

Given my allergy to volatilized Fish Oils I'm pretty leery of fish-oil capsules... I really hate using my Epi-Pen for anything but stress-fire practice.

But, maybe they would be OK. I'll just have to take the first one at the ER just in case.

[AJMD429]

Given my allergy to volatilized Fish Oils I'm pretty leery of fish-oil capsules... I really hate using my Epi-Pen for anything but stress-fire practice.

But, maybe they would be OK. I'll just have to take the first one at the ER just in case.

Then try flaxseed oil - I know it helps the triglycerides and vascular stuff, and has lots of Omega-3's. In fact, I think hempseed oil does as well, and most places have figured out it has no THC in it so will sell it.

[olyinaz]

Then try flaxseed oil - I know it helps the triglycerides and vascular stuff, and has lots of Omega-3's. In fact, I think hempseed oil does as well, and most places have figured out it has no THC in it so will sell it.

And given that flax seed oil is known by another common name, linseed oil, why on Earth would a Levergunner take anything else??!!

Best thing about flax seed and flax oil is that it's quite tasteless and very easy to work in to various foods you already eat. It's a no-brainer.

Oly

P.S. Don't anyone get stoopid and consume some of yer boiled linseed oil! We're talkin' food grade flax oil here fellas - available at Walgreens or your local super market.

[Hobie]

It seems that I might be getting arthritis in the trigger finger of either hand.

It can be hell to get old but it supposedly beats the alternative.

[DarryH]

Supposedly.....WD40 sprayed on the hands and worked in provides relief for many people.
Even the folks at WD40 acknowledge this, but of course they do not promote it.

[Old Ironsights]

Supposedly.....WD40 sprayed on the hands and worked in provides relief for many people.
Even the folks at WD40 acknowledge this, but of course they do not promote it.

Probably rather like using DMSO/Horse Liniment.

[Ysabel Kid]

OI - sorry to hear that!

[Malamute]

Well, I decided to look for a nice Smith & Wesson K-32 for my geezerhood years, but waited too long. They used to be pretty reasonable, nobody was all that interested in shooting 32's, then they decided they were collectible,....Guess it will be the K-22 or a K-38. Still ok with the regular stuff, just planning ahead.

[madman4570]

Wasn't going to post this but I keep coming back to it and feel that I must.
Now myself not being any type Medical professional,this is just my opinion so take it for just that(just my own opinion)

About 4 years back my mother-in-law which just turned 80 was the kind of women that never got sick(with exception of 1 cold a year)Did everything,gardened/cooked/loved going to flea markets/kept herself/house prim and proper.(you know the type)

Well, one day after she had been weeding her flower garden she said she didn't sleep real good because her shoulder bothered her a little the night before.She said she took a advil and it seemed better.
She mentioned it to my sister-in-law and she said (mom,I am going to make an appointment for you to see a doctor?
So MIL comes home and says she will be starting on a prescription(Celebrex) So, after a couple weeks of taking that she said she was having strange thoughts/visions/etc.
So went right back to the Doc and next thing I hear she is on this drug(Enbrel)injections and she said it cost (big bucks?First shot taken and wham-------
within couple days she is hospitalized for stomach bleeding and she says she also cant breath good???
The doctor came in(an Indian Doctor/and I dont mean the ones that fought with the cowboys)I asked him what the heck is going on and explained to him this is highly unusual for her and whats going on with these meds side effects???
He said your MIL is 80 and most 80 year old patients he see's take 10-15 different meds a day(hard to understand his broken english??) I ran out and said I want to see the chief of staff (thank god/an American man ,age around 60, someone I could understand)) I explained the details to him and wham that first doctor was no longer the MIL's doc. He gave that doc what for out in the hall.After a week in the hospital she gets released but is now on some type patch(Roxicodone,I think?)
She comes back home(and within a few weeks she is now only a shell of the women she was just a short time prior tp the begining deal with the first aching shoulder episode

Bottom line in that short time she went from unreal heathy older woman, to a drug sucking machine.(couldnt tell you how many different ones(1-stomach/1- blood pressure(which had always been low before the meds)the patch/1-breathing / plus dont know all the others.
Women never smoked a day in her life and after 4 months of that stuff she was onhigh level Oxygen(I myself think that stuff gave her some kind of TB or something?)After 8 more months on meds/oxygen machine cranked up then they ended putting her on some type Morphine patches and that was about all she wrote???

Moral of the story--------before taking ANY Meds for something like a ache, better weigh all factors(very carefully)and weigh the risks?? I am no Doc,so talk to our own doc and do whatever you need to but--------???????????

Hey, At least she didn't have that one pill pusher first doctor,the one from India(they gave her a woman doctor(a yep,one also from India)
Go Figure?
Me, I stay home/ out of the hospital/ and only take some herbs?
And if I ever do go to a hospital(I want an American Doctor)

[rjohns94]

sorry to hear that. It certainly cant help the shooting i'm thinking.

[jnyork]

While I haven't gotten a definitive diagnosis yet, it appears that I'm developing Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hands.

Anybody else dealing with this, and how does it impact your shooting?

Dipping your hands in a nice warm pile of pronghorn innards will help you immensely.

[OJ]

The commoner osteoarthritis hasn't had the dramatic breakthrough in treatment, but is also sometimes quite responsive to treatment.

One thing for sure about arthritis, when you get older, the term 'morning stiffness' takes on a whole new meaning...

I agree with the doctor - as I approach #85 years - my thumbs and ring fingers knobby from long contact with surgical tools for some four decades -

I have to conclude those who refer to the "golden years" are mistaking what that yellow stuff really is - personally, I'm inclined to think it is really rust that only looks like gold -

It can be hell to get old but it supposedly beats the alternative.

_________________
Sincerely,

Hobie

Got mixed feelings there - may depend on how tough the final exam is - I'm inclined to go with the old toast " May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil learns you're dead".



My rifle shooting isn't affected and those low mount thumb safeties on my Colt Government Model 45s save the day there too -

[Old Ironsights]

Well, it certainly makes my SP101 less fun to carry. Recoil is OK, but Fingers aren't liking the DA pull in the morning. Good thing I've got a 1911 eh?

[BAGTIC]

I had surgery on my right (shooting) shoulder last December. RA got to where I couldn't raise my arm high enough to shave, brush or comb. Much improved but I have stayed away from the boomers since. Easy enough during the winter but now that weather has warmed I am feeling the itch. I will be replacing a lot of hard (steel, plastic) butt plates with softer recoil pads even for the milder shooting guns.

[Ji in Hawaii]

The fish oil certainly can help arthritis, and many other diseases of 'inflammation', including atherosclerosis.

I tried fish oil, rubbed it all over my sore joints but people kept on complaining about the smell.

[Ji in Hawaii]

When I saw "Guns and Arthritis" in your heading the first thing that popped in my head was a title for a new gun magazine for seniors.

[jerry b]

The bottom joints of both thumbs hurt, sometimes very much so. I warn these yunggins about shooting hard recoiling handguns, but they just snicker. Just wait . I am not happy that it hurts to play barre chords on guitar these days.