You have Osteoarthritis and now what?

 

Dear Bloggers,

A few years back in the summer I first felt it: some painful morning stiffness in my fingers. The first signs of osteoarthritis. I resemble my father in many ways. We both went gray when we were 25. He developed osteoarthritis in his fingers around the age of 50 and had deformed, painful fingers and hands 20 years later. Other joints also gave pain complaints over the years. I am a bus driver now and would like to keep doing this until my last day. So, no arthritis for me.

You have to learn to live with osteoarthritis, GPs say and 15 years ago I went to the hospital and the Rheumatologist said it must be Fibromyalgia as there is nothing to find in your blood and you are still young. To keep performing in my job at sea. I had to try things out. They gave me a device that gave electric shocks to ease the pain. After a while it didn’t work out. So, I was getting pain medication and through the years I was on the highest possible dose. This summer the pain was getting back to me, and I became ill of it.

I went to my doctor about it. I thought I knew what he'll say: "There's little you can do about it, just learn to live with it." I have heard from many people around me that this is the message they came home with. Or I'm on the doorstep with drugs that won't address the cause. On sites such as the rheumatoid arthritis fund, osteoarthritis is referred to as “this chronic disease” and the treatment consists of drugs such as painkillers and anti-inflammatories, which the doctors have to prescribe for you according to their protocol. To my surprise, I was immediately referred to the Rheumatologist Dr Baudoin in Lelystad. This doctor is not in favor of numbing people with painkillers and other drugs. This is better than just getting a diagnosis in which you are immediately labeled as a "patient" and the "cure" turns out to be an expensive medical treatment that is not yet available. I don't enjoy these kinds of things. First thing I had to do he said was stopping the painkillers and go back to Panadol and solve the hardest moments. My body was totally in distress as it needed to go back to work again. I have been sick of it for three weeks getting fever and diarrhea and as my immune system was totally on the floor. Surprise surprise I ended up with a pneumonia. Isn’t life wonderful.

No one is responsible for my body. That's just me. I have the task of taking care of this as best as possible and that starts with informing myself well. Fortunately, we live in a time when you can keep yourself well informed. I started researching osteoarthritis and what I could do myself to ensure that I can still do my favorite job somewhat decently at 65. Then what I read made me happy and I want to share this with you.

Osteoarthritis is a disease of joints. These can be fingers, but also knees, elbows or hips. It is a form of inflammation that usually ends in wear and tear. It is therefore important to be there early before the wear occurs. This usually only happens after the age of 40, but it is very common. Women are ten times more likely to develop osteoarthritis than men. Wear and tear occurs in the cartilage of the joints, making the cartilage less elastic. The bone outgrowths, together with muscles and tendons, compensate for this reduced function of the cartilage. This is what causes stiffness at first and pain later. Overloading the joint (sports) can also lead to (extra) wear and tear.

Osteoarthritis says something about your overall health

Osteoarthritis seems to be a local condition, but it says something about the health of your entire body. This has to do with that inflammation that it starts with. Osteoarthritis is in fact a signal that the body is deficient in nutrients. The body uses the nutrients present for your essential organs such as your heart and liver. Just like in a panic situation your heart and muscles get blood to take action instead of your stomach which "only" has to take care of digestion. That is equally less important in a panic state. Your joints are “low” on your body's priority list, as are your skin and hair. You can survive just fine with some wear and tear on skin, hair and joints. So they get less nutrients. Osteoarthritis has everything to do with how you feed yourself. Like almost all chronic diseases, by the way. It is therefore important to ensure good nutrition and therefore sufficient nutrients. This is not to say that it is always preventable.

As we age, we become more prone to inflammation. It is therefore important to delay this process as much as possible. Osteoarthritis also has to do with the balance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body, or the oxidation process. This too cannot be prevented, but it can be kept in balance. Eating like our ancestors did before agriculture and livestock were invented is the best thing you can do to fight inflammation like osteoarthritis. In particular, a good balance between omega 6 (vegetable fats) and omega 3 fatty acids (oily fish) is important. Not too much omega 6 but plenty of omega 3 is the advice. Bit of trouble when you are allergic to seafood like me.

Dairy, bread and too many fast carbohydrates can also cause joint problems, so it is important to reduce them. This also applies to red meat.

Soon I am starting together with my wife on a program where they learn us hopefully more to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. I will suffer from pains as I will go to gym again and having a few muscles being not in the best shape. The best is yet to come and the holiday season is on it’s way.

I will try to blog a bit more again although it is painful to my wrists and fingers.

The Old Sailor,