Miracles of modern medicine
I gripe regularly about my disability. I try not to whine about the pain, as it would be all I talk about, but the disability itself, I'm pretty open about. I'll cover it again, though.
I have Ehler Danlos type 3, also known as hypermobility type. It's not the kind that will cause me to drop dead, luckily. It does cause me a lot of pain and discomfort. It also causes this:
Like my nails? Teehee. All my joints do that, but it's most obvious in my hands. Anyways, I recently got a new prescription for an anti-inflammatory, which is one of my biggest combatants for pain issues. Normally they also cause me really bad heartburn, so I can't take them on a daily basis. In comes the magical new prescription, Voltaren. Now, this stuff is pretty expensive, but the tube is huge. Tube, you say? Yup, tube. It's a topical gel.
Unfortunately it doesn't work well on places like my hips, which right now is one of my problem areas. About three months back my left hip dislocated, which is a regular issue for me, and in probably another 10 years I'll need to have it replaced. But for joints like my hands, wrists, knees, elbows, and other smaller joints, it's a godsend, working in less than 5 minutes and not causing heartburn. The biggest downsides I've noticed so far is that the pain comes back in a few hours where with the anti-inflammatory pills, they would often knock the pain out. The other is that I smell like old people.
This may be a bit TMI for some, and for that I apologize. While the gel isn't life changing, it has made a major impact in my life in the less than a week I've had it, and I feel like it's worth sharing, particularly if it can help even a single other person on this forum. If anyone else has inflammation issues here in single small joints, I'd seriously suggest you talk to your doctor about this medication, because it's so much better than taking a pill and waiting the 40 minutes to an hour for it to kick in.
- 6
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