One of the biggest challenges with any chronic medical condition is the issue of managing pain.  For people with any type of arthritis this is especially important.

The objective of this arthritis blog is to encourage our readers to share their experiences of pain management.  What works?  What doesn’t?

Indeed the blog is part of an on-going series of blogs on pain management.  To check out the previous blog posts please go to https://patienttalk.org/?tag=pain-management.  There are some fantastic tips and ideas from our readers in the previous posts.

It is worth mentioning that arthritis is a term used to cover a wide range of different conditions.  These can include osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and gout among around 100 different illnesses.

A very basic definition of arthritis would be that it is a joint disorder which involves inflammation of the joints.  This causes both pain and in some cases physical disability.

Typical treatments come in three main types:-

a)      Physical and occupational therapy

b)      Medications such as pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs

c)       Join replacement surgery.

As we said the objective of this blog is to find out a bit more about how you have treated your arthritic pain.  It would be great if you could share your experiences with other readers of this arthritis blog.  You may find the following questions useful in framing your response:-

a)      What kind of arthritis do you have?  How long ago were you diagnosed?

b)      How would you describe the pain from your arthritis?  How does the pain affect your lifestyle?

c)       What treatments for your pain did you receiver?  How effective have these arthritis treatment been?

d)      Do you have any advice for other people with arthritis?

e)      Have you ever used alternative medicine to treat you arthritic pain?

Please use the comments box below to tell your story.  Feel free to add any links you think may be on interest to other readers.

Thanks in advance