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My husband's hand/wrist is very swollen and sore. Right now he's on doxy 200 mg, plaquenil, prednisone 7 mg. Wrist pain is not a new symptom but it has never been this bad. Because of the recent acute anemia hospital experience we're moving slow as far as taking new meds. A second IVIG treatment is scheduled next week and we're hoping that might help.
Does anyone have a great remedy for inflammation/pain until we can attack it some other way?
Parisa, my daughter used emu oil for swollen, painful fingers and hands so she could keyboard at work. It helped but of course only for a time and then she would reapply it. She kept some at home and some at work. She bought it at a bulk food store but it is likely available at healath food stores too. At the very least it is not harmful…
These days she doesn't need it but this was when she was just getting going on Minocin.
We use Pan Away or an even mixture (usually 2-4 drops of each depending on the size of the area to be covered) of Peppermint and Wintergreen oil. We use Young Living because it is the pure oil (no additives). It works quickly on my husband's hands, wrists, and shoulders. Of course it wears off, but he feels a lot better after I have “minted him up.”
Good luck. 🙂
Parisa,
I've used bio freeze, and stop pain. They come in roll on, or gel, or spray. They both work well, but as Marg mentioned, must be reapplied several times a day.
Good Luck :blush:
Donna
Parisa:
Have you ever read about DMSO? It was recommended by our first AP doctor, I am not personally recommending it. The doctor told me it is sold over the counter, I couldn't find it an any pharmacy so I called him back to find our where to get it, his answer was “the feed store” it is used commonly on race horses for joint pain and inflammation. If you google it I am sure you will come up with enough information to consider it.
Just a thought.
Cheryl
After I wrote this, I ran out to the health food store and bought homeopathic Ledium and Apis and some Capsaicin cream. If those don't work, I'll move onto the suggestions. I do have some essential oils – so I'll go see if I have the right kind of mint. Emu oil – interesting but worth a try. BioFreeze that sounds like something I'd probably get at the drugstore?
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! So nice to have this site. The doctors just stare at his swollen hand and start muttering about him increasing his prednisone – not an option!
Cheryl,
I read about DMSO a long time ago when my husband was first sick and his hands first swelled up. I'll have to refresh my memory. Thanks!
Parisa:
I forgot to mention in my first post, when I did go to the feed store and buy the DMSO, a big tub of it cost about $4.
Cheryl
I use it – usually put some on every night before bed. I tried it last year and did not see any difference but had the same result with OT, when the SD was cranking nothing helped anything. Now after one year plus AP and the SD has settled down I can exercise etc. I digress anyway I use the DMSO on my hands I bought the gel kind, I'm not sure if it does anything but it does not seem to hurt. Now yesterday I was carring firewood in one of those carrier things and in the evening I did have hand pain as I must have strained my right hand, used the DMSO and today the pain was gone – effect of chance or DMSO I'm not sure. But I will continue to use it as I noted above it's use does not seem to hurt. Anyway just my two cents.
I personally have never used it, buy my health food store sells DMSO…maybe an option if you're having trouble finding it. …. Kim
Hi Cheryl,
DMSO can be purchased at most health food stores. DMSO I.V.'s are given by some alternative health care professionals to reduce inflammation. My AP Doc had me on it for about a month. I took one treatment a week. It helps pain however, the smell is horrific. It causes worse then garlic breath and people will move away from you. My second oldest daughter was so bothered by the smell that after I got treated, she would vomit. It leaves trails for 3 days. The people at the clinic got used to the smell as they treated people daily with it, but if you're not used to it, its some wicked smelling stuff.
Vets used to use it. I'm not certain if they use it so much anymore. I highly doubt that it could be applied to a cows leg. Just applying it externally will smell through the whole system and I would bet that it would affect the taste of the milk. I do know that people used to put it on horses legs to reduce swelling.
Its safe, but stinky.
Diane
[user=13]Parisa[/user] wrote:
Cheryl,
Did you actually buy the DMSO? If you did, did it help your husband?
I did buy it from the feed store. While I was there several horse owners ( and I am talking $$$$$ horses) swore by it.
I had Jess use it for a week or so, not sure if it made a difference, let's just say this kid doesn't do these things that take much effort, going to bed with gooey hands was not her cup of tea. So she only used it a few times.
Sounds like JeffN has the most experience with this. When I mixed it up for her once, just touching it gave me a taste in my mouth, it does travel trough the blood stream. I haver read that it is used to “carry” medications into the body. So you should make sure your hands are clean when applying it.
Cheryl
The gel type that I have does not smell too bad, and I did not get the real garlik breath (maybe the gel does not work or penetrate skin as well?). When I first started to use it though it sort of burns a little but that seems to go away. I got used to it on my hands but when my knees were hurting a while back I tried it on them and on my knees the burning sensation was greater than my hands, I only tried DMSO on my knees a few times and never did get used to the sensation. Somewhere I read that it is available with aloe which seems like a good idea. I will continue to use it on my hands, as I said it does not seem to hurt anything and I have read that it helps bring the tendons back to life – straight fingers would be so nice.
Hi Parisa,
If all else fails, ultrasound may be a reasonable alternative. I'm currently having ultrasound therapy twice a week along with physio on my knees and ankles, which are still quite swollen. After the first few sessions there has been a remarkable difference in pain. The swelling is taking a little longer to come down, but I've only had 4 sessions in the past 2 weeks so far and will be going for 10 weeks in total. Helped enormously with my shoulders last year to unfreeze them and haven't had any problems since with those.
Another alternative might also be vee venom shots. Sounds nasty, I know, but I think the shots contain a local anesthetic, so they aren't as painful as actual bee stings. I'm leaving this as a second line treatment, if I still need it after I finish the ultrasound treatments. I asked my LLMD if it would be okay and he said that bee venom is fine for Lyme and he felt that the mellitin in bee venom is as powerful as cortisone without the immunosuppressive effects. One just has to be sure they aren't allergic, but apparently the chances are fairly slim as less than one percent of people have this allergy.
Practitioners can be found on apitherapy.com
http://www.apitherapy.com/usa.php
http://apitherapy.org/network.pdf
Do hope your husband is on the mend after his run-in with the hemolytic anemia. That must have been such a rotten time for you both.
Peace, Maz
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