It reallt seems so unfair that some of us have our bodies fail us at a fairly young age and making any retirement plans almost impossible. I really do feel your pain.

Thank you for your reply. I feel your pain too. It's hard to deal with the disappointment of a life turned upside down. But it's a battle worth fighting. I hope things get better for you, somehow someway.

Faith M

Good luck on your shoulder MRI, Faith. Maybe the good news is that they are getting to the source of the pain/problem. Each of my shoulder surgeries helped a lot with the pain. By about 8-10 weeks after surgery, my shoulder felt like new. The shoulder is more easily fixable than the neck. (Just my obsevation.) But then I've had 3 shoulder surgeries and no neck surgery yet.

Are your finger joints "drifting" toward the outside of your hands or do they just have the bumps at the knuckles? My fingers have the bumps, but also have the "drift." The drift is typical of RA.

And yes, arthritis can be genetic, especially the auto-immune types. Like me, you are having multiple joint problems. In OA, joints wear out from over use,repetitive injuries or just every day wear and tear. But your neck, shoulders, hands, etc. shouldn't all wear out at the same time! That's why my RA diagnosis made sense to me. I knew there had to be a reason for my whole body to be falling apart! But I am still hopeful that surgeries plus meds will keep me going.

I will watch for a new post to see how your dr reads the mri. Hugs!

Hey Faith,
Arthritis can definitely be a genetic, I am living proof as it was an issue in my fathers side of my family. I have had it since my early 20's and one of my twin daughters has it also, the other daughter shows no signs of it yet.
My toes and fingers are very twisted and my spine is collapsing. I still stay very active and work very hard although I have slowed down the past few years, maybe age is catching up..lol.
You sound as if you have a good attitude, keep that up, and don't let this disease get you down.
Take care,
Ranger

Ortho found small a tear,did injection and pt for now. It may heal on it's own? He said it's all just normal aging. ? Hurts real bad today. Please explain the "drift". Mine are crooked going left and right. Hugs back, thanks for your input. I hope you're doing okay.
Faith M

Ulnar drfit, as I understand, is what the orthos call the movement of the hand toward the little fingers or outside of the hand. I guess it is called "drift" because it happens slowly over time. Just google it and you can find photos or drawings. The ones on the web are pretty extreme, showing very advanced cases. Mine are not that bad yet, thank God! But hand surgery is next repair work for me, as my hand pain is getting worse and i am losing much of the strength in my thumb. (Probably later on this winter, after Christmas.)

Be careful of the shoulder exercises that they will give you at PT. I had PT several times, before and after my shoulder surgeries. The therapists I saw would always emphasize "strengthening." And with a lot of repetitive exercises, I would get increased pain. But the heat, electric stim and massage helped a lot. So good luck with that, just be careful.

Other than my right hand, i am doing OK. I finally got the ins. approval for my Enbrel injections, and i think it's helping some. I am kind of in a flare right now though, due to (1.)the weather and (2.)stress at work. (To the point of even hating to go in to work tomorrow and I normally like my job. But that fact that I've been up, sleepless and on the computer at 2:00 a.m. is not a good sign! lol.)

Ranger, Glad to hear you are still hanging in there too!

Thank you Marti and Ranger for your input! I am a little worried about PT on my R shoulder. My neck is painful and tight with 3 levels fused and it doesn't take much to flare up big time. I know strenghtening is going to be difficult, I'll have to make sure they are very gentle with me. Gentle strengthening? Hmmmm... Is it possible? I'm hoping that a stronger arm will put less strain on my neck on the long run. Marti I hope the injections help, they helped my Mom's knees for awhile. I'm sorry to hear your hand is so bad, this weather really bites doesn't it? I hope your work day goes better than expected!

Faith M