Arthiritis or just sore joints, cures, copper bands

learnerplates

Hi,
Not sure if this is the right spot for this query but anyway... can one get arthritis in their early 30s?

I have sore wrists and ankles, and sometime shoulders, and am only in my early 30s. I had aches and pains for a few years, most of which I reckon are caused from past unseen injuries, bangs on the wrists from hurling, soccer etc.
Is there a cure of way to prevent this from getting worse or from stopping the pain?
I'm still very active but fear it will be short lived!!

Are the copper wristbands of any use for the wrists?

r3nu4l

People in their 30's can get arthritis and a lot of other ailments as well . No-one here can diagnose you or give you medical advice other than to say...go to your GP

littlebug

No harm in trying them. Some people do swear by them though I've never found them to make any difference at all
As R3 says you should probably see your GP if the aches and pains are bothering you. No harm in getting it checked out.

learnerplates

thanks,
Went to the GP a few years ago with one bad ankle pain, he referred me to a piediatrician, I think that was his title, anyway he helped me out but IMO the GPs are as useful as tits on a bull, only useful for giving prescriptions. I'm looking for people to go to directly to fix this.
Someone out there must have similar experience with joint pains, where did you go or end up?

Thanks again.

r3nu4l

Learnerplates, I agree with your opinion about GPs but they can refer you to the right person to go to. You won't get very far walking into a hospital trying to book an appointment with a consultant.

A GP letter on the other hand will make things easier.

learnerplates

your right of course, I'll try the GP first. If anyone has experience with this however I'd love to hear it.

I suppose GP -> Hospital -> physio -> quack is probably the way to go with this :rolleyes:

littlebug

Ah ye're a bit hard on the GPs! For one thing you'll probably have a long auld wait to see a rheumatologist/ othopedics unless you're private (and even if you're private in some places). In the meantime the GP can do some blood tests/ order x rays, and can also refer to you to a physio.

If you mean alternative practitioners by "quack" then yes you could also go down that route and could even benefit from e.g acupuncture. I'm not saying they could cure you but you could get some relief from the pain.

A tip for the wrists. When you're sitting doing nothing in particular with your hands/ watching tv or whatever put a golf ball between your wrists and just kind of roll it around with varying pressure to see if youget any relief. I find it loosens things up a bit. ( a tip given to me by a naturopath in Galway)

I've been there done that with the whole joint pain thing and 11 years later I'm finally seeing a rheumatologist this week. Even then I'm not expecting any quick answers. I think diagnosis with joint pain is tough unless you've something that shows up in blood tests e.g rheumatoid arthritis (thankfully I haven't) so I don't think it's all the GPs fault.