What I have noticed is that most pruners are too big, clunky, and tiring to use even for a woman like me with big hands and only a touch of arthritis (so far). If a smaller and lighter tool will help you, Bahco pruners ("secateurs") are available in a small size and are the best totally functional ones I can recommend. The Bahco "Ergo" series offers pruners in 3 sizes: small, medium, large. The small size fits my hand perfectly, is very light and compact, and can be used all day long with no strain -- every other part of my body may ache, but not my hand or wrist. I've been using them for more than 6 years now and currently have 3 (so I can always find at least one to use!) of the "PX-S2" model (the "S" stands for the size, "small" -- the medium-sized model would be PX-M2). The other model of pruner in Bahco's "Ergo" series is one with rotating handles (PXR-S2), which I haven't tried (but agree with Diane that Fiskar's with rotating handles are really bad -- a pair my mother gave me some years ago made my hand and wrist hurt almost immediately, were incredibly heavy and awkward to use). Bahcos are not the cheapest, but are very high-quality (made in France) and all parts are replaceable. Seems to be a number of online sources, including, of course, Amazon -- but make sure the product offered is the size wanted. (original link below didn't work, so I've put in another one -- not quite so specific, but if you click on the "Brochure" button there, you get a PDF with every detail possible) Here is a link that might be useful: Bahco This post was edited by catspa on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 12:06

I take cat's claw, but not for arthritis specifically. I have psoriatic arthritis and I found out by accident about 25ish years ago that high quality flax seed oil manages both for me, better than medications, rx or otc. I was young then, and early intervention is probably why flax seed oil was/has been so effective in my case. If I go 3 days without, things get bad again. I also take fish oil, but I have not had any noticeable benefits from it like others do. I continue with it "just in case" since I seem to be only one who doesn't report improvement from taking fish oil. Maybe it would help you if don't take it already. Positive things could be happening in ways behind the scenes I may not notice, thus I keep taking it. Cat's claw may add additional benefits re: arthritis since it does benefit the immune system, which is why I take it. For note, I have one tiny patch of psoriasis that would not ever resolve. It has improved a little bit as of late for reasons unknown. Perhaps cat's claw is the reason. I've been taking it twice daily or a year a half and this improvement in the tiny patch is recent, so results might be a long wait if cat's claw is the reason. (who knows) In case it helps, I also take glucosamine and chondroitin daily now that I'm older. When I run out, I do notice a difference. I try to keep an excess supply on hand knowing this. MSM helps too. Dh takes these 3 supplements and he notices stiffness and soreness in his joints when he doesn't take them. Relief when he does. We call the supplements a witch's brew :) My dr always tells me at our visits to keep on doing what I'm doing as it's working.

This is cross posted. I'd love to get some reassurance, but I do want others to see the information and do their own research and inquiries: I wrote before that I had little to no reaction to either shot. This morning I got a text from a friend who is my age and she was flattened for a day by her 2nd dose. She said that she'd been told to stop taking her anti-inflammatory medications (I don't know what she takes) before the shot, so part of her reaction was intense arthritis pain that is usually somewhat controlled by her medication. I had not been given this advice, so I started reading this morning and it does seem that it is advised to stop taking anti-inflammatory drugs before the vaccine as they can suppress the immune response of the vaccine. Great. Now I am worried that the lack of reaction to the vaccine could mean that it didn't work because of me taking ibuprofen regularly. Has anyone else heard this? I can't believe it wasn't widely stated since so many elders are taking anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis and other conditions.

Nancy - I imagine I'll always have problems with this right knee after planting or weeding. When I go a couple of days without doing those things, the knee feels fine. If I weren't gardening, it probably would have healed long ago. It is a pain to do so much watering so early. Maybe you and I will get some of these scattered showers in the forecast in the next couple of days. Debra