Jenn---I have RA and your symptoms are more like OA than RA. Mine started at age 8, went into remission until age 27 and has been from moderately to very active ever since. It moves from joint to joint. OA on the other hand usually comes with age and usage and the joints effected would most often be those that get the most use. Knees, hips, etc. Excercise is important for both varieties but not done properly can cause more damage than good. It's possible to have both types at the same time. Google recommended exercises for arthritics. I think you'll find the exercises will be of a more gentle nature stressing a lot of stretching with modified versions of those you are probably use to doing. No jumping jacks and hard joint jarring but do use 3 to 5 pound weights and stretcher bands in a slow and controlled manner. You need a doctor to recommend medication. All the drugs used to treat arthritis have side effects that have to be monitored. If you have a history of stomach problems then the nsaids could be a problem if not closley monitored. The same can be said for the OTC drugs advertised for arthritis. Unfortunately, when we are suffering from pain that can be pretty severe, we tend to over medicate. Always know what the medication your taking can do if not taken as directed. Just be as informed as you can.

Hi, Pecanpie; The first time I took prednisone, it made me high and full of energy. It was great. After awhile, it gave me mood swings and made me mostly depressive. I really think it went beyond menopausal mood swings, although I was perimenopausal at the time. So by *psychotropic*, I meant that it can make susceptible people somewhat bipolar. It was never bad enough to seek additional meds to treat the side effects, but was significant and noticeable enough to make me hard to live with and not make me feel *normal*. I had a moon face but never really noticed a weight gain, so maybe that trade-off was the psychotropic effect, so YMMV. I found that book I recommended very reassuring. Since doctors themselves have probably never taken prednisone, I'm not sure they really recognize the wide-ranging side effects. They only know that it is cheap and powerful. BTW, I found that a very gradual reduction in prednisone (i.e., sometimes splitting pills) worked better for me than stepping down the dose. My body didn't protest as much. Also, a weird thing about drugs: One can develop a tolerance -- or a sensitivity. It took me three tries over the course of nearly a year before a drug I'm taking stopped making me itch all over. I still have to be careful it doesn't give me mouth sores, but at least that means I don't have to take Benadryl which knocks me out. Have a great Thanksgiving, and don't overdo it.

Sandie -- Can you be strong for Jim by just listening to him? You can help him most by letting listening, not by telling him what he can and can't do. I know you are afraid, but your fears aren't helpful. Doctors will always have one more thing to do. You can't count on them to know as well as the patient knows when to stop 'doing'. Jim knows what is best for Jim better than they do -- and better than you can. Can you support him while he considers his options and likely outcomes? My father was on dialysis for ten years after his kidneys failed when he was in his seventies. The medicine he'd been prescribed for his heart problems caused the failure. Still more ills began to pile up. He eventually told his doctors he had thought it over, and that he was stopping the dialysis. He told me he had had enough. He was beyond repair. He was weak and in pain. The family was in pain. He wanted to take some control over his immediate future. I didn't tell him to "stop fighting". I knew he had carefully considered his options. It was his life and his decision to make. I just wanted him to be at peace with it without adding complications. Jim can decide to continue with more surgeries and therapies -- but let him have the option not to do that. He may decide he'd like to consider hospice services to help him decide. One can enroll in hospice support while continuing therapies. I empathize as you lovingly support one along this road.

ci_lantro - that is very good information about Voltaren and Volfenac. thank you. Shows you how much my doctor knows about meds, I apologize for believing him, and appreciate you correcting my ignorance. I have always had the idea that if physicians diagnose and pharmacists prescribe we'd be so much better off. Don't you? Also, I believe that pharmacists should be able to dispense supplements, herbal, alternative, and non-traditional medications based on diagnoses, and follow you as your sole pharmacist no matter where you live in the US. They have years of intensive training where I think physicians prescribe what the last pharmaceutical rep were touting. Probably callous or snide, sorry. Reading the anecdotes here it looks like y'all have been personally drilling down to what aggravates and what alleviates for you without meds. I will start looking at my diet and keep a diary of what foods help or hurt though I've never felt there was a difference. Right now the only thing I've identified is that a drop in barometric pressure makes my arthritis flare up, like the coming of a storm or a drastic drop in temperature, but not a change into dry warm weather. I also know that the more active I am the less likely that my arthritis will flare. I follow the Mayo Clinic Hand Exercises for Arthritis that totally works for me and do it pretty much mindlessly while I am reading or being bored in front of the TV, or being a passenger. After a few months of this (and continued from 5 years ago) I could really see that the progression of arthritis in my hands had lessened and years later, I think, has kept the worsening of it at bay. But, now I have it in my neck/spine bones from several head-on collisions years ago that even though chiropractic has helped, there is no exercise for those bones. Y'all have given me much to consider.