When I was 15 I had arthritis. I had pain in my both shoulders and my hands and occasionally my knees or arthritis in feet. One morning, I woke up to go to school, but it was strange. My hands were in a fist and would not open. Trying caused excruciating pain. I was frightened and didn't know what was going on.
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I remember calling my mother, telling her my hands won't open and she thought I was kidding. But when she realized that while I was trying to do it, tears were coming out my eyes. She put my hands in warm water, and tried rubbing them slowly forcing the fingers to open. They eventually started relaxing and opening except the middle finger which was
most painful.
Eventually it opened with a creak and pop and you could see the
bone in the palm protruding upward. It was red and hot and paining. I couldn't believe that so young I had these problems. When my shoulders got inflamed I couldn't even lift them. My mom would have to bathe me sometimes. I felt like and invalid. A lot of times I would force myself, biting on the pain to do normal things.
Through out my teenage life I was forced to not do things I loved because of my constant inflammations.
What I realized caused a lot of my problems was drinking a lot of orange juice. I have a love and weakness for fresh orange juice and drank a lot of it. I then realized that after I did this, several hrs later I would feel the pains starting.
I eventually read up on arthritis and nutrition and slowed down on how much acidic things I took in and started taking cod liver oil. I also started doing little exercises for my arms and shoulders. Everyday, I would do something, building up more and more in the intensity and resistance. Soon enough, I discovered that the inflammations weren't as regular before.
I believe that changing certain things in my diet and keeping up
with exercising assisted in relieving a lot of the pains I had.
I am 31 now and I haven't had a shoulder inflammation in years. My joints both in my shoulders and fingers however creak and rub when I move them. But it is not painful for me anymore. I can lift things up and I can write and type and use my hands without discomfort.
I know that
keeping active and exercising and a proper diet is very important. Learning about your body and knowing what it needs and requires is so important as each of us is made up differently. We all would need different things that would be beneficial.
I am grateful to be free of the pain. I do occasionally get pains from
arthritis in fingers but they are nothing like what they used to be and for that I am happy.
