Treatment for Arthiritis for a 60 year old diabetic patient?

Is in Rheumatoid Arthritis?

@Judi would like to know that also before answering the question!

I have osteoarthritis in my right shoulder and knee, triggered from shrapnel damage. The right knee was so bad that I had to have a joint replacement recently. NSAIDs and range-of-motion exercises keep the shoulder tolerable. I don’t know what complication effect diabetes has on this condition though (I’m not an MD).

Does she have a doctor? surely, her doctor has recommended numerous medications she can take to help with the pain. i have had 13 surgeries and Celebrex works wonders for arthritis problem. she may not be able to take Celebrex, if she is a diabetic. ask her doctor.

Yoga therapy.

Heat helps. Through the winter months I sleep with a heating pad under my right shoulder. I take Tylenol every night. It has actually helped more than Tylenol 3 (i.e., with codeine), Hydrocodone, and other stronger meds. Also you get used to constant pain. I can’t remember life without it.

Over time I have found that despite many consultations with physicians of various sorts, it is essentially up to me to figure out what works to manage the pain and other conditions. I take their advice to a point and then work out my own combinations. Usually I check back with them to see if what I’m doing is okay or raises any alarms. They have many patients to think about and very little time for each; I have only one.

Multiple studies have shown benefit from oral glucosamine for arthritis of the knees. Interestingly, results on chondroitin have been much more inconsistent. One study showed increased blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes who were taking it but several other studies did not find that to be true and also no increase in hemoglobin A1C the test that estimates average blood sugar over the last 3 months If she’s on coumadin, she shouldn’t take glucosamine.

SAMe has been shown in multiple studies to be helpful for arthritis comparable to celebrex and also for depression. No issues related to diabetes. If she’s on an antidepressant or an MAO inhibitor she shouldn’t take SAMe.

And @jeruba is right – heat helps

My mother-in-law has been advised to immerse completely in a very warm bath at least twice a day, once first thing in the morning, and again in the early afternoon. If she experiences pain before going to bed, she has some microwave heat cloths to use. He says stay away from the electric heating pad because you can over do it too easily.

She also is allowed to take Motrin as directed on the package.

A diabetic does need to be careful about using heat – if they’ve had diabetes long enough to develop nerve damage on their fingers and toes aka peripheral neuropathy they might mistakenly use high enough heat that it can damage the skin.