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Determining the Best Medicine for Arthritis

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We all might try to avoid it, but aging is inevitable and along with it comes a whole lot of wear and tear on the body. A major component of aging is arthritis, or more simply when joints degenerate and moving them becomes more difficult AND painful. However, humans are surprisingly well suited for dealing with arthritis in comparison to other living beings on the planet.

No one’s suggesting it’s not a huge life impediment for those of us who have arthritis, but it’s fair to say you can still be glad you’re not a giraffe. Indeed, when you’re a 1,600+ pound mammal with legs that long it’s pretty darn debilitating to have arthritis. Recently in the news - a story from Sacramento where a giraffe is wearing a shoe to help her with her arthritis. Indeed, you only need to look at the way a giraffe is built to understand that arthritis of the knee or ankle would be hugely problematic.

The best medicine for arthritis for animals is different from that for humans, but surely after reading the above we can agree that humans have it better when dealing with arthritis than a giraffe does.

But looking at all of this more seriously, arthritis is a huge problem for sufferers and it can really take away from their ability to enjoy life to the fullest. A lack of synovial fluid is to blame for the pain that comes from arthritis. The function of this fluid is to lubricate the joint, allow it to move more easily, and prevent the two bones from coming into contact with each other.

Now if only a type of synthetic synovial fluid existed that could be injected into the joint, but that’s not the case. Perhaps the future will lead to such a medical development and provide relief

Types of Arthritis

The best medicine for arthritis pain is dependent on what type of arthritis you have. So what are the different types of arthritis? In fact, there’s more than 100 different variations of the condition. The two most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and other ones that you may have heard of are psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, septic arthritis, and Lyme arthritis.  

Getting back to our two most common types, osteoarthritis is related to damage done over time to the cartilage between the bones. Rheumatoid arthritis is more caused by inflammation related to a misdirected immune system.

For any of you who’ve ever had Gumby and Pokey toys, you’ll know that they can be bent into pretty much any position you like. Now it may have been something exclusive to my sister and I, but did you ever put Gumby and Pokey in the freezer for an hour or so just because you found it neat to play with them while they weren’t quite as flexible as before? Imagine that’s like they had rheumatoid arthritis, while if you were a little to over-exerting with them and damaged the pliable wires inside them then that could be osteoarthritis.

We won’t give any more thought to how you could connect Gumby and Pokey to the other types of arthritis or what’s the best medicine for arthritis, but if you’ve got any we’d love to hear them!

Good Foods for Counteracting Arthritis

Once a person has developed arthritis they generally need to accept the reality of it and then start taking the initiative to combat its development as best as possible. We’ll get to the best medicine for arthritis in a moment here, but first we’ll provide some good advice; you can actually eat your way to less arthritis pain too.

Do you like fishing? If so great, your hobby likely provides you with a supply of good healthy food in addition to being a super enjoyable to spend a day. But it turns out that fishermen who eat plenty of their catch may well be not so bothered by arthritis if they have it. Why’s that? Well, fish oil is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, and they have potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Now, it’s true that women suffer from osteoarthritis much more commonly than men, but – at least around these parts – women tend to be less enthusiastic about fishing than men. (Yes, of course there are exceptions to that, but it’s still true overall) Still, you don’t have to actually catch the fish yourself to get the arthritis-reducing benefits that may come from eating them.

The spice curcumin (found most famously in curries, but elsewhere too) is also good for reducing arthritis symptoms. The best medicine for arthritis pain is one thing, but if you can eat better to add to their effects then why wouldn’t you?

Arthritis Medications

Right then, on to a few suggestions for the best medicine for arthritis. We’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention briefly here that you’ll need to see a physician first for an official diagnosis of your condition. Once you do you may have a prescription for something like Medrol (Methylprednisone), which an anti-inflammatory that’s effective for arthritis and a host of other poor health conditions.

Sulindac is another one, and it relieves the pain, tenderness, inflammation, and stiffness caused by arthritis, gout (liter after liter of cherry juice anyone?), and other inflammatory conditions. Some arthritis sufferers ay develop stomach problems when taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) meds. If you’re one, it’s much more likely that the prescription you receive from your physician is for a medication called Arthrotec (a combination of Dicloflenac and Misoprostol for anyone who’s pharmaceutically inclined).

Back to the Interesting

So we’ve talked about giraffes having arthritis, and even our favorite species for household pets – dogs and cats – can get it too. But do you which animals do NOT get arthritis?  The answer is bats, and opossums. Why is that you ask? Well, it’s actually because they sleep upside down. This inversion elongates the spine, and it appears that inversions are actually beneficial to prevent all sorts of age-related degenerative conditions.

Think you could sleep upside down? Willing to give it a try for a night or two?

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