What is arthritis pain really like? Well, if you have never had arthritis or you know someone who has it, the pain is not something that should be overlooked. There is nothing worse than having someone tell you that your pain is all in your head or it is not as bad as you think. Others may say that you should just suck it up, but what do they know, right?
As an arthritis sufferer, though I have never experienced the pain at its very worst, I know from experience that it can be as simple as a nagging ache or a burning in and around the joint. At other times the pain can spread beyond the joint, appearing as if it was coming from somewhere else. Then again, it may pulsate and continue all day without let up. However, the pain can sometimes be worse after not having any exercise or activities because the joints have become stiff and swollen, usually after sleeping, so in the morning it seems much worse, getting better as you move about during the day. By the evening, your joints may be screaming at your no end in the evening because you did too much activity. It really seems sometimes with arthritic pain that you cannot win either way.
The pain does vary according to the person and the severity and type of arthritis. The more damage that has been done to the joint, muscles, cartilage, tendons and ligaments, the stiffer the joint will become and subsequently the pain might be more severe because the joint is becoming less mobile. A friend of mine has arthritis in her fingers and hands, her joints so full of nodules and so damaged that they curl in the morning and get so stiff that it takes time uncurl them, a very painful process.
Though there are alternatives to pain medications and other arthritic treatments, the downfall of many of them is that make you drowsy. Many people are caught in a catch 22 whereby they have to have immediate pain relief to live a normal life, but cannot live normally because they are dozy and drowsy from the medicines. This is especially true with some prescription, high dose pain killers. But is the pain from arthritis manageable? Well, again this is dependent on the person because each person’s experience with the pain of arthritis is different and some people have higher pain thresholds than others. Put bluntly, arthritis pain is not pleasant and can be very painful.