Rheumatoid arthritis - my poor hands : (

[NaturalBaby]

I'm still waiting for a blood test and follow up with GP but I'm pretty sure this is what I've got. It's getting worse every day at the moment and now the skin is splitting and cracking. What can I try?

I would say some voltarol type gel but not on cracked hands! Moisturise and massage? I feel for you, I've got RA and my hands are playing me up too lately. Hopefully you'll get referral to Rheumy doc and get some medicine.

I'm doing a lot of moisturising and massaging but it's getting worse every day. I've still got a week till my gp appointment but wondering whether to ring up and ask to be seen sooner.

Im in the same boat as you naturalbaby so i do sympathise. Im guessing your already taking paracetmol and ibuprofen? Hopefully you will get given something stronger soon.

As for the dry and cracking on your hands, Doublebase is fantastic. Im not sure if you can buy it in the chemist as i was given it for my sons eczema, it did nothing for him but worked wonders for my hands, might be worth asking.

Hope you get it sorted soon

You can buy Doublebase at the chemist, it's brilliant and not too expensive.

Hope you get your blood test soon - treatment of rheumatoid nowadays is light years improved from just 10-15 years ago so you should see a specialist very quickly.

Finally had my blood test, now to wait for next week when the results are back. I've been taking cod liver oil and covering my hands in vaseline, sudocrem and neutrogena several times a day so they seem to be a bit better.

I started on the ibuprofen then read something about stomach ulcers. I am my own worst enemy!

If you are NSAIDs (Ibroprofen) for a long term, you should be prescribed a stomach protector such as omeprazole.
I've been taking NSAIDs for 15yrs of RA just about everywhere now and I've had to play around to find one my stomach tolerates but with the omeprazole my tummy is now fine.
Unfortunately with a lot of the RA meds you do have to take an additional drug in pairing to reduce the side effects of the main drug.... Which means sometimes you feel like you'll rattle if you fall over but you do get used to it.
If you do start on multiple combinations of drugs can I suggest that if you have a smart phone get an app to track/remind you of your meds as especially at first it can be very confusing. The one I use is RxMeds on the iPhone, which really helps as I have some daily, weekly & biweekly meds and it's easy to lose track.