Arthritis in thumb joint

I had this for years- and then it went and never returned. Never had any treatment.

Just been alerted to this thread. I want to say my husband has had both hands operated on for carpal tunnel and 2 yrs ago both hands for a Trapeziotomy. He had awful pain in lower thumbs and beneath but soon after ops was pain free. Seeing how long ago this thread was started you may now have already taken this route.

Thank you for this post.
I have pain in my thumb joint.
Ordered the Helios Rhus Tox & Ruta cream. I’m hoping this will ease the pain. Delivery was a bit steep at £3.15 for a tube. I couldn’t find it on Amazon.

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Thank you Anno for your kind words. The pain is so debillitating and I have, steadily lost hand function over the years, but it is deteriorating really quickly now.
However, it's not life threatening and there are so many many on GN, who are suffering much more than me!

About 16 years ago, I had surgery on my right thumb joint. The surgeon said it was an operation he had devised himself in which he took the joint out, cleaned it up and replaced it with a piece of surgical sponge to form a buffer (or whatever he called it). He then pinned it with two pins and immobilised it in an enormous crepe bandage - my fist looked like a rugby ball - which stayed on for six weeks. When the pins came out, I was staggered at how big they were! This was followed by weeks of physio and exercises. I never felt a moment's pain after the op as the anaesthetist had put in a 24 hour nerve block. The hand is as good as new and has given me no pain in the intervening years. That surgeon was a genius - alas, now retired. I hope that you, Marydoll, can find such excellent treatment.

Sparklefizz, the cream has taken the edge off my pain, so thanks for the "heads up". The pain is now reasonably bearable, it's great to hear you are pain free.

Singlegrannie I'm glad the Rhus Tox & Ruta cream is helping you. I've been using it for 4 years. My fingers began developing nodules but these vanished and I have no pain as long as I use the cream every night on my hands like hand cream. There's no way I would contemplate surgery and recovery time when something so simple works.

Thanks for your advice Meggiemog. I have decided against surgery for the present because of the recovery period. I am finding the rhus tox and ruta cream helps, but will definitely look into the silicon bobbin option in the future .

I've just reread your OP and your doc said he would just remove the joint. I remember this being an option for me too, but the thumb would lose strength and would become far shorter, and fold in towards the palm. This is why I had had the bone removed and the silicon bobbin put in it's place, which I think is a much better option as the hand works almost completely normally.

I have a silicon bobbin in place of the trapezium on my left thumb - this is probably the operation you would need. It was done in 2014 and I (stupidly) tried to do too much with the hand before it healed and I think this hampered recovery. You need physio after to regain strength. It is now (largely) pain free and fairly strong, so more or less a successful surgery. I desperately need the same op on the other hand but keeping putting it off as I'm just too busy.
I had the steroid injections once and it was pure agony - thought my whole arm was literally on fire, and it helped not one jot, so went straight to surgery after that.

maddyone, I've had lots of injections (targetted and general injections ) and procedures in different parts of my hand and have worn splints and supports for years.
There are a number of different conditions associated with my hands, so it's all become quite problematic, as the different consultants all have their own opnion of what the main cause is.
I feel like a ping pong ball, bouncing between clinics.

However, I'm very fortunate in the fact that I'm see the best available.

Marydoll, steroid injections are very helpful, they eliminate the pain for anything from a few weeks to a year. Eventually though, they don’t work very well, and that’s when you consider surgery, or living with it, with the use of splints and supports, which are quite helpful when you’re wearing them.

My rheumatologist phoned me out of the blue this evening to apologise for my cancelled appointments and we had a consultation over the phone.

I told him that I had purchased the cream, as I was in agony waiting for treatment, he just muttered something! .
I don't think it was a mutter of approval, but I told him I was desperate and it was reducing the pain!

Anyway, he is going to find a slot somewhere and sometime soon to put steroids into it in the interim.
Here's hoping!

I’ve just ordered a tube from Amazon and it was £6. Hope it’s the right thing, but it has the same name.

I would rather use homeopathic cream every night than have surgery and possibly lose hand strength into the bargain. The cream is working perfectly for me and I apply it just like handcream before I go to bed.

The cream is also available from G. Baldwin. I am using a lot of it and rang Helios and asked if they would give me a price for a large tub which they did, and it was £19.99 and is lasting for ever !!

Sparkle....Just looked up the rhus tox on ebay and there was another brand available. What do you think about trying that? The Helios brand was around £50....bit steep!

Namsnanny That's a rip-off. Try the actual Helios site. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give a link. I will PM you.

I think I’ll get some of that cream to be going on with, until I have the surgery. That won’t be until July, as it’s a four month wait, but that brings us to June, and as we’re going away in June, I will have it done when we return.

You won’t regret the operation Marydoll, it eliminates most or all of the pain. I would say it has eliminated 95% of the pain in my left hand. The hand still isn’t strong, but that’s not important to me, except when I try to open a jar, and then DH comes in handy.

Not sure whether this helps, but I found stopping eating porridge helped mine. I had heard, somthing in the oats can cause a flare up. Certainly worked for me

The Rhus Tox cream is £6.25 from Helios plus postage. When I put it on my poor sore thumbs it is wonderfully soothing and the pain fades for quite a while. Well worth a try.

I tried that Rhus Tox ointment and it really does help.

Maddyone, that will eventually be my "fate", but as my rheumatolgy appointment has been cancelled three times, heaven knows when I will get some relief!
At least spring is approaching, hopefully we won't have that to contend with the cold afffecting pain levels.

Thank you Marydoll, hope the cream keeps working for you. The surgery option is not an easy one, as I know from having my left hand done. But it is a permanent solution.

I bought the Helios brand the other day. The cost was £10 per tube. It has not "cured" it, but has reduced the pain by a significant amount. Initially I was very sceptical, but it has given some relief.

I forgot to use it last night and the pain in my hand is excrutiating this morning.

maddyone, glad to hear you will be getting some relief soon.