My wife at 32 has arthritis in her back and over the years has done almost everything to get rid of the pain. Michelle thinks that the arthritis stems from a car accident sh was in when she was a kid and never had it heal properly, but the pain is still there. These are the things Michelle has done over the years to get rid of the pain:
Lose Weight to ease back pain - this has helped her health overall and you would expect it to stop the back pain but it has not.
Massage to help back pain - Michelle had massage on and off for about two years and although it helped her feel better overall it did not seem to help her back very much.
Exercise to improve back problems - both cardio and weight lifting have been a part of Michelles life for years, over time the pain has come and gone and then come back but the exercise has definitely helped some.
Celebrex - initially taking Celebrex had helped a lot and then the Vioxx scare with the withdrawal of Vioxx from the market in September 2004 and then with Celebrex being made from the same COX-2 inhibitors. We looked at the dosage that Michelle was taking of Celebrex and it was less than half of the reccomended amount so Michelle cut back even more and dropped her Celebrex intake to only one of those half doses every second day.
Cortisone shots - The last thing that Michelle has done for her arthritis pain in her back is getting Cortisone shots. The cortisone shots of today are much differnet then the shots that were given in the 80’s when people were having melted bones and other health issues. We both thought that Corisone was the ver last step that Michelle could take. The cortisone seems to have worked well. Instead of getting one shot and hoping it works she had four much smaller shots, each in an isolated part of her lower back. The good news is that the pain seems to have gone away for now but we will see how long it lasts. The literature for cortisone shots says that the effects of the shots will last for anywhere from two months to two years so we hope it lasts on the long sideof the estimates. The good news now is that the last remaining Celebrex pill is still sitting in our cupboard and we hope it stays there.
In the end Michelle has tried almost everything and the best results for her were both cortisone and Celebrex.
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