I’m a long-term arthritis sufferer – and I do mean sufferer – because I have continued to do whatever I wanted – and then suffered some more!
I was given cocktails of drugs that were so evil that even that the drug testing company who gave stuff to those volunteer guinea pigs (and all their fingers and toes dropped off!) thought the mixture strange! Sometimes I felt suicidal, sometimes elated, one potion I took made me itch like I’d been dropped in itching powder with extra chilly!
Gradually I found, strong painkillers, anti-inflammatories together with ghastly stuff like Methotrexate – and more pills to limit side effects – I could work and four years ago returned to a very physical job but noticed a downward slide. Then “Embrel” appeared – very expensive, once a week pen injector – either the stuff is magic or I’ve been visited by aliens! It’s turned the clock back five years at least – I still have a lot of pain and joint damage but can still manage to do serious gardening and stuff beyond my age. ( though I write this cringing as I’ve ruptured me tendons in my left arm digging!)
Unless there’s some kind of superstrength Ibuprofen available – I tend to think that’s pussy-cat stuff that wouldn’t cure a flea bite but perhaps it works on others better.