If you’re lucky enough to suffer from moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, like me, you probably have a collection of ointments, special gloves, socks, heating pads, etc. When I’m in pain and desperate, I often impulse buy things in the aisles of Walgreens. Some work, some don’t. I’ve often turned to google and my Twitter friends to find out what others use and thought it would be nice to share what works for me, in hopes that it might work for you as well.
The people at NatraCure saw my constant tweets about trying to relieve my pain without always popping a pill and offered to send me some of their products to try. Note: Although NatraCure asked that I share my opinions on their products, thoughts are 100% my own. Other than having the products sent to me, I am in no way being compensated for what I write.
They sent me two products:
The first are these Arthritis Mittens
–I own a paraffin wax warmer and honestly have only used it once. It worked really well, made my hands feel great but it took hours to warm the wax. When you have pain, you want to make it stop. Fast. It’s that simple. If I had to wait for the wax to melt, I would rather just pop a pill and get relief quickly. These mittens help solve that problem. They have an inner gel lining that contains seven oils. You heat up the mittens in the microwave and slip them on to your aching hands. I keep mine on for about 30 minutes…my aching joints always feel better within about 10 minutes of having them on. As a bonus, when you remove them, there’s no messy wax to clean up. The last thing you want to do when you’ve just reduced pain is to start cleaning!
The second product I tried are these Arthritis Booties–
These are very similar to the mittens above..you warm them up in the microwave and they provide the same warm, moist heat. Some reviews said people weren’t happy that you can’t walk in these because you’ll damage the inner liner. I actually found this to be a positive. Once you put these on, you are “forced” to relax. You can’t get up and if you use the mittens at the same time, like me, you have to sit still. I found myself so relaxed when using both the mittens and booties at the same time..I would almost fall asleep each time.
I have only had both products for a little over a week so it will be interesting to see how they hold up. It would be good to know if you can purchase additional liners..I’ve sent a message to the company and will share their response.
There will be more posts to follow but let me know in the comments below what products work for you! Gloves, braces, compression socks, you name it, I’m interested!