Health hotline addresses arthritis questions

Patients who were unable to talk with a medical specialist about their osteoarthritis during Saturday's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Hotline e-mailed questions to the paper. Responses were provided by Dale Aguirre, a physical therapist and director of the MOVES program at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital.

Question: I am having trouble with arthritis pain. I used to take Diclofenac when it would flare up. I haven't taken it for two years because it had calmed down, but it started to flare up again in April and my doctor says I cannot take Diclofenac anymore because one year ago my creatinin level was slightly elevated for four months and then went down to normal levels again. She said I could take Tylenol, but it doesn't seem to help much. It is very discouraging because the pain is worse when I moved more. I do work out at the gym, but I don't know what else to do. She says the next thing would be narcotic drugs which I don't want to take if I can help it. Is there anything I can do to calm down the inflammation that doesn't require drugs or are they any other alternatives that would be safer? I don't want to have to live with this pain the rest of my life.