Re: Parafin Wax Treatments

November 29, 2001

Hi Krist I use the parafin spa for my hands elbows and toes and find

that the heat gets in deeper than with a heating pad and provides more

comfort. =-)

November 30, 2001

In a message dated 11/30/2001 3:04:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,

yetzke@... writes:

> Has anyone tried parafin wax treatments

Yes - my husband got me one last year for Xmas. They are very soothing and

make both your joints and skin feel nice. The only problem I find with them,

is for my brand of machine, it takes about 2 hours for the wax to melt down

completely. By the time I think to get out the machine, plug it in, wait for

it to melt - I'm usually too busy to bother with it. Also, the wax gets

quite hot and is sometimes uncomfortable. But all in all, I would recommend

them.

November 30, 2001

Krista,

I bought one after I used it in physical therapy (before they realized I had

arthritis and dr.s thought I injured my crooked finger). The " moist " heat is

supposed to be beneficial to your joints. It helps a bit but I haven't decided

if it is worth the 50 bucks I paid for it. I know that you can make the

paraffin with mineral oil and gulf wax paraffin bought in the grocery store.

You can heat it up in a crock pot. I am sure if you do a search on google you

can find the recipe. I think I also saw a recipe on the roadback site:

www.roadback.org

Hope this helps!

>>> yetzke@... 11/29/01 06:57PM >>>

Has anyone tried parafin wax treatments? They're being advertised

heavily for Christmas in our area. The manufacturer claims they are

great for aching joints. The base of my husband's toes (where the

toe connects to the foot)often aches from his PA and I'm wondering if

the home parafin treatments would help. Any thoughts on this would

be appreciated.

Krista

November 30, 2001

Hi Krista,

I use the paraffin wax bath for my hands and feet. It does help to

alleviate the symptoms somewhat, but more often than not I find that an

hour or so after it's finished, the pain is back. That might just be me

though. Some people swear by it. For me, I think it's best to consider

it a short break from the pain and a bit of time just to spoil myself.

-----Original Message-----

From: yetzke@... [mailto:yetzke@...]

Has anyone tried parafin wax treatments? They're being advertised

heavily for Christmas in our area. The manufacturer claims they are

great for aching joints.

November 30, 2001

I went through many a physical therapy session with my hands using

the wax. While you're using it and for sometime afterword, it feels

great. In my opinion though, you can get the same effect with a hot

bath. You don't have to wait for the wax to melt or cool down and you

get the benefit of an entire body warm-up.

December 1, 2001

Krista- I bought one of these for the reason you mentioned, the PA in my

feet. I don't see much difference than soaking your feet in warm water. I did

find that if the wax is a little too hot you will feel every joint and some

you didn't know you had so be careful when you dial those two settings on the

side, also set an area aside away from any carpeting and use those plastic

sacks they provide, hope you have better luck than me.

March 17, 2006

it feels very nice on those achy joints, tendons and muscles. i used to have

it in physical/occupational therapy

Kathy in IL

March 17, 2006

I have one and love it. I got it way before my RA dx... I also had

bad OA in the basal joint of my thumb, eventually leading to joint

reconstruction. In the period between when it started to go, and

when I finally caved and had the surgery, the parfin bath was a

godsend. I used it almost every morning to get my hand moving, and

again in the evening, just to make my hand more comfortable before I

went to bed.

>

> My daughter has been having a great deal of trouble with her hands

and

> ankles. Someone suggested to me to get a parafin wax machines for

her

> to use. A friend with RA say she uses the hot wax treatment,

which I

> think is supposed to be some sort of beauty regimen, and it really

> helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you,

>

March 17, 2006

When my RA first started and my hands were all swollen, at physical

therapy they used the parafin wax machine on them. I bought one of my

own, and it really made my hands feel better.

Sue

On Friday, March 17, 2006, at 05:49 PM, wrote:

> My daughter has been having a great deal of trouble with her hands and

> ankles. Someone suggested to me to get a parafin wax machines for her

> to use. A friend with RA say she uses the hot wax treatment, which I

> think is supposed to be some sort of beauty regimen, and it really

> helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you,

March 17, 2006

,

I love wax treatments they feel so good and are very soothing! I got

to a nail salon for pedicures and they use wax all the time. the warm

wax is sort of moisterizing and gets rid of rough skin. It holds the

heat when they wrap your feet or hands in plastic wrap and then what

looks like quilted mittens. I bought one to have at home. They are

really nice. There is quite a variety of warmers. Some that have

adjustible temperture settings and auto-shut off. Homedics makes the

one I have. The wax is pretty cheap and you can find it at walmart or

most pharmacies like Walgreens.

Good luck

Toni

>

> My daughter has been having a great deal of trouble with her hands

and

> ankles. Someone suggested to me to get a parafin wax machines for her

> to use. A friend with RA say she uses the hot wax treatment, which I

> think is supposed to be some sort of beauty regimen, and it really

> helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you,

>

March 17, 2006

,

Once as part of physical therapy they used the wax. I have seen some " home "

kits advertised but don't know anything about them. If you do use the wax be

absolutely sure of the temperature. A little too hot could be trouble as there

would be no way to remove it promptly. The way they did mine was quickly dip my

hands into it. When you pull your hands out there is a coat of wax that

solidfies quickly. That was repeated several time giving a thick coat on the

hands. They left it on for a few minutes. After it is cool it will strip off

easily.

BVan (Betty)

[ ] Parafin Wax Treatments

My daughter has been having a great deal of trouble with her hands and

ankles. Someone suggested to me to get a parafin wax machines for her

to use. A friend with RA say she uses the hot wax treatment, which I

think is supposed to be some sort of beauty regimen, and it really

helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you,

March 17, 2006

,

Thumb joint replacements is something you don't often hear of.. I had one done.

They took a tendon from my arm and used it to make a " living " joint. I was told

man made materials would not stand up to the amount of use the thumb gets. It

took weeks for full recovery. I had a cast up to my elbow and as it healed they

removed in stages the cast starting at the elbow The final stage was a brace,

for lack of a better word, that was form fitted in PT. And to think they

replace hips and in a couple days people are walking on it. Does that in any

way compare to the procedure you had?

BVan (Betty)

[ ] Re: Parafin Wax Treatments

I have one and love it. I got it way before my RA dx... I also had

bad OA in the basal joint of my thumb, eventually leading to joint

reconstruction. In the period between when it started to go, and

when I finally caved and had the surgery, the parfin bath was a

godsend. I used it almost every morning to get my hand moving, and

again in the evening, just to make my hand more comfortable before I

went to bed.

March 18, 2006

Yes, parafin wax does feel good ... too good actually, I ended up just playing

with it like a child and messing up the kitchen table. I was a mess to clean up

Betty <bvanOmega@...> wrote:

,

Once as part of physical therapy they used the wax. I have seen some " home "

kits advertised but don't know anything about them. If you do use the wax be

absolutely sure of the temperature. A little too hot could be trouble as there

would be no way to remove it promptly. The way they did mine was quickly dip my

hands into it. When you pull your hands out there is a coat of wax that

solidfies quickly. That was repeated several time giving a thick coat on the

hands. They left it on for a few minutes. After it is cool it will strip off

easily.

BVan (Betty)

[ ] Parafin Wax Treatments

My daughter has been having a great deal of trouble with her hands and

ankles. Someone suggested to me to get a parafin wax machines for her

to use. A friend with RA say she uses the hot wax treatment, which I

think is supposed to be some sort of beauty regimen, and it really

helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you,

March 19, 2006

Yup. Sounds like exactly the same procedure. It was a long and

uncomfortable recovery, but extremely successful. The joint was

very painful all the time for 3 years gefore I had he surgery, so

the 3-4 month rcovery time doesn't seem bad in comparison. If/when

the othe rone goes, I wouldn't wait nearly as long to have it fixed.

Actually, I found the removal of tendon from my am to be the most

long=term uncomfortable part of the recovery. My kids love the fact

that one thunb is now shorter than the other, but I can do almost

anything with it, pain free now. Well... until I got RA!

>

> ,

> Thumb joint replacements is something you don't often hear of.. I

had one done. They took a tendon from my arm and used it to make

a " living " joint. I was told man made materials would not stand up

to the amount of use the thumb gets. It took weeks for full

recovery. I had a cast up to my elbow and as it healed they removed

in stages the cast starting at the elbow The final stage was a

brace, for lack of a better word, that was form fitted in PT. And

to think they replace hips and in a couple days people are walking

on it. Does that in any way compare to the procedure you had?

> BVan (Betty)

> [ ] Re: Parafin Wax Treatments

>

> I have one and love it. I got it way before my RA dx... I also

had

> bad OA in the basal joint of my thumb, eventually leading to

joint

> reconstruction. In the period between when it started to go,

and

> when I finally caved and had the surgery, the parfin bath was a

> godsend. I used it almost every morning to get my hand moving,

and

> again in the evening, just to make my hand more comfortable

before I

> went to bed.

>

March 19, 2006

,

I like to check out when I can things like this. The length of my thumb is not

effected. When I lightly rub around the base of the thumb area at one point it

seems the nerves are not connected to the other side. That doesn't hurt, just

weird. But at times the whole area does hurt a little.

I played organ and keyboard in church. Suddenly the thumb would slip out of

joint and it would hurt so badly I could not ignore it and keep playing. It took

the pleasure out of playing, which I love to do.

Presently I have Raynauds and much of the time I cannot play at all. My stupid

rheum says I don't have raynauds...or anything else. My initial post on this

site was responded to with advice to change doctors. I agree but I had such a

bad experience trying to change neurologist I hate to think about it. I am

considering just not going back or go to another either. I don't know what kind

of treatment I would need but think I will just put up with it until there is a

change for the worst.