Hi adam!

I have no medical answer to give to your question, but i've been experiencing pain in my hips for almost seven years (i'm 21 years old) and even though doctors cannot seem to find something wrong on x-rays I believe it is a form of arthritis. About six months ago I moved from sweden to australia, to commence my university studies. My belief was that maybe the dry and warm weather in australia would be of benefit to the pain in my hips, but unfortunately I can't say that it has helped much. I do believe though that there is some truth to the theory, since I do feel better when i'm warm then when i'm freezing .

It's winter in australia right now and contrary to what one might believe it's actually quite cold in australia during the winter, but i'm gonna experiment further when the summer comes and see if it will help any.

- josephin

As an australian who has lived in england & who has had arthritis for over 30 years I can assure you that - for me - cold weather aggravates it - that said however I also found that when in england once I acclimatised - my arthritis responded to "warm" englsh weather versus "cold" english weather in a similar way to what it does here. Hope that made sense.

My bones do like hot packs, electric blankets etc in winter & when they're really bad sometimes even in summer - which here is a major issue. I am 49 by the way. Like orionstar drs often have been unable to find a cause for my pain but then another x-ray & dr will recognize I have problems. We are all unique & must work with our bodies & determine for oursleves what will work.

Orionstar, I have been to sweden too (& in summer) I don't know where in australia you are but can only sasume it's in a far south state for you to say it's really cold here in winter - I had the a/c on in the car twice last week.

I think you have a good point there, purple333. I think that the body acclimatise to the weather, which unfortunately means that you will feel pain everywhere you go...

Yeah, sweden is pretty cold (understatement), but I always freeze. I read somewhere that always freezing can be a consequence of having arthritis so that might be why i'm always cold. I'm in perth and even though i'm normally used to an average of -15 degrees (celsius) in winter, i'm freezing here when it's "only" 0 degrees (which it was last week). I think that I can't deal with the drastic temperature changes though. Here in australia it's more of a desert climate - warm during day and cold during night. In sweden it only changes a maximum of five degrees up or down during one day...

I'm very reassured by the fact that there are more people whose symptoms cannot be identified by doctors. Of course, I hope it wasn't so, and I don't want to be diagnosed to have arthritis, but at this point I just want a diagnosis (because I know that there is something wrong) so that I will know if i'm doing something I shouldn't do. If I should avoid doing some things and instead do other stuff - like when it comes to exercise.

Anyway, take care everyone!

Orionstar,

you might try checking out some of the natural supplements which can & (for many people do - me included) help ease, stop, prevent further debelopment of arthritic & other bone pain - such as shark's cartilege - never tried this myself; glucosamine & chondroitin in a combined tablet or 500-1500 mg of each twice a day - I take these - the diosage varies with the individual start low & work up - but remember that natural supplements tend to take longer to have an effect allow 12-16 weeks.

Also in your case make sure you can gewt it when you go home or that you can order it - I order some stuff from the states.

Keep your hips warm (heat packs are great) also use heat creams like dep heat or voltaren.

What course brought you all the way to perth from sweden??

Orionstar and purple333,
thankyou for the input. I appreciate it. And orionstar I am not surprised you find zero degrees cold. It is cold. I didn't know it got that cold in perth.

I have also found that I acclimatized to the florida climate when I lived there. Took about 18 months. Similarly when I returned home it took about the same time to get used to the cold again. However my back didn't flare up at all while I was in florida. Maybe that's because it never really gets cold there. A cold day in south florida is one where you have to put your jeans on and wear a jeacket in the early morning.

Purple333, I am interested by your statement that you suffer the same in an aussie winter as you used to in an english one. How cold does it get in sydney in the winter? Do you suffer as bad in an aussie winter?

I started taking glucosamine a couple of months ago, 2000mg per day. So far it has had little effect although my hands don't hurt like they used to in the middle of the night, but they are still stiff in the morning. I have spoken to quite a few arthritis sufferers locally, many of whom swear by glucosamine, but they all say it takes about 3 months for the effect to kick in. I have heard differences of opinion about chondroitin. Some people say that you shouldn't combine the two because they interfere with each other. Hav eyou heard that?

As with many meds everyone is different, personally I take a combination tablet of the two & it helps a friend who takes them together but in two separate tablets to get higher dosages swears by them - but our problems are different.

I'd try adding the chondriotin. I'd also look into the many other natural health remedies & if after 2-4 months of taking the glucosamine & chondriotin there's no real inprovement i'd try something else - one I haven't tried is sharks cartilege.

Sydney doesn't get all that cold (0c ish at night to 20c during the day)but as we've all said we acclimatize - so therefore we suffer much the same - within erason of course - my body hates being outside in really cold weather & I nearly always wear a scarf -winter & summer to keep my neck warm (as I get headaches & neck pain if I leave my neck uncovered).