Too young for arthritis?

[blaze11]

I am a computer programmer.  I am healthy aside from your basic allergies.  My question is that lately my fingers, expecially around the knuckle area, have been swelling and stiff.  Very hard to type..there are days where I am programming for 12-15hrs a day.  Is there an easy cure?  Advil?  

[anonymous_1]

There is never too young for Arthritis.  I was diagnosed when I was only 15, and am 22 now and still very arthritic.  I also work in IT, and it can be difficult at times.  My fingers did used to swell, but now I am on medication to help relieve it.  Advil, or Bayer, might be helpful.  Check for the pail relievers geared towards arthritis.  txsilver is right, though; check with a doctor sooner rather than later.  It's best to catch this early on.  Good luck.

[txsilver]

Hi.  I work in IT programming phone systems so I can relate to long days at the keyboard!  Are you in an unusally active period of programming?  Do you have an ergonomic wrist pad, keyboard, desk, chair?  Is everythi8ng set correctly?  If not, that can definitely exacerbate the problem.
You can try an OTC anti-inflamatory to see how that works.  When my pain first started I used them like crazy and applied biofreeze constantly to get relief enough to do my job.  I would suggest that if you try to give your hands a rest for a weekend and then see how they do.  If you still have the problem I would get to a doctor for evaluation.  These conditions have the best prognosis if you get the right treatment early on.