How do You Deal with those little "aches and pains" in the morning?

Autumn is my favorite season - I love the weather, the fall colors, that little "snap" in the air, even the fact that now that things are cooling off a bit, I'm more in the mood to do "real" cooking - food that can be cooked slowly over a low temperature - roasts, beans, soups - all of it.

The only thing I DON'T like is the fact that I'm stiff and sore more mornings now. As soon as I roll over to get out of bed, I find lots of little aches and pains. And my fingers are stiff - which makes typing harder. (Thank God for spell check, because my fingers are making more mistakes until they get limbered up).

One good thing is that the treatment the doctor has me on - a mix of low-dose steroids and a weekly injection - has meant that I'm no longer walking with a crutch or a cane, and we took the wheelchair back - I don't need it any more either! (Yippee!) It's so exhilarating to be able to just go out and walk whenever and wherever I feel like! Of course, I'm still having to walk in moderation - we took Elsa to the OK Coral (a wild-west themed amusement park here in the French Riviera) for her birthday, and after walking around for four hours, I could hardly move the next day!

But still - there's an incredible sense of freedom - of power - in feeling like myself again - and in knowing that I can get out and go walking like I used to. Last week when I was getting ready for the big family birthday party that we threw (four people all had their birthdays in September and October here), I walked down through the open-air market all the way to the pier - and then walked along the pier, just because it was a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy watching people...it was wonderful!

The thing is, I don't want to be taking a bunch of drugs - well, okay, I'm already taking a bunch - so I don't want to add to it! Instead, I want to find some other ways of dealing with the arthritis and those little aches and pains in the morning. I'm going to start checking out natural remedies and may even check into massage and yoga and see what else is out there...so if you have any ideas, let me know!