I use prescription painkillers – but surprisingly – they do not work on the arthritis in my thumbs. I got my MM card last year so that I could wean off the Rx. It’s been a slow process – because I didn’t just stop taking one and start the other. When I visited the shop a few weeks ago – the guy behind the counter talked with me about topicals – and recommended the iLava Touch. I was hesitant to spend that much money – but decided I would rather buy something more expensive that had a better chance of working than the less expensive stuff with maybe not so much quality built in. I was really not expecting such amazing results! Holy crap! This stuff is awesome! Took about 20 minutes before I noticed that the deep aching pain was gone – but it was definitely gone – and it took very little of the product to make that happen. I can see this lasting quite a while – so it was definitely worth the cost. Highly recommended by me!