Arthritis in Knee and Hip, suggestions please for cardio, so as not to aggravate?

Ok here's the story.. Started new diet last Feb (2008), added in exercise as follows after approx two months. I began walking on my treadmill at home and built up to doing 3 miles (in 35 minutes) a day with a 6 mile walk (in 70 minutes) on Sat and Sunday. I gradually built up to these speeds (I was walking very fast avg 11.5 minutes per mile) and distances over several months.  ETA no running due to old knee injury.

After 3 - 4 months of this, I added 3, one hour sessions per week with a trainer at the gym, doing free weights and lunges / step ups etc. When at the gym, I would use the eliptical to warm up. I always made sure to stretch properly after any exercise.

I lost weight, looked more slim, and definitely got stronger, all of which was just great. Did this for seven months, with trainer changing my routine every 5 weeks or so. Then I started getting pain in my left knee and right hip. At first I ignored it (newbie weight training pains, I thought) The pain increased and was definitely aggravated by my exercise routine. And it got to be too much, the constant pain was keeping me sleepless and grumpy and making me hobble around like a 100 year old granny!

As it got worse (since I didn't know I had arthritis then), I thought was an injury (trainer agreed). Proceeded with rest, ice, anti-inflammatory meds and gentle stretching etc, for 3 weeks. Returned to Gym but cut back on Treadmill time and distances, all to no avail.  Pain still there. Finally went to see doc, who said it was arthritis.

Doc suggested rest, anti-inflamitories (doing that, I said) stretching and prednisone (I am NOT taking that stuff) thin bones and more weight gain is just what I have been trying to prevent. So now, here I am a few months on, had to cancel gym membership in November to save the money and I have re-gained some weight anyway (because of not exercising).

I want to get into it again... Tried the treadmill at home recently, started gentle 15/ 20 minutes, top speed 4.5 mph but even a moderate walk makes my hip and knee start to hurt about one mile in.

If anyone out there is dealing with the same issues and has some ideas / suggestions on how to manage my pain better? And more importantly, what cardio I can do that will aggravate the arthritis the least? I still have a lot of weight to lose, about 30-40 lbs to be at a healthy weight. But the weight is a side issue really. I know I should be exercising for the health benefits too. 

 Any advice would be great!

Bump !

 Well, I know that whenever I skimp on taking my fish oil my finger joints start aching, and generic glucosamine/chondroitin/msm from Walmart or anywhere can potentially alleviate the pain.

 Swimming has the greatest potential for being useful, aside from getting your exercise in shorter bursts. For health purposes, 10 3-minute bouts of walking has the same effect as one 30-minute session. Which means you can walk for - say, half a mile, 3/4, something like that, and stop before your joints start to hurt, take a break and come back to it later that day.

 Heat pad treatment of the affected joints can sometimes help as well, and keep up the strength training; joint pain is generally alleviated when the muscles surrounding the joint are strong enough to take some of the strain off it.

I'm not going through what you are, but you'll be amazed at how easy the elliptical is on the joints.  I have incredibly bad knees when I exercise, dr said it might be from platform diving when I was younger.  I think its because I fell on my knees when I was a teenager and was hemmed up for weeks.  Trade the treadmill for an elliptical or find someone that has one you can try.

Cycling is a great cardio. Just make sure to get fitted to the bike.

UD

Water aerobics is very easy on the joints, and a great workout.  In fact, my YMCA has a class specifically for folks with arthritis.

I'd suggest water aerobics or swimming and/or a recumbant bike - get away from weight-bearing exercise to ease the strain on those joints. (btw, your arthritis is probably related to your knee injury - if one knee is dodgy your body puts more strain on the opposite hip to compensate.)