Every couple of months the base of my thumbs (sometimes 1, the other or both) hurt so bad i can hardly use that hand. it's gone within a few days.?

Could be several...: Conditions, including arthritis at the base of the thumbs (very common in middle-aded women) or dequervain's tenosynovitis (inflammation of a tendon near the thumb base.) your best bet is to see a hand surgeon, who will probably want to obtain simple xrays of the hands if your examination warrants it.

Arthritis or tendonitis: Rest, antiinflammatories, injection of corticsteroid, splinting , activyt modifiaction are used before surgey, how you respond depends a lot upon who you are , what you do how you tolerate pain. Arthritic treatment is treating the symptoms and can't be the same for everyone. Tendonitis at the base of the thumb may also flare periodically. The most common type of tendinits is called dequervain's and motion of the thumb either extending it fully or bending it fully into the palm will hurt. Arthritis typically s more of an aching pain that comes and goes but can be associated with sudden movement as well. A hand surgeon can examine the hand, take x-rays and help with a differential diagnosis if conservative treatment on your own or in conduction with a pcp does not work. Be careful regarding splintg as rigid splints can irritate the sensative nerves at the base of the thumb giving other symptoms that can be confusing.

A PRC or proximal row : Carpectomy is a procedure where there surgeon removes the entire proximal row of the carpal bones and allows the capitate to articualte with the distal radius in place of the lunate. It is used often for late cases of ligament injury or unhealed scaphoid fracture and other wirst conditions such as keinbokcs disease associated with arthritis. Motion and strength in most long term studies are excellent, although the average grip strenght is reduced initially, with time a large percentage returns. Motion may be limited slightly too but many who need this operation all ready have pain that is limiting motion and strenght to start so remoing that pain makes any slight difference compared to the unijurred wrist not significant. It is a ggod procedure with documented good long term results.

It depends upon the normal dose and: What one took. If it is one normal dose of a typical non steroidal ant inflammatory then anyone should be ok. If someone has allergies to medication, kidney issues, liver problems, peptic ulcer, on blood thinners, have clotting issues etc then they need to know that certain "arthritis pills" are not good for them. But a healthy person witout any health issues who takes a normal does of an non steroidal anti-inflammatory should not have any major issues.

Joint pain may feel worse at nighttime : This is because the body has a small amount of extracellular fluid that in some ways moves around and if a joint or limb is relatively motionless and gravity is no longer "pulling" these fluids toward the feet then the other parts of the body swell to some extent. That is why many will have their face and hands feel "puffy" in the morning and why people with fluid in there lungs need to sleep up on pillows. Of course this is a very simplistic explanation but ti may explain the phenomena that someone like your self is alluding to. Now the other question is why does a healthy person in their 20s ask this question. If a woman in her twenties has increased joint pain and swellng then it is a good time to talk to a pcp regrinding some simple blood work for ruling out endocrine ( thyroid, diabetes etc) or inflammatory issues as well as other things such as lyme etc. Not to be scary but it makes sense to start with a proper evaluation, history and exam and get evaluated . As this question is labeled with hand pain and thumb arthritis then one also about tendinitis such as dequervains and other common issues. I am differentiating here between isolated hand pain where i would not necessarily seek a work up vs multiple joint complaints where i would.