Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

This morning I decided to walk on my no impact walker. It is more of a swing than a walk but anyway I went for a walk while watching TV. Reached a mile in 16 min so decided not to push it. Felt OK at first. One hr later I realized that my walk was not such a good idea. My hips, back, shoulders locked up at church and had to have someone help me to the car. It is really hard to figure out boundries when RA has no boundries. I tell myself that I need to move to keep moving but now can't move. Gees hopefully I can find a way to calm my body before work tomorrow. My feet hurt so bad every step is killer. Time to find a comfortable position and go to bed. Personally I will be prayng for a reduction in pain, and sweet sleep.

kjv1956

I hope you got some sleep! I can sympathize with you. I feel good after my water aerobics yesterday, but my hands hurt this morning simply from cutting my meat at dinner last night. I hate this disease!!!

It is really unpredictable. Just keep trying to exercise if you are able to get thru it. I have a Dual Elleptical. Some days I'm okay some days i don't last 2 minutes. If it's not the RA stopping me, it's my neck. Boundaries vary all the time with chronic pain.

Hope you feel better.

hugs, Donna

Don't give up on the exercise, then you won't be able to move at all. Do what you can when you can. Even 10 minutes a day is better than nothing. RA is unpredictable and frustrating to say the least. I hope you can get some rest and the pain subsides!

It takes tine to find your boundaries. Usually by going thru pain. Once you find your stopping point it is very important to maintain it.

Easy when your days are not so good, but hard when you are having good days. The good days trick you into thinking your body is fine and can keep going with the wonderful energy.

Feels so great doing many things that need to be done. Feels great not to have that RAD feeling.

But...

We do have RAD. Even when the days are energetic and pain is very low or at least tolerable.

And...

We harm ourselves.

May be hours later or even the next day. Always after we have finished "whatever" and are smiling with the contented feelings of a job well done.

Then...

We are hit soooo hard it knocks us to our knees or flat on our face.

We suffer tremendous pain, overwhelming fatigue, and sadness that we had the same results as a hundred times before. We were hoping this time would be different.

It wasn't.

So now comes the time we are truly prepared to find our "set times." And do our best to stick with them.

We find out they really do work and helps our daily lives far more than we ever thought such a thing would. Our depression from things taking sooo long to do turns to joy because we soon find out we get the same things done without harming ourselves and having the same end results.

We find many things returning to us that had been lost.

Because we found a way. We learned boundaries and kept to them. Once a task was finished we could set back, smile a smile of satisfaction, and know there would be no paying the price for doing whatever.

We found our way.

Think I over did it today.I finally had a good day with low pain levels and cleaned my house,went shopping,cooked my hubby a really good meal and can now feel the pain building from my hips down.I was so hoping it would last a little longer.RAD SUCKS!

I wish I had a treadmill. Have wanted one for a long time, but 1. hate to spend the money on 2. something that will take up half my living room (we live in a small bungalow house).

I have just started doing yoga with a new DVD. It is very gentle. In fact the first few routines are done in a chair and are mostly stretching. I felt good afterward so I will continue to do it a few times a week, working my way up to the actually weight loss ones, I hope.

If my back worked I'd just go for walks like I used to. But I would probably pay for it later, too.

Kym,

I loved yoga but had to give up doing some of the moves. My rheumy and physiotherapist told me I could not do any moves that put pressure on my wrists or hands. I was told it would start a flare. So, I couldn't do any position like hand and knee poses. Downward facing dog, is one. I was surprised at how much I couldn't do. Even doing chair yoga, I had to not do some moves. I hated that, so I quit. I should have stuck it out for the relaxation, but I hated being "older" than the seniors in the group.

Paulette,

Oh I couldn't do a live group, lol. The DVD is good so far. I just do what I'm able to do. The other day I couldn't do the stuff involving the left shoulder.

On wrists and hands... I had a scary thought at the supermarket Sunday. I have to use a cart to shop to keep my lower back from hurting. But my wrist and hand were sore from the grip. I wonder how long I have before that's not an option.

I really hope the Orencia will work at least for the RA. If it helps my back like the Enbrel did, I'm gonna take off and do sooo many things I've not been able to do in five years, like a trip to the zoo.

Kym,

I hope you will soon be telling us about your trip to the zoo.

My daughter wants the 6 of us to go to the Toronto zoo and meet up with my son and his wife. I haven't been feeling well. I've been having mild to moderate flares, off and on, for a couple of months and had lots of leg and hip pain and felt really unwell, this weekend. So, she says that she wouldn't mind pushing me in a wheel chair, if that was the only way I could make it. That was sweet, but I was totally gobsmacked. I never really thought about ever needing a wheelchair. But, then I realized that would be the only way I could go to the zoo.

Reality check!!!