good moanin (afternoon)
It's 2:00 and I have just made it out of the bedroom. No, the room was not jumping- I was there alone. I've been awake since 7, but instead of going out to wake the kids and get breakfast, I went in to take a bath. By the time I got out, the kids had gotten themselves breakfast and plopped in front of cartoons and the computer. My hubby got up to keep an eye on them while I worked on putting my desk together. When I finished I layed down to watch a movie and promptly fell asleep. I missed the whole movie. I just woke up and ventured out to the living room for the first time today.
The only drawback is that the kids have left it a mess. Oh well, at least my desk is done and my room is clean. One room at a time, right?
Yesterday I tried wrapping my knees, ankles, elbows and wrists to help stabilize them since I was doing a lot of walking, twisting and sitting. The pressure seemed to help for a few hours, then it was worse than ever. Does anyone use compression for RA daily joint pain?
It's not flair pain- my joints are barley swollen at all. It's just daily, grinding, popping, burning pain. I asked him yesterday when I woke up if he wasn't SURE that he hadn't hit my knees with a mallet in the night. He assured me that he hadn't. My joints feel like they would if I had just rammed them into the wall, or the couch, or the coffee table- except I haven't. This is EVERYDAY. it is night/day better than I was during the flair, but is this all I can expect? Is this what I live with or the rest of my life? Or do I tell the doctor the level of pain I have and they will make it better with more medication? Are the side effects worth the amount of relief offered, or do I wait for the pain to get worse so the trade off is more dramatic?
I'm 29 years old, overweight but not obese, and I can't go grocery shopping without wishing for the riding chairs. I refuse to use them yet, but I wish I wasn't so proud by the time I get home. I have to "take a break" 2-3 times if I go to the mall with my kids. I brought them to the fair, and basically walked from bench to bench. That was all my joints would let me do. It's not fatigue, it's my pain tolerance overwhelmed. Each step hurts my feet, ankles, knees and hips. The more I walk, the worse it is on my feet, the better on my hips. Is this daily life? I assume as the RA progresses my condition will worsen. Am I looking at a riding chair? Am I looking at a stair assist machine? How do I stay mobile when every step hurts even on the "good" days?
At 29 years old I have young school-age children. Some of the meds that I have started state that I should not be exposed to people who have colds or other contagious illnesses. (prednisone, methotrexate) How serious is this? My kids WILL get sick at some point in the school year, all kids do. I can't live in a bubble. Do I call the doctor whenever I am exposed? Do I wait to get sick and then call, or do I just watch to see if I get more severely sick than normal and then call in? How does it work? Am I normal sick, just more often? The doctor didn't say anything about it, I just read it on the paperwork he gave me. I was so overwhelmed with getting the flair away, he gave me a lot of the information on paper so I could go over it later.
I should stop before I write a book here. These are all questions that I have been mulling over.