Gardening: suggestions to avoid flare ups?

I have a vegetable garden all year round and flowers, too. I've been pulling weeds and planting seedlings for my spring garden. My wrists, hands and 1 elbow have been so painful. Today I rested and didn't work in the yard and my pain is minimal tonight. Does anyone else have this problem? Have you come up with a solution? I don't want to give up gardening.

Couchtater,
Thanks for replying.The bending over is not the problem. I have a 'kneeling' bench. It's using my hands to pull the weeds. Do you have this problem? Is it normal for Fibro to have flare ups if you use your hands too much?

Certain kinds of work, bothers my hands , but i use topical pain relievers that give a lot of relief..

: ) jealous that you are in a clmate that is not ice and snow covered

: )

I pace myself when doing my gardening and I use Round-Up for weeds. Pulling weeds doesn't work because if any of the root is left in the ground, it will come back again. At least that's what a garden center told me. I don't get many weeds now because I stay right on top of it. But, I'm not growing veggies...just tons of flowers.

If I had a vegetable garden, I would get the gardening fabric and lay it in the garden and cover with mulch. This helps keep weeds from germinating.

Sherrine

GrammyG -

I use different things depending on the day and how I am feeling. I like to vary up what I do depending on how the pain is. I do not garden, but I do a lot of typing for work and I have done some detailed painting etc. There are days when I just can't function and other days where I can. Because the typing is part of my work, I have to make it happen no matter what.

Here are the items I use:
1. Voltaren Gel (prescription) It's Diclofenac Sodium in a gel form. Works well, but can mess up my stomach.
2. Arnica Cream (over the counter) It relieves bruising and pain and lots of people make it. I can find it at the drugstore or purchase from Amazon. My favorite is one made by PurePro which has Eucalyptus in it. However it's also the most expensive. However, whichever one I buy, just a little bit gives me 3-4 hours of relief.
3. The Body Ship Hemp hand cream. It works mildly for arthritis and helps keep my eczema in check.
4. Hematine bracelets. Basically it's a man made magnetic hematite. Not everyone gets relief from these, but they help me quite a bit on rough days. I got 2 for $5.00 on Amazon. I figured they were pretty, big enough to look decent on me and if they helped it was a definite bonus. They do help a quite bit. I wear them under my gloves outside so they don't get cold when I'm out. Gardening gloves could work the same way.
5. Heat. I often take breaks and go to the sink and run hot water over my hands for easement. When we refinanced, they came to the house and I ran a basin of hot water for in between signings. I also found a small heating pad at the local grocery store for $8.00 that is basically a little round fleece deal that you could put your hands in. On really bad days, I keep this in my lap. It wouldn't work outdoors, but it could be good for when you come in.

Hope that helps. I'm rapidly learning that solutions are very individual. But if you haven't tried these before, they might be worth a shot.

Thank you for each of the suggestions. I'm giving the 'weed barrier' some thought. I have used newspaper and hay in my vegetable garden and it worked great and then decomposed back into the ground. You've all been very helpful. Thank you so much.

I have a question about Aspercreme? I thought it could actually get into your system but my stomach has been having problems the last few days. Could it be the cream? As soon as I use it up I will try some of the creams you ladies recommended but didn't want to get rid of a new tube if I didn't have to.

Thanks again!

I am going to try out German hugelkultur (http://richsoil.com/hugelkultur/) in one small scale plot this year. If it works like it's supposed to, you never have to till or fertilize that spot again and after 2 years you won't have to water it anymore unless you have a drought lasting 3 weeks. Just that will save a LOT of work each year.

Secondly I'm learning (slowly and taking lots of notes, thanks fibro fog!) companion planting. For example, planting carrots in between your tomato plants will shade the ground and slow down weed growth until your tomato plants grow large enough to shade the carrots and slow down weeds. I'll plant some borage (an herb) among them to repel tomato worms. I'll plant some nasturtiums (flowers and leaves are edible) among them to repel aphids. Lastly I'll plant some rosemary to repel carrot flies.

If it works well I'll have a garden plot that doesn't have to be tilled, fertilized, or need pesticides, and will rarely need watering or weeding. I love gardening and want to continue to grow our own veggies and fruits, to do so I need to cut out as much labor as possible. If this works I'll be adding a second plot next year for beans and squash. Hope this helps. =)

I forgot to mention, hay is bad for mulch because it can have seeds in it that causes weeds that are very difficult to get out by the roots. I learned this the hard way.

Post Edited (Mattie2828) : 3/4/2015 1:48:15 AM (GMT-7)