Deaf with Fibromyalgia

Krystal, I answered you on your first post.  I am legally deaf but not totally deaf.  I'm profoundly deaf in the high ranges.  I do not use sign language so I can't help you there.  I read lips because I can still hear some sounds.

 

I know my hands and fingers will hurt at times but I keep moving them and stretching them.  Typing helps them, too.  You also may be going through a flare and you are hurting more lately.  The flares come and go, too. 

 

When I was at the doctor's office one time, I had to get blood work done.  They have those things you squeeze before they take the blood.  I asked if they had an extra one I could have and they gave me one.  I will squeeze that, alternating hands, when my hands are giving me some trouble.  It's good exercise for the fingers.  I squeeze, release, squeeze, release, etc.  I'll do this when watching TV.  Just an idea. 

 

Sherrine

I'm not Deaf, but I do sign fluently and have done some interpreting since I have friends and a nephew that is deaf. I interpreted with another gal for my AmeriCorps grad ceremony in August, because my frined and coworker's husband is deaf. I know that now my fingers and arms get a lot stiffer when sign. I had to do all the fingerspelled names and I was grateful to be sitting down, so when there was a pause I could lay my hands on my lap. As far as it progressing to where you cannot sign anymore, it should not prevent you from signing. You may modify your sign a bit. One of the gals that I used to see at the social I used to take my nephew to had rheumatoid arthirits. It did not stop her from signing, but it slowed her down a bit. She just made ways to modify some of her signing to limit excessive arm movement. It still had the basic handshapes and motions, but they were smaller, and often she would rest her elbow on a table or her lap or use her other hand to hold her forearm, so she was more anchored when she signed. It was still easy to understand what she was saying, so she didn't have any lapse in communication. I had an instructor for ASL that had nerve damage in her fingers from I think diabetes, and she did similar things to make signing easier for her. It may be beneficial to see if you can find some information on modifying sign to accomodate fibro, since it can affect your fingers and hands in similar ways to arthritis, without the degeneration.