I have been taking my medication everyday in the morning, but it seems like I don't get relief until around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I have noticed this on several ocassions and today just proves to me that my RA is the most calm during the swing shift and that seems to be when I get the most work done around the house.
So, I am now trying to figure out how to adjust my schedule to my RA's chill time? For me, the morning time is the absolutely worst time of the day because my body has been laying sedentary and that means the joints stopped moving and that is when the trouble starts. Then when I actually do get moving it takes me forever to get dressed, put shoes on, and the worst part is trying to button my favorite pair of jeans.
I am thinking that maybe when I go to bed, I should wear compression gloves. But I have to buy them first. I have been looking at several styles, but they are so expensive.
Ok, now I have something to REALLY complain about. Because we RA patients get hit with so much fatigue we are constantly laying down, resting, etc. Because of that, our physical fitness levels just plummet. I am wanting my cardio back up on the high side again. I want my legs to stop hurting because I am using them to walk around Wal-Mart.
I am really going to strive to get this body moving once again. Yes, it hurts because I have been fatigued out but dammit I want to shoot archery this summer!!!
Interesting observations. My weekends can be bad if I had a praticularly stressful work week. This morning I was visited by the malaise fairy and I have pain in my feet and my toes and my hands and fingers. The weather is warming up so I am kind of surprised as to why I feel worse than I felt when it was freezing outside.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, might your doctor prescribe compression gloves, so that your insurance might pay for them? Worth asking. My hands hurt most of the time these days, and I wear Thermagloves off and on all day and usually all night. They DO help. They keep the joints very warm and offer just enough resistence to bending to make me more aware of that I'm doing with my hands -- I mean, I'm more careful. That can only be good.
ReplyDeleteLana, perhaps your increased pain is caused in part by the change in barometric pressure, rather than the temp?
Wishing you luck, Stephanie, as you proceed in making the good changes in your daily routine that you want to. Keep us posted!
-Wren
I could write a book on sleep and RA! After using a ChiliPad to help with my RA symptoms I decided to work with ChiliTechnology (http://www.chilitechnology.com) to promote it. The ChiliPad is a mattress pad that cools (or heats) any bed. They come in all sizes, they work using water, and they're small and efficient. I used to take sleeping pills because the pain in my hips would keep me up at night, and as you point out the mornings were often murder. After playing around with the temperature I finally found a way to sleep through the night: heating up the bed a bit and then setting the timer to cool it down in the few hours before dawn is what works for me, I both sleep through the night and am able to do more with my mornings.
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