All posts tagged: RA Wrists

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Disabling RA

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One of the big pleasures I have is watching the full moon make its way up and over the mountain. I see it from my patio doors as I am making dinner. Lately, it not only is a big, full moon but also a beautiful, warm yellow. When I first see it, the moon  is just peering over the top edge of the mountain. Then it seems to sit on the edge of the mountain top just before continuing  its journey up into the night sky. A moment in time. I was thinking of good things to distract from the pain I have in my joints and the nagging fear in the back of my mind that I am becoming more disabled with each passing day. My RA was diagnosed seven years ago in January. Since then, I have had three cancers and a hip replacement. Most of that time I have been on methotrexate, mostly injectable. It has slowed the progress of the RA. It could be worse. I’ve been on almost all the …

RA flare warning signs

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Many of us who have RA have premonitions before the onset of a flare. For me, I start feeling chilled. Occasionally, I will check my temperature to see if I am coming down with something and my temperature will be 100.4 F. or maybe 99.6 F. It is a Rheumatoid Arthritis temperature. Additionally, my skin becomes itchy over joints. They are not always the same joints. Sometimes it is the knuckles and sometimes it is the wrists. I am also energetic and have several irons in the fire at the same time. As a flare draws nearer, I start losing my energy reserve. I feel like my battery is draining to a very low level. I knit more, and my baking becomes less creative. I feel duller. I would rather spend more time watching the Great British Bake Off and less time working on research for my current book. I am sinking. For me, it is time to start a Medrol dose pack and let myself slow down. I will still need to go to …

The Classic Symptoms Of RA

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The Classic Symptoms Of RA Symptoms may vary during a day and from day to day and from person to person. The unpredictability of symptoms makes daily activities harder to plan. The following are symptoms common to Rheumatoid Arthritis. Pain is a hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis. Pain comes in many forms in the same person. It is sharp as the edge of broken glass. It is burning. Aching. It is incapacitating and it can be unrelenting. Consuming. Sometimes it is excruciating. The middle joints of the fingers, the knuckles, wrists, the joints in the toes and the feet are affected. The shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles, and the hips become affected. The cervical spine is frequently affected. The lumbar and thoracic spines can be affected but less commonly. Pain may make it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Pain may increase as the day wears on. Pain can wake you in the middle of the night. The trouble is that the pain is not isolated to one spot. It encompasses many joints …

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Adapt and survive definitely not easy

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You might wake up well rested, feeling pretty good. Out of bed.  Start moving.  Your middle toe starts hurting.    A piercing pain shoots through the bottom of a foot.  Just keeps going until every joint in your body in inflamed and in pain. All had been well this last week. Lots done. Exercise class included. Pain level at a simmer. No need for the narcotics. Pleasant. Then blindsided!      Unpredictable!    Discouraging! Now,  it is just hard to exist. Fatigue has joined the rest.  Fatigue feels like an overwhelming exhaustion that makes thinking or doing hard to do. Just simply surviving is hard to do. Each of those joints supporting the 28 bones in each foot cry out for attention. Their chorus is joined by the joints supporting the 27 bones in each hand. Then there are the ankles, the wrists, the shoulders, elbows, and the joints  of the chest bones. To stop is to adapt. There is no choice, not really.  Time for a rest day, a veg out day, time out. …