Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
I'm a lawn nut and have renovated my yard on more than one occasion. This past summer I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to kill off my 12,000 square foot front yard and renovate it again. I rented a pole saw and trimmed back branches on trees to let more light in. That sure made my arms extremely sore though I don't recall if my elbow joints hurt. I then scalped the lawn, brought in several yards of soil to spread to fill in low spots, seeded, top dressed with Peat Moss and just kept working on this project until early November. I remember working so hard at one point that my entire body ached and this aching probably lasted 2 months. I had acute pain from carpal tunnel for a while during this time but kept going and didn't rest it. I never had carpal tunnel before but it soon disappeared. My knees and feet felt terrible pain on many evenings. I seeded too heavy is some areas so I crawled around for a few weeks pulling seedlings to thin the lawn. I even used my hand like a hammer to pound dirt into small holes where I removed plugs to transplant grass. That was late October and though my hands hurt afterwards, they weren't in pain prior to abusing them. I really truly overdid it and I knew it at the time. I can't even rule out the pain I was experiencing wasn't RA that was being masked with the sore muscles. I wish I remembered more and sure wish I knew when the actual joint pain started but even near the end of the project, when I remember feeling some joint pain, it wasn't much compared to now!
I worked my body for this project more so than I have in a long time .Still, other than once or twice the pain was not as bad as it is now. As things slowed down in November I began to notice my joints still hurt even though I was doing less and less outdoors. In late November my joints still hurt a couple weeks after I finished the project. I made an appointment with my doctor to check for Lyme Disease. The tests came back and the doctor suggested I see a rheumatologist due to an RA factor of 47. I knew that prednisone was effective for joint pain so I asked for a prescription and made the appointment for the rheumy. The 10 mg of prednisone made me feel 100 percent pain free. The rheumy told me that wasn't a high dose of steroid and that maybe I would be easily treatable. So far that has not proved to be true.
My theory is that all this demanding labor triggered something I maybe had all along. Is it possible that the repeated abuses done to my body awakened the monster that we know as RA? Could what I put myself through have even created my RA disease? Did I bring this disease upon myself? That would sure be a bummer!
Greg
I worked my body for this project more so than I have in a long time .Still, other than once or twice the pain was not as bad as it is now. As things slowed down in November I began to notice my joints still hurt even though I was doing less and less outdoors. In late November my joints still hurt a couple weeks after I finished the project. I made an appointment with my doctor to check for Lyme Disease. The tests came back and the doctor suggested I see a rheumatologist due to an RA factor of 47. I knew that prednisone was effective for joint pain so I asked for a prescription and made the appointment for the rheumy. The 10 mg of prednisone made me feel 100 percent pain free. The rheumy told me that wasn't a high dose of steroid and that maybe I would be easily treatable. So far that has not proved to be true.
My theory is that all this demanding labor triggered something I maybe had all along. Is it possible that the repeated abuses done to my body awakened the monster that we know as RA? Could what I put myself through have even created my RA disease? Did I bring this disease upon myself? That would sure be a bummer!
Greg
I am 60 now and my first symptom was at 15 and followed a horrible car accident where my entire body was traumatized. I always thought that (or the cold in my house, because we had no heat) was the cause. Who knows? What matters now is that we have this demon to contend with and we need to just look forward in terms of dealing with it.
You did not, in any way, do this to yourself. The best current understanding of RA and its evil cousins is that there is a strong genetic cause- as many as fifty genes involved. It's nowhere near as simple as something like Huntington's, hemophilia, or Tay-Sachs, all of which are caused by one dominant gene (Huntington's) or two recessive genes (the other two)., There may also be some sort of trigger, perhaps an infection. (Interesting research on strep as a possible trigger, at least in PsA.)
My guess is that were two factors involved in your landscaping project and its aftermath. Overwork: this was out of the ordinary, no? Second, you probably had low-level disease simmering underneath, and the hard work made it impossible to ignore.
Please, Greg, don't start down the road of thinking you caused this. It is absolutely not true. It causes guilt: "What if I had just hired someone to move the boulders?" "Why did I do this to myself?" None of that is productive. You have to accept that you made the best decisions you could with the information at hand. Finally, this line of thinking can lead to the corollary that you can also fix it by howling at the moon, petting short-haired dogs, wearing a copper bracelet, and eating a kale salad topped with gin-soaked raisins.
Please, let yourself off the hook on this.
2. will you put in hot tub over at coal train's?
stop ruminating. this disease just is. keep moving is best anyway otherwise you will become the tin man.
depot
I re-checked. My RF Factor is 49.
Thanks! I'll add some lawn pics in my photo section when I get the chance.
Greg
Altocief , By these questions (below) are you saying it was coming all along or that I forced it from a dormant state? Just curious, Thanks!
"My guess is that were two factors involved in your landscaping project and its aftermath. Overwork: this was out of the ordinary, no? Second, you probably had low-level disease simmering underneath, and the hard work made it impossible to ignore"
I added some pictures of my lawn a couple months after seeding. They are in my profile. Never did I have a renovation germinate so quickly with so few weeds. The color should be significantly darker next summer once it is fully established. Color was the reason I killed the lawn in the first place. I wanted my perfect lawn a little darker with a little blue tone in it. I told you I was a lawn nut! I just hope I can enjoy taking care of it!
Being a bit stupid and stubborn (and not having doctors who noticed things were amiss) I first saw a rheumatologist when my elbow wouldn't unbend past about 45 degrees. By this time, I had lived with constant pain for about 25 years and had had six orthopedic surgeries- I've had a seventh since. No one thought that was a bit much for a 50-year-old woman who hadn't had any major car wrecks or falls down cliffs?
You are lucky you got this diagnosed when you did, and that they didn't just say you overdid it.
and I dont' think that pushing yourself makes the disease worse, ultimately (post flare) this is MY opinion.
whenever i push myself i just run out of spoons so i slow down until i freeze in place the statue effect
but after a couple days or weeks of payback i think that my body was glad that i moved. in other words i do not find residual damage from making attempts at managing the ponderosa over a much longer point of time
in the old days this was called DOMS delayed onset muscle soreness, you know weekend warrior or gym glory days. now it is called i have a 2 week flare. the payback is greater.
i have an acre of crab grass are you for hire? i don't care about what my acre looks like. it looks like crap close up but if you drive to the stop of the street and gaze at it maybe one can't tell ....not sure. but different things give people different solace and joy so seed on man. i can say that sitting on the tractor seems to re-align my joints in my body or the tractor now takes me where my legs will not anymore. this is the closest i can get to a wheelchair without owning one. :)
depot
In my early stages I had a lot of the same thoughts. Here I was 53 or 54 years old and never sick a day in my life. I loved to work - loved my job - and my "work" around the homestead was my hobby. I was always on the move with some kind of project - never sat still.
After getting hit with the RA I did some serious soul searching and also asked lots of questions here on the forum. I was looking for a change in my life around the time the RA hit but I was in one of the best places I've been in my life at that time as far as home/family/work life. So I just couldn't use stress as a trigger.
But now being a few years into the RA I do find that any kind of stress - or even getting out of my daily routine - will trigger some major flare issues.
So I will add my "no, no, no" to the list. After years now I can not find a trigger for the start of RA be it physical or emotional. Best thing to do is try to look forward from this point - more like one day at a time.
Off to look at the lawn pics!
For all of us, it is probably a different thing that set it off. To me, that means - life is the cause of RA. It is what it is, and the only thing I can do is to make the best of my situation, like we all do.
I've heard of causes & possible causes but never anything like that.
If that was the case I'd have had it years ago.
My opinion for what it's worth is a large percentage have genetic tendencies toward certain health problems. I believe RA is strongly genetically linked. I do not believe its the only cause but it sure can play a factor.
Viruses, trauma to the body & so on.... Read quite a few people stating they were diagnosed after having surgery.
So perhaps there are those that are high risk for this disease without ever realizing it.
Symptoms can be minor enough that they are overlooked until like you we simply over do it.
I started having problems after moving into my new home.
Then after the first of 2 surgeries symptoms came on strong.
Busted my bum moving into this house, construction cleaned my basement lifting cement at 5'1 & 100 pds.
Firmly believe I injured myself but the RA was just there waiting. As I lack my Irish luck when it comes to genetics. Dads big ears, moms varicose veins & grandfathers RA. Volunteer my time helping others & a Sister as mean as they come. At 55 she has the legs of a 20 yr old, normal sized ears & RA skipped over her. Go figure.
Love a beautiful yard. Hope you enjoy all the hard work you put into it.
Don't beat yourself up over it as it's simply rotten luck.
Take good care.
Sammy