I know, I now have to ask my husband to open the bedroom windows at night-they slide and I don't seem to have the strength to slide them. It is amazing the work a rounds you can come up with though! No RA in the imagination center. The old chestnut necessity is the mother of invention comes into play for all of us sooner or later. Hope everyone has a brilliant day. Trish

how about standing in line at the grocery store when you're exhausted in feeling ouchy and some impatient person is pacing behind you because you arent moving fast enough ..then it hurts to get your debit card out of that tiny slot in your wallet..and the pacing gets worse behind you ..thrn i get all sweaty and want to scream ..give me a break i cant move any faster ! ....and the bag boy decides to go on lunch just as you are in line , then to put all those items that feel like they weigh a ton in the green bag ..that holds more then plastic ..then is super heavy ..and then your green bags are full and the plastic bags come out ..and you finally get to your car and think oh man thats all i have for today ...you get home and to carry all those bags in the house let alone empty them ,especially the plastic ones that the openings some how dont seem big enough to get the stuff out and then you feel like you cant manage even lifting them out becasue the shopping part wore you out ...this is coming from used to be turbo chick..not any more //so its all understandably frustrating ..and sad :(

I know what you mean about groceries. I'm pretty lazy at heart, so I've always been one to carry in as many bags at one time as possible so as to have fewer trips to make. Doesn't work so well anymore. Carrying too heavy a load is guaranteed to make my wrists mad, as I think of it.

Even though you guys know me as super positive, I even miss the small things that I can't do:
brushing my teeth is the biggest, just can't press as hard.
Scrubbing dishes, sometimes I find them still dirty, I remember the days I fussed at my kids for that. =)
Cleaning cat box, it is so hard now.
Digging in garden, texas soil is hard.
Watering plants, anything heavy is a real chore.
Squeezing stuff out of bottles and squeezing water out of my wash cloth.
I miss just lifting simple stuff like this iPad.

But, there is nothing you can do, so I've learned different ways to do stuff. My left hand is learning to do what my right can't. Omg my left hand, is such a slow learner.

Lin

Necessity is the mother of invention and Are we inventing, you bet.

I bought 3 picker uppers at Lowes and have changed the finger tips on two of them to where I can slide "attachments" on to them - such as, two magnets glued on the tips let me pick up anything metal that falls like a spoon or folk, or a jar lid. Another has a double stick tape BLOB where I can pick up flat stuff like letters or paper that falls off my desk. I have a heavy duty one that lets me pick up limbs and yard stuff.
An automatic jar opener, all bar soap has a "electronic" eye soap dispenser next to them where I just "wave" my paw underneath and out comes the soap, etc., etc,

Peace to all and have a safe and pain free holiday

Bluedogs2

I changed all the doorknobs in my house to lever type handles. It helps!

Grocery bags get slid up my foreaem arm - I do not hold them with my fingers or hands!

I have an undercounter electric jar opener. And I manage. My hands are very deformed and weak. But I manage...and I do it all ALONE at 68.

And one of the things i do to keep my sense of humor and look at the bright side is to make lists of things I am grateful for:

- I am grateful no friends or family are deaf and need to use sign language.

- I am grateful I never learned to play the guitar or piano lest I would be frustrated to longer do so.

- I am glad I'm not a "trekki" cause I cannot do the Star Trek hand thing!

And I am grateful I cna still type with two fingers - one on each hand!!I make a lot of mistakes, but I can still do it and if that ever stops to be adequate I am glad there is voice activated software!

one of my worst"can't do anymore "thing is walk fast.
can you believe that?months before the ra started i rode
a bike for 7miles,walked few times wk3-4 miles...and now.

i just thank god i can still take care of myself ,drive,work...
but sometimes the grief and loss over my former self almost
feels like a lump in my throat...like when you want to cry.it just
creeps up me and makes me soo sad.

@pepptest

I will not speak for all, but I steal away and cry myself - I think it's OK. MBDs2 has sat and watch me weep quietly - not much she can say or do except move a little closer.

Men don't cry - whoever said that was full of CR*P.

Bless you and cry if you need to. I do.

Bluedogs2

Gosh, the list just goes on and on. Tonight we were splitting fire wood in preparation of winter. It takes forever now just to get a few pieces split, and you know, we are using a splitter. Just 3 years ago, I could split and stack and just get the job done. Now I can only do little bits of it at a time. It's awful. I don't know what we will do when we can't do it at all.... Those days are coming. Darn it!

holding a plate of food is getting hard, and getting up stairs is getting tougher and tougher

i could feel how my fingers are getting deformed
washing dishes is tough sometimes. and scrubbing ............... no way.
we live in 1st floor and i have to take 18 steps up and down everyday. i take one step at a time. my toddler is faster than me.
opening the cans or jars...........................no way i can do it. so i changed all the storage jars with easy openings. we dont use canned food so i dont need a can opener, but i do have it in case if i need it.

i gave up mopping the floor a year ago. hubby does it.
and now i am giving him cleaning job too. one or two a week.........i mean......small portions.

i completely accepted RA so i have no complaints. i just do what i can. if i cant........i leave it to hubby. its only 2-3 times i cried for my RA and how its chaning my life. i am just 35. i recently started dropping things too.

Hi Willferg, I can identify with you and others who have answered to this thread. I usually buy gas at the end of the day after work. I too notice that as I am pumping gas the nozzle can be difficult to squeeze. But I do what I can and thankfully I don't have a huge gas guzzler 4X4. I work it it out. Most of the gas stations I use are unattended. I complain about knocking on doors at work and my sore knuckles when I come in early for a meeting and the gates are still down and the side door is locked. One has to bang to get in. Makes no sense. I always remind the folks in charge how tender my hands are and that I for one cannot be banging on doors.

I have a jar opener sent to me from the RA foundation. Not certain how they received my info to even send me stuff but I get things to assist with manuvering items in the kitchen from them. I cannot most of the time open jars free handed. I ask my sons when they are around and they don't mind. I prefer to do what I can for as long as I can for myself. Brushing my hair can be tedious sometimes. I tend to wear my hair pulled back in a bun. I cannot keep my arms up long enough to fiddle with hair. Sometimes it takes all my effort to gel it down and brush it to keep it intact and put it in a scrungie. I do what I can. I try to look at what I can do and focus on that as RASally and a few others do. Though no problem venting or feeling sorry for ourselves. Somebody has to.

Buttoning small buttons can also be tricky for me. I have some blouses few that I with small buttons. I do what I can. Most are pullover tops. Easier.

-Putting my hair up and putting on deodorant is some of the most painful things for me.
-Walking fast, I hate when ppl 40 years older than me can pass me in the store.
-Going down the stairs like a normal person...I look like a toddler learning how to use stairs.
-Cutting hard vegetables and fruit
-Holding a cup with one hand...again, looking like a toddler

I hear you about the stairs. We have stairs, and I take them one at a time hanging onto the rails on the way down; I do okay going up.

About two months ago I went with a friend to visit some ladies who lived in a seniors complex. All of these women are probably 20-30 years older than me. They lived on the second floor, and as soon as we hit the stairs, I started to worry. Sure enough, they took the stairs down as well. I didn't have the nerve to ask for an elevator and I felt silly taking the stairs one at a time when all these ladies just floated on down.

I did my best and managed to go down the stairs normally. Now, though, I'd put my safety first!

Mine started a few years ago with sudden onset severe back pain which they said was facet joint disease which i still have, then around Feb this year I got really bad (what the thought was Achilles tendinitis) but hit both ankles the same time and wasn't responding to anything. The PT was the first to say she thought it was a joint issue after 12 sessions, a month later I was in E.R for another pain flare with what they thought was bursitis in both hips, along the way both knees gave out. After several emergency room visits for IV fluids and Valium and morphine the dr saw the knots going up my arms and they tested me for RA then told me to see the PCP right away who confirmed it, now waiting for Rheumie appt on Oct 11th. My pain dr is a joke so I'm going to have to change soon after I talk to rheumie.
I've never had to go to the pain doctor between appts until a few months ago and it got to where we couldn't keep up with all the joints hurting and after hundreds of dollars of co-pays for physical therapy