Rheumatoid Arthritis Disability Makes Things Difficult
Rheumatoid Arthritis makes certain things difficult. From what I can tell, the classic list is opening doorknobs, jars, or buttons. I have found many more things to be difficult than that, so I thought I’d modernize the list a bit. Got any more ideas?
Rheumatoid Arthritis disability makes things hard.
No one thinks about…
- Peeling a sticker
- Closing Ziploc bags
- Opening a Band-Aid
- Using dental floss
- Tucking in sheets
- Killing a bug
- Washing hands
- Applying lotion
- Remote control
- Laptop on lap (hips / knees)
- Walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night
- Using clothes pin-type hangers
- Putting socks on a child
- Opening the refrigerator door
Recommended reading:
- 20 Signs of Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Mirror
- My Quest for Answers to Questions About Rheumatoid Arthritis
- What Makes Diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis So Difficult?
- Christopher Columbus, Part 3: How Does Reactive Arthritis Compare to Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Just getting up each day being thankful for a new day. I use pliars to open small caps and my husband to bend and get things from lower shelves as well as lifting anything over 15 pounds.
Lifting pots and pans and grocery shopping. Pushing shopping cart.
Driving due to wrist and elbow pain.
Short spurts only of walking/vacumning/tidying up/shopping due to knee pain and fatique.
Braiding, washing, and brushing my hair
Painting my nails
Eyeliner, just everything about it
Plucking my eyebrows
Zippers on boots
Chopping anything
Using chopsticks
Wrapping presents
Tampons, just everything about them (TMI I know)
Unlocking doors
Getting cards out of my wallet
Washing dishes
Safety Pins
Those pills where you have to pop them out of a card
Or from a bottle those suck too
Scrubbing anything
Those tiny buckles on shoes
Not being able to get a grip on my knee brace because my hands are being stupid
The worst is explaining why my signature varies so drastically based on the day
Tips:
Buns using hair sticks with some form of large ornament you can grab rather than tiny pins, it’s about leverage rather than the motion of hair ties
My mother gave me compression gloves for my hands and wrists last Christmas and they are a blessing
Magnetic clasps for anything you can get them on
There’s this thing called the Vamp Stamp coming out soon for eyeliner
Use the end of a chopstick or the back end of a pen to pop out pills from cards
Opening soda cans, take a sturdy spoon and shove the end of the handle under the tab and press on the spoon end, you use leverage instead of grip
STOP WEARING HAIR TIES ON YOUR WRIST THEY MAKE EVERYTHING SO MUCH WORSE
Get tested for a Vitamin D deficiency. Apparently I had one on top of my RA and other diagnoses. Once they put me on some supplements my symptoms calmed noticeably. (Though on occasion I can’t really tell the RA pains from the pains caused by my other issues)
Braiding, washing, and brushing my hair
Painting my nails
Eyeliner, just everything about it
Plucking my eyebrows
Zippers on boots
Chopping anything
Using chopsticks
Wrapping presents
Tampons, just everything about them (TMI I know)
Unlocking doors
Getting cards out of my wallet
Washing dishes
Safety Pins
Those pills where you have to pop them out of a card
Or from a bottle those suck too
Scrubbing anything
Those tiny buckles on shoes
Not being able to get a grip on my knee brace because my hands are being stupid
The worst is explaining why my signature varies so drastically based on the day
Tips:
Buns using hair sticks with some form of large ornament you can grab rather than tiny pins, it’s about leverage rather than the motion of hair ties
My mother gave me compression gloves for my hands and wrists last Christmas and they are a blessing
Magnetic clasps for anything you can get them on
There’s this thing called the Vamp Stamp coming out soon for eyeliner
Use the end of a chopstick or the back end of a pen to pop out pills from cards
Opening soda cans, take a sturdy spoon and shove the end of the handle under the tab and press on the spoon end, you use leverage instead of grip
STOP WEARING HAIR TIES ON YOUR WRIST THEY MAKE EVERYTHING SO MUCH WORSE
Get tested for a Vitamin D deficiency. Apparently I had one on top of my RA and other diagnoses. Once they put me on some supplements my symptoms calmed noticeably. (Though on occasion I can’t really tell the RA pains from the pains caused by my other issues)
Putting gas in the car or paying for anything when I have too enter numbers into the kiosk, getting the credit card out of the wallet, squeezing toothpaste onto the toothbrush, closing the trunk of the car or the car door, hand shakes, sweeping , using the hair dryer, curling iron, and the nail clippers can be awful! Texting, etc…
Those stupid plastic bags for produce at the store on a roll – I can’t ever get them open! Jars, bottles, lids, safety/plastic/foil barriers, blister packs, wet laundry, handwriting, typing – and that’s just the hands!
I have been a manicurist for over 20 years…Its taken my career…
I was sad at the comment above that she could no longer get nail services…I could have done it for you gently…I had quite a number of clients with varying conditions and arthritis…
As far as, my list of things it has made more difficult…You guys have pretty much nailed it….
I’m just wondering how long before I cant type at all…