Hi Barb

If I get shot down in flames here - so be it.

There is no way in the world you can do more than you are doing at the moment, especially when the RA is uncontrolled. PLEASE don't let this thread get you down. You have a lot to contend with and, considering all you have to put up with, I think you are pretty amazing to do the job you do. Many would have given up by now.

I am another who can't do weights, aerobics and all the rest of it. I go and swim when I can and potter around at home. I had to give up work as I could no longer either walk up the stairs to the office or pick up the files I had to work with-let alone drive for a few years. After new knees and a hip, things did improve, but the damage done by the RA makes it impossible for me to do all the other things I enjoyed so much - hill walking, boating, rock climbing, abseiling etc.

Well done to those of you who can continue to work and exercise - that's brilliant.

Love Jeanxx

Hi Alice / all,
I have not read too much about resistance training / RA, would be interested to see research about this.

I think we all need to be very VERY careful about taking up anything with potential to be detrimental to health. Doing 10k run / walk - (...much more walk than run!!!) in May has definitely made me realise RA is definitely not a condition to take lightly. I did not realise it was physically possible to SLEEP so much, i have never been so tired in my life!!!

Any regime taken up has to be for your own benefit and enjoyment - definitely not to keep up with anyone else or becaues thinking shuld be trying / doing more - these would definitely be the wrong reasons - we are all so very different with different needs and abilities,

I hope it may relieve some to know that i don't ever go to the gym, my fitness regime consists of work (which seems to be making me ill at the moment!!!) and housework which is a known calorie burner but which i do as little as possible ..and occassional dog walking when i feel up to it, thank goodness for Paul the daily dog walker and who is kept constantly busy making sure i dont do too much and go overdoing things,

Im very lucky - my legs / hips are not too affected - but my hands / wrists not too good which is why we ditched our home gym over 10 years ago - if I had kept that up Im quite sure hands would be worse now. It was Paul's idea to get rid of it cos he knew it was making me feel down.

I really think we should all try to avoid anything which aggravates our own individual experience of RA.

Take care everyone and.... if you are reading this feeling down - DON'T - there are plenty of other ways to maintain some level of fitness - ....and dont EVER forget about happiness which is just as if not more so important - only ever do what's right for you,

I have had my days in past years when just getting out of bed has been equivalent to climbing Everest and i know many experience this daily, i spent so much of this time in floods of tears and really feel for anyone going thru this right now xx
i am so grateful for my meds which seem to be working at present (although i am on top whack at present, dont want to think about needing something else :(

Take care everyone, lots love ~ liz xxxxx

Jean, Jackie, Liz, thanks for replies!!! I know I am probably being a bit paranoid!!! I am not thinking of this as a competition, just that if some can do it, then so should I!!! I know thats a bit silly but I get to feel guilty. Thank you for pointing out that I probably do enough already, well, as much as I can with uncontrolled RA. Anyway, will just keep plodding onward and upward!!! Love to all x x

Hi All,

I work with kids too on supply, and yes the work we do is just as good as any exercise at the gym, especially with the younger ones. Other staff used to say to me when working with a 3 year old with problems, the work I did was like a workout. I did the best I could to make his day fun and I was exhausted when I was home.

I admire you being able to work long hours in lots of pain, when I was really bad I could not have even considered it. Whether or not you realise it you are doing a workout with the walking, bending, stretching, lifting, etc. you are and probably doing as much as anyone. I had a lazy day today, we just sat and watched a movie, great to do nothing.
Hope everyone had a productive day, I fly home tomorrow so I will have a busy day then. Lorna x

Hello All

Excellent posts here

I will just echo Liz - all so very true

Rose

Hi Alice,

i think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned earlier the feeling of losing control with this condition - this is someething I think we can all relate to - and I think is probably one of the hardest things to come to terms with RA, and other conditions

You say exercise helps you regain this feeling which is fantastic, i do worry about people overdoing things but you have the medical knowledge to help prevent this risk, please dont feel like an outsider ~ we're all in this together albeit at different stages and experiences,

I think you're right ~ there is a delay between posting messages sometimes, i have had this happen as well xx

I'm a bit of a sponge when it comes to learning and I really would be interested in finding out more about research into resistance training ~ pros and cons. I think others would find this interesting too if you have any links?
In the future, I'd love to do a uni course about RA - there's so much I don't know or if I'm completely honest just don't quite understand yet,

Take care and keep posting! love from Liz xxXxx

Alice

You must keep posting it is great to have a Doctor who knows lots about RA and is very
fortunate to be able to do the exercises that you do obvisouly very well.

Inspirational. Just wished I was able to do the same. Swimming is my limit.

Hi Alice

I have just caught up on this thread.

Well I work fulltime as an office manager - can be quite stressful at times.; hubby & I used to be members of a gym until earlier this year; I got frustrated when I couldn't join in the classes I used to do eg boxercise; step classes and the machines eg bikes; stepper; cross-trainer were ususally in use or broken!!

So we saved the gym membership and bought ourselves a wii instead; great fun and I can do as little or as much as I want.

We have wii sport (tennis, boxing; bowling; baseball; golf); sport resort - this is the fun one - table tennis; cycling; archery; wakeboarding; canoing etc.

Wii fit plus with the balance board - again a fun one as it has balance games; and also yoga; muscle workouts on it asd well as boxing; jogging; step etc.

& have just quite literally just received sport active - personal trainer - haven't opened this one yet.

I also go swimming / aquaexercise once a week - this is my destress time after a long week at work (Friday evening)!!

Some days I don't do any exercise on the wii; other days if I am feeling alive - a can do about 1 hour.

I am aware of how lucky I am in that I have only really lost about 5% mobility since I was diagnosed.




Caroline

there's a few of us with wii fits,
.... I must confess havent used much lately but now feel inspired to get out again soon ~ in not too distant future,
Thanks for inspiration! xxXxx

Barbara, I read somewhere of a fitness enthusiast mother who described how she used playing with her baby for exercise! There was another one who described taking her child to nursery by car, parking the car at the nursery and going on ?to work ?back home on her bike. Where there is a will, there is a way, but do remember to check with your rheumy team about any exercise you do. If your joints are actively inflamed, they usually only recommend gentle range of movement exercises rather than lifting weights. In that case, do please let us know how you get on with those!

My hands continue to play up and I'm mighty fed up about it. I find that I go through cycles of grief with this illness. I now know what to expect and I ride the wave of frustration / alarm / sadness or whatever it is whenever it comes. It is some time since this happened though, so I am yet again adjusting to it. I must say it's the first time I offload here rather than tell my OH about it. I have to spare him on occasion, poor thing. It must be difficult to live with a "cyclical" wife.

I saw some beautiful scenery when out for my 30 minute walk this evening and I was glad I kept to my regime. My feet ached at the beginning and I thought I would not make it but they soon "warmed up" and the aches largely disappeared.

I better stop because every time I type an "a" my little finger hurts!