Questions about Living with Arthritis | Arthritis Information

Coping

Almost all people who have arthritis find that it affects their lives in some way. It can affect their everyday activities, their jobs, their financial resources or their relationships with family and friends.

Arthritis is not easy to live with, but there is much you can do to change, overcome, or cope with the problems it presents. Your doctor and other members of your health care team can recommend medications, special exercises, joint protection techniques and devices, and other self-care activities. Keeping a positive attitude is also important. A positive attitude will let you see solutions to your problems in a better light.

How can a person with arthritis cope with it?

Coping skills can help you manage the changes arthritis can bring to your life. Pain, stress, and changes in roles and your physical appearance can cause depression and other strong feelings.

Use mental exercises and things you enjoy doing to relieve stress. Talk about the changes arthritis brings and share your feelings with family and friends.

Two pages in this article (self-help skills and taking charge of arthritis) offer specific suggestions for coping.

When should a person with arthritis ask for help?

Ask for help when you need it.

Depending on yourself is important. But there may be times when you'll need assistance. Remember, it's okay to ask for help. Your family or doctor, therapist or nurse, friends or religious group, and many other community agencies are close at hand-ready to help you when you need them.

While it maybe hard to admit that some things are more difficult to do than before, it is important to get help when you need it. This is especially true for activities that place a lot of stress on your joints. Your family and friends will understand you better if you share your feelings with them and let them know how they can help you.

You may even find that your family and friends have some of the same emotional reactions to your arthritis as you do. They may feel shut out or frustrated when they aren't able to help. Tell them that the amount of pain and stiffness you feel varies throughout the day and from day to day. Using a scale from one to 10 to describe feelings helps family members and friends understand changes in severity. Try to involve your family in decisions about sharing chores and making new arrangements of shelves and furniture. Ask your friends for their understanding if you have to change or postpone plans you've made.

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Gale

Coping with Arthritis

Often, people who are diagnosed with a chronic illness, such as arthritis, go through stages of adjustment. These stages can carry with them powerful and sometimes confusing emotions -- emotions that are confusing not only for the person with the disease but also for those who care about that person. By encouraging yourself through positive self-talk and by talking to your friends and family about how you feel and what you need, you'll have a smoother journey through this adjustment phase.

It may be helpful, first off, to take a look at some of the phases that people typically go through upon being diagnosed with a chronic illness. You may recognize yourself as being in one of them right now.

Perhaps the first emotion experienced is shock -- that state of unrealness and numbness. Another common first reaction is disbelief, or denial. When faced with a crisis, there's a natural tendency to want to say "no" to what you are hearing, to think that the doctor must be talking to the wrong patient or that the diagnosis must be wrong. Although it is natural, this stage can be problematic for the person with arthritis because if it lasts too long, it may delay appropriate treatment and self-care.

Once the diagnosis does begin to sink in, you may find yourself angry -- angry that you have the disease and angry about what it may mean in terms of your lifestyle and capabilities. Unfortunately, you may find yourself venting some of that anger toward people who care about you and who want to help. This, in turn, may cause feelings of guilt on your part.

Other common feelings include fear (fear of the unknown, fear of how the disease will limit your life, fear that you will become dependent on others) and depression. Keeping open lines of communication can help keep fear and depression from standing between you and the support you need.
Although having the support of family and friends during this adjustment period can make the process easier to deal with, you may not always be able to reach out for help. Indeed, the anger, frustration, and disappointment you may feel as a result of your disease may put distance between you and those you care about. But it will be to your benefit if you can let them in on what you're feeling.

For example, if you're feeling angry and frustrated that you can't do as much as you used to because of your arthritis, let your family or friends know that. Sometimes, simply telling someone about it and knowing that someone else knows that you're struggling can help ease your frustration. It can also help them to understand and not take it personally if you are a bit on edge or irritable. They may even be able to help you see and focus on all that you can do or on the creative ways you've developed to conserve energy.

Just as important as communicating with people who care about you are the conversations you have with yourself, otherwise known as self-talk. You communicate more with yourself than with anyone else. And you need to be aware of the messages you give yourself and the ways you react to your situation and to other people. For example, being able to admit to yourself that you are feeling bad and telling yourself that it's normal to feel bad sometimes is just as important as conveying those feelings to your partner or friend.

It allows you to give yourself a break for being a bit grumpy and may help you catch yourself before you take that grumpiness out on someone you love. Likewise, praising yourself for all that you do get accomplished despite your arthritis is much more constructive and self-supportive than dwelling on the limitations that arthritis has caused.

So start talking -- and keep talking -- to yourself and to the people whom you look to for support. But don't forget that you also need to listen. Those who are close to you must cope with your arthritis too, and they are likely to have questions, fears, and concerns of their own. Good communication is a two-way street. Keep the street open, and together you'll get through the ups and downs of coping with arthritis. http://www.arthritisjointpaingone.com
And keep in mind, spammers are not going to help you. There is no magic cure. Beware of those wolves dressed in sheeps clothing. Only your Rheumatologist can not just reduce your pain, but also save you from the destruction of your joints ond bones. Spammers are so annoying.

LEV

ISOMETRIC EXERCISES

Isometric exercises are contractions of a particular muscle or group of muscles. During isometric exercises, the muscle doesn't noticeably change length and the affected joint doesn't move. Isometric exercises don't effectively build strength but can help maintain muscle strength — most often in a rehabilitative setting.

Isometric exercises are usually done by mimicking a pushing or pulling motion, such as pushing a wall or holding a dumbbell in place with a slightly bent arm. However, because isometric exercises are done in a static position, they'll improve strength in only one particular position. You'd have to do various isometric exercises through your limb's whole range of motion to improve muscle strength across the range. In addition, since isometric exercises are done in a static position, they won't help improve speed or athletic performance. Because blood isn't constantly pumped through the muscle during isometric exercises, muscular endurance can actually decrease. As a result, isometric training is primarily reserved for initial strength training during physical therapy.

Isometric exercises may be helpful to someone who's been injured or has a condition such as arthritis, which could make movement painful or be aggravated by using muscles to move a joint through the full range of motion. For instance, if you injure your rotator cuff, your doctor or physical therapist might initially recommend isometric exercises involving the group of muscles that helps stabilize the shoulder to maintain shoulder strength during recovery.

It's also important to note that isometric exercises aren't recommended for people who have high blood pressure or heart problems. Research has shown that isometric exercises can dramatically increase blood pressure because of the large increase in muscle tension.

Read the full article at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/isometric-exercises

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