over-doing it | Arthritis Information

So...........

I was having a really good streak there...I was taking the pred and the relafen and whew! I've been unstoppable. Perfect. Dandy. I dropped to 5mg of pred the other day, but I'm still doing the relafen. Yesterday (the 23rd) at work was just insane. It turned into a 9 hour shift for me, and I was standing and running back and forth and leaning over counters the WHOLE time. When I got home I was just *done* I woke up so many times in the night because my hands/feet/arms/legs/etc etc were asleep. UGH I haven't had that problem since I started the pred, so that should have been my first warning. Anyway, when I woke up my hands were stuck. Just.....STUCK....and the morning stiffness was back. ACK! Now I'm not sure what to think. I don't know if I just over-did it at work, and I'm paying for it, or if the pred is too low for me. How the heck am I supposed to tell....

Aside from that question, when you KNOW that you've "just" over done it, how do you recover? How long does it take to get back to your "normal" state? I slept my butt off last night, but I don't feel like that was enough. Now tonight I have (HAVE) to grocery shop. THAT'S not gonna help, I know. I have monday and tuesday off and I can rest then...I just don't know if that's going to be too late in the game to re-coup.

What should I do???? Veg out like crazy on mon tues? Or start now and make it a quick grocery run...would that even matter? Man it seems like I can't ever get a decent break...lol

Katie,

For me there is not recouping for an overdone day. It literally takes me months to get back to feeling like I can do things again. But when I am a on a pred dose pak, I can go and go and go, and hurt by the nights end and take my next dose of pred and be fine and dandy... that is until I get to Day 4... then I begin to hurt more, I am not feel so much into going and going.

Now if I do get a burst of energy when not on a pred dose pak, and actually do more than, I know I should do, then I pay for it for months. That is why I try not to overdo, because it sets me back. Sometimes I do try to push myself a little harder, like when I know I should not do more, I just tell myself just a little more, and I can usually get away with not being too far off my normal range, but I do usually go into a flare. I try not to do things I know will make me not do so well. But hey somethings have to be done even if I have to pay for it later.

Katie, I had a day like this about two weeks ago when I decided to get up
early one morning and clean my house from top to bottom. I scrubbed
floors, cleaned all my bathrooms, cleaned out closets, drawers, cabinet
doors, the whole nine yards. I even cleaned the inside windows. Man, it
was so great to have a nice clean house to be in. Then, it hit me. During
the night, I went to turn over...and couldn't move. It was like every
muscle in my body was froze solid. It almost scared me. I have NEVER
had it happen this bad. I was a bit stiff but nothing like this. I could
barely get out of bed the next morning and getting down a flight of stairs
into my kitchen was grueling. It took me two days to get over that and I
will never do that again. I thought the plaquinil had "cured" me but I was
wrong. I know my limitations when it comes to house work. I think it is
our bodies telling us when it has had enough but at the same time, it
gives us no real warning, it just punishes us a bit later. It is like teaching
a patient who has lung disease, just do small tasks and space them out.
That is what some of us need to do to make our daily lives livable. I
learned this on that day and now I know that I need to clean one room
and keep it at that and just do small things and keep up with it on a daily
basis. I hope this helps. I hope things are going good for you.

Katie, you take good care, and I hope that your Justin makes a good and easy recovery. Remember to take good care of yourself as well!

Positive thoughts are flying to you both from here Down Under! (Sending them cyber-mail)>