Interest and how PMR has affected it? | Arthritis Information

My 2 passions in live :

1/ animals

2/decorating my house.

I work part time at a doggie daycare and I volunteer at the animal shelter in town. PMR is affecting this it is hard to bend down to pet them creatures and than get up again

As they say when having PMR you should not do nothing but at the same time not overdo things. To keep that balance can be challenging especially when one was an energy bunny before it struck!

just for your morning laugh here are2 of my dogs's websites(I have many like it)

http://www.geocities.com/marianne_erikson/Stinkie.html

http://www.geocities.com/marianne_erikson/stick.html

marianne195239167.4083796296Marianne,

Cute!! At least our pets (or other hobbies) can help get our minds off our aches and pains, except maybe when having to bend down to pet them as you said. I have 2 little parrots recently adopted from a bird club in the area. They are fun, loud messy, but keep me going.

I know what you mean about finding the balance between too much and too little of things when you have PMR. I never could quite figure it out. Still having trouble getting to and from the floor. Don't know whether to hope it's mild PMR or my knees going bad. Haha. As my mom says, sounds like age is creeping up. It sucks sometimes, but glad to be alive and kicking anyway.

Take care.
Reni

Reni.......sure hope it is not PMR coming back. It is probably your knees! (and so what ?! one can get a new one of those!) I have yet to talk to someone that had PMR went away and than came back (beside myself) (not that I talk to my self a lot but

Good girl!

well signing off....duty is calling....going to the animal shelter....(so glad I can still do that!)

Good luck with those parrots. !We had a few in the shelter the other week and everytime you walked into the room one of them would say "IIIIIIIIII Looooooooove you!" Since they repeat everything you better watch what you are saying!

My passions in life are my family (4 children and 9 grandchildren), cooking and doing crafts, I crochet and knit afghans and dolls, crochet doilies, keeping my house clean and decorating.

The cooking is tough because of the fatigue that I have from pmr, and there is the clean up that follows, so that has been effected some what.

the crafts I can sit and do so I have been doing more of that

Can not bend down and a real problem is climbing a flight of stairs and walking a lot, used to love to shop and browse around the stores, do no do that any more

Cleaning the house is taking a back seat too, vacuuming is a real killer get so out of breath, i feel like i am gasping for air.

Other than that I am doing the best I can.

Georgiana

G...I cannot imagine the getting out of breath anything having to do with PMR. What does you doc say about that? Marianne,

Yes, my PMR is gone, and I've been off the pred. for about 1 1/2 years - off all medication for almost a year (I took plaquenil for 6 months after the pred.). My rheumy thinks I quit pred too soon, and was only on it for a year. I just got tired of taking the meds. I stay on here to encourage other PMR sufferers, if I can, and to keep track of the folks I feel I've come to know through this site.

Georgiana, sorry you are having such a hard time of it. Crafting is a good diversion, and I do my share of that, too. I have 2 children - ason who just graduated from college last year and a daughter who just started college this past fall. She took a year after high school to work and pad her bank account for college. No grandchildren, or even daughter/sons-in-law, but our son has a serious girlfriend. Will be interesting to see what the next year or so brings on that subject. I think with PMR, just getting the basics done, as far as housecleaning, cooking, etc. is a big accomplishment.

Take care.
Reni
Dr. did send me for a pulmonary breathing test when i complained of the shortness of breath, have not gotten the results yet. thanks for your concern Marianne. every one is so helpful. Thanks, Georgiana

Reni, I am so glad you are better, hope it stays that way, and stay with us, even if the pmr is gone Thanks Georgiana

Reni thanks for staying with us. We never get to hear a happy ending. I guess when most people get over PMR they don't bother with the forum anymore. I'm having a horrible time on the lower dosages. I've always done ok, but my shoulders make me cry every morning for a while. I'm goint to NYC for 5 days over Mothers Day weekend. I pray it's better by then. I'm going with 3 women friends and it's fast and furious. I'll make it one way or another.

Has anyone seen "Wicked" or "Mama Mia" ? We have tickets. I've always heard they were wonderful.

Hi Betsy,

I am also having a terrible time on the lower doses. I hurt so bad especially shoulders and arms. I just don't want to increase.

I've seen both Wicked and Mama Mia. They are both great. Just saw Jersey Boys this year. That was also terrific.

Susan C.

Hi Betsy Yep saw Mama Mia, Great toe tapping good for PMR!!! Billy Crystal was in Australia last month and his show was the Greatest!! Forgot all about PMR and the rest of the world for 3 hours. These entertainment, diversions ect are soooooo good!! Hope you have time for a little flutter in NYC. Sorry to hear you are having a rotten time reducing. I start reducing next month.. bit scared of getting the pain back ect...but must get off pred. the side effects are awful. Hope today is a better day to all xx

Betsy and Georginana,

Thanks for your kind words. I had thought for a while that maybe I shouldn't be on the forum any more since my PMR is gone, but I guess I'll wait until someone kicks me off. Thanks, you're a sweetheart.

Marianne,

I am also an animal lover. I have five cats, who were all strays and some of them had been abused, and one elderly and lovely lady Australian Sheperd.

You asked about interests being affected by this disease process. Lots in my life has ben affected, but I am not going to surrender. I am 53 years old and was diagnosed about 2 and one half years ago. I guess that would have made me 50. My doctor said that this was the "disease of the elderly" and thought it was amusing. I wasn't laughing. I have four children. My eldest son is 29 and my two middle boy/girl twins are 24, and my baby is turning 16 next month. I am a single parent who was divorced after 26 years of marriage. Because I was a homemaker for many, many years, I was without a useful education and just last December graduated from college as an Elementary school teacher. It has been a long and difficult road trying to finish school at my age, and financially support my daughter. This disease did not help one bit. Once I was diagnosed, though, the cortisone helped remarkably, like it is supposed to and except for the horrendous total and complete wreck it has made of my body, it enabled me to function. Without it I never could have done it. Before the steroids I couldn't even get out of bed without help. Now that I am down to a very low dose, I never feel really good; but I am able to get by without too many problems. I have found that the timing of my activities to corelate with my daily meds keeps me going until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. At that point it is a downhill slide until I fall asleep, and then it's tossing and turning until the meds once again kick in in the wee hours of the night, but they do kick in, and I am always grateful to start a new day. Right now I am in a difficult place financially and waiting for a teaching job in the fall, but until then there is very little in the way of employment here except for an occaisional substitute position. I really and truly have found that emotional worries such as this, can give my disease power, so I have been trying to keep it together and simply be glad for being alive in a world that can be truly wonderful. Okay, enough of my selfish rambling. I will try to stick a cork in it for a while. Thank you for your interest. Susan M.

I feel so fortunate that I have not had to give up my lifestyle because of PMR. My great interest is horses. Luckily, prednisone works very well for me with manageable (so far - knock wood!) side effects. I have a small hobby farm - we have 5 horses here, and I'm still able to do the chores and ride my big Canadian mare when the weather is good enough to do so. Also, I work 30 hours a week in accounts payable, including much data entry - had to recently increase my prednisone because the PMR had started affecting my wrists and hands so I could type (or drive!) for a couple of days - I'm at 15 mg. for the past couple of weeks, but hope to start decreasing it again soon.

I was as low as 4 mg. in Nov., and still able to take a nice vacation in S. Cal. & Ariz., including a couple of days riding in the desert. I can't say the PMR has affected my interests that much, but without the prednisone it certainly would have!