Advice for Better Living
This week's question: 
My hands hurt too much to hold a book and I want to read! Does anyone have any suggestions of how to read sitting on the couch or lying down without having to use your hands so much? I can't sit at a desk very long.
Ok folks, help us out!
/living/advice  

Expert Advice:
I'm a 57 year old woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in late '94. During one of my first visits, I asked my rheumatologist about exercise for rheumatoid arthritis. She replied "exercise whenever you feel like it" and didn't offer any information on range of motion exercises, etc. After nearly six years, I'm still uncertain as to when and how to exercise. I've always tended to push myself beyond my limits but have tried to avoid doing so since developing RA. Could you give me some suggestions about when I should exercise and what exercises I could do? I currently have RA in both feet, both hands, both wrists, and left shoulder. I've visited the Arthritis Foundation site, but their only option is to order books from their site. I'm on low income and live alone and cannot afford to spend money on books which may turn out not to be helpful. 
See our Expert answers to this and more questions at /medical/advice/

Arthur Itisman!
Our very own comic strip!
/fun/itisman/

To see all of our latest additions see: /updates.html. Check it every morning and you won't miss a thing.

What's Coming? 
Next week's Featured Discussion will be Tests & Diagnostic Procedures! We'll try to untangle that confusing mess! We'd like to hear from you, please take a minute to fill out our survey: /feature/survey.html

We're thrilled to tell you about an upcoming addition to Arthritis Insight. We know we need a place for teens and twentysomethings with arthritis to hang out. Their needs tend to be just a little different from the rest of us. We spoke to Aaron Nelson, creator of JRAworld.com and he's agreed to join Arthritis Insight! We'll be moving the whole JRAworld site over here and adding a bunch of new features. Aaron will be the Administrator, so you can rest assured it's going to be a wonderful place. Look for the move to happen sometime this month!

If you have recipes you want to share or have comments or suggestions you would like to make about the column address them to Char@arthritisinsight.com. If you have a special dish you would like to make or are looking for, let me know, I will see what I can do.

This week's News headlines:

Gore Calls for Patient Bill of Rights 
COX-2 Specific Inhibitors Will Replace Conventional NSAIDs
Celecoxib Not Associated With GI Toxicity, Increased Cardiovascular Risk Seen With Conventional NSAIDs
FDA OK's Prozac for Severe PMS 

For complete news see /news/news.html

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A Closing Thought

Listen
When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving advice
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn't feel that way
you are trampling on my feelings. 
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem
you have failed me, strange as that may seem. 
So please listen and just hear me.
and, if you want to talk,
wait a minute for your turn;
and I'll listen to you.