Artheritis

[Parche]

Over the weekend I had breakfast with my '2nd' Mom and Dad, people our family have
known for almost 49 years.
She has bad artheritis, I could see it in the way she walks now, and the time it
took for her to get ready to go.
I know as you get older your body goes sometimes, she is 71 and still in good health
other then the Artheritis.
Does anyone know or any experiences with people who have Artheritis bad?
I am very worried about her, that she will end up totally incapacitated.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

:hi: :cry:

[ThomCat]

1. I'm discovering what it's like first-hand.

x(

I lost so much use of my hands and feet that I was discussing power wheelchairs with my doctor and physical therapist. Though, fortunately, the medication I'm now on seems to be reversing some of the loss.

[Nicole]

2. I know lots of people with arthritis

since I volunteer at a nursing home. None of them are totally incapacitated by it. All of them have days where they are incapacitated.

There is one lady who is in a wheelchair as a result of her arthritis though. She fell & broke a hip when the cane she was using slid out from under her. Arthritis was the reason for the cane so it did play a part in her being totally incapacitated now but it's not the actual cause of it.

ETA: Rheumatoid arthritis is different though. That can totally incapacitate you as it travels the body. Osteoarthritis is in one area usually, from injury or wear & tear that comes with age. I'm guessing your mom's is the latter. Which is what my post was about. That's what I see in the nursing home.

[crim son]

3. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis thirteen years ago.

I've been VERY LUCKY but still have some deformity of my knees and hips (which is unusual... usually it strikes the smaller joints). I treat my joints carefully and although I can no longer run, hop or skip I am able to walk quite well between flare-ups. During flare-ups every damn joint in my body burns and swells, and this has worsened over the years. There are a bunch of medications out there that can slow the progress of different types of arthritis. Keeping the joints active is also very important, although not during times of inflammation. Yoga and stretching make me feel 100% better and so far I have not had to take any of the serious drugs for my disease. Since they all have side effects the drugs must be taken advisedly, as in, see a doctor. :hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Depends on a lot of things.

(BTW, it's "arth-rit-is," with only 3 syllables). Osteoarthritis is what older people often get; younger people can get rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease and is usually more debilitating than the other kind. Almost everybody might wind up with at least a touch of osteoarthritis if they live long enough, especially at the site of a previous injury (knees, ankles, shoulders, etc.). The degree of incapacity varies widely -- it's hard to correlate one person's problems with the disease with other peoples.'

[Connonym]

5. I don't know that there's much you can do

other than encourage her to remain as active as she can within her limitations and help her stay within her limitations. I've noticed with my mom (who is 70) that she has a very hard time accepting that she has limitations. My sibs and I have found it necessary to actually step in and do stuff for her so that she doesn't try to do it herself (shoveling or climbing a ladder and stuff). It's hard to accept aging so when you do help try to be as gracious about it as you can. Hopefully she'll be able to lead a relatively active life without a lot of pain. It's very sweet of you to be concerned :)