Keeping Chickens When You Have Arthritis.

[No More Empty Nest]

I was off my Orencia for 2 weeks. Had a sinus infection and was on antibiotics. It's the first time I've had to go off it. I had to cut way back on doing anything and had more pain than usual even doing nothing. Tomorrow I get to restart it. So glad.
I did manage to plant a few flower seeds. The next day I came outside to nice little holes where every seed was. Thank you squirrels. I'll have to sprinkle some cayenne pepper over the area next time. It's a small area, I don't plant many annuals. I like flower gardens that take care of themselves like wildflowers. Easier on the RA.
Chickens are doing great, lots of little bantam eggs. It's funny that my biggest pullet lays the smallest eggs and my smallest ones lay the biggest eggs!
I love seeing all the pictures of new chicks, even tho it makes me jealous.

 

[ronott1]

I was off my Orencia for 2 weeks. Had a sinus infection and was on antibiotics. It's the first time I've had to go off it. I had to cut way back on doing anything and had more pain than usual even doing nothing. Tomorrow I get to restart it. So glad.
I did manage to plant a few flower seeds. The next day I came outside to nice little holes where every seed was. Thank you squirrels. I'll have to sprinkle some cayenne pepper over the area next time. It's a small area, I don't plant many annuals. I like flower gardens that take care of themselves like wildflowers. Easier on the RA.
Chickens are doing great, lots of little bantam eggs. It's funny that my biggest pullet lays the smallest eggs and my smallest ones lay the biggest eggs!
I love seeing all the pictures of new chicks, even tho it makes me jealous.

How are you doing now?

 

[microchick]

Whow! I almost forgot about this thread, my bad. It's been a while and a lot happened.

Thanks to @ronott1 for reminding me about my own thread. I guess it's true that the mind is the first thing to go, lol.

Since I posted the last time I saw a pain specialist who suggested I have an MRI of my neck due to the continued pain I was having. I was surprised to hear that I have degenerative disc disease, stenosis, foramen stenosis...lordie the list went on and on and the kicker was that it was all through my spine and body. I did two months of PT which helped immensely along with acupuncture which did an amazing job controlling the pain for about 8 weeks.

Things aren't going to get better, unfortunately. The trick is how long we can keep me functioning at a level that is close to my normal daily activity.

I have learned a lot about myself. My hips are bad and like mentioned in a lot of posts I have a lot of time getting up once down in a kneeling position. I've learned to ask for help or hang on to something and pull myself up when my dear husband is not around to help me.

I did plant a small garden this year. DH told me that he didn't want me to give up doing the things I enjoy so I needed to find a way to carry on with restrictions. I do have containers planted this year with pole beans and tomato plants. My container garden is on hold and I've learned to not sweat weeds. I do my best to keep them at bay but if they sneak in, well, I'll get to them.

My chickens are doing great. I use my little garden wagon to haul feed and water from the shop. I'm also not too worried about the coop if it doesn't get cleaned as much as it used to. The less stress is fantastic and I'm enjoying my flock more than ever.

@nomoreemptynest, how are you doing on the Orencia? I stopped the Methotrexate I was on due to side effects. It was so nice to have my hair thicken back up again. I am taking Prolia now for bone loss. It's a kick.....not. It's like which is worse, the pain or the treatment? It's a toss up. I get my second dexi scan this October so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that is shows some bone regeneration

I've had to give up a lot of things that I really enjoy post MRI. Doctor has hinted that if my next dexi shows improvement he may let me do some of the things I enjoy like ride my scooter but frankly I'm not holding my breath. I am a realist. I am almost 67 years old, a lot active than a lot of women my age but I know that what we are hoping for is a slow down of the disease.

Like the old saying goes, if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself!

Hope you all are doing well, I'd like to get the thread going again and start seeing those 'how we cope with arthritis' ideas pop back up again.

 

[cmom]

Whow! I almost forgot about this thread, my bad. It's been a while and a lot happened.

Thanks to @ronott1 for reminding me about my own thread. I guess it's true that the mind is the first thing to go, lol.

Since I posted the last time I saw a pain specialist who suggested I have an MRI of my neck due to the continued pain I was having. I was surprised to hear that I have degenerative disc disease, stenosis, foramen stenosis...lordie the list went on and on and the kicker was that it was all through my spine and body. I did two months of PT which helped immensely along with acupuncture which did an amazing job controlling the pain for about 8 weeks.

Things aren't going to get better, unfortunately. The trick is how long we can keep me functioning at a level that is close to my normal daily activity.

I have learned a lot about myself. My hips are bad and like mentioned in a lot of posts I have a lot of time getting up once down in a kneeling position. I've learned to ask for help or hang on to something and pull myself up when my dear husband is not around to help me.

I did plant a small garden this year. DH told me that he didn't want me to give up doing the things I enjoy so I needed to find a way to carry on with restrictions. I do have containers planted this year with pole beans and tomato plants. My container garden is on hold and I've learned to not sweat weeds. I do my best to keep them at bay but if they sneak in, well, I'll get to them.

My chickens are doing great. I use my little garden wagon to haul feed and water from the shop. I'm also not too worried about the coop if it doesn't get cleaned as much as it used to. The less stress is fantastic and I'm enjoying my flock more than ever.

@nomoreemptynest, how are you doing on the Orencia? I stopped the Methotrexate I was on due to side effects. It was so nice to have my hair thicken back up again. I am taking Prolia now for bone loss. It's a kick.....not. It's like which is worse, the pain or the treatment? It's a toss up. I get my second dexi scan this October so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that is shows some bone regeneration

I've had to give up a lot of things that I really enjoy post MRI. Doctor has hinted that if my next dexi shows improvement he may let me do some of the things I enjoy like ride my scooter but frankly I'm not holding my breath. I am a realist. I am almost 67 years old, a lot active than a lot of women my age but I know that what we are hoping for is a slow down of the disease.

Like the old saying goes, if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself!

Hope you all are doing well, I'd like to get the thread going again and start seeing those 'how we cope with arthritis' ideas pop back up again.

Thought I'd weigh in. I'm in my 70's. I get a little scared lately because I'm so forgetful. I do my best. For several months I had double vision. I had to go through a cat scan and still don't know what caused it. Gradually my eyesight did improve but still not right. I couldn't drive for awhile but now I can. I agree I should have taken better care of myself. DH has Parkinson's and has some mood issues. I try to keep active and my list gets longer each day but I plug along. Cleaning coops. Not an easy task anymore. I need to move some birds. Taking some young males to sell on Saturday. Also, currently cleaning weeds out of the garden beds along with spent plants. I can't get down on my knees and even if I did, I probably would get stuck. I use a milk carton to sit on. I put a piece of plywood on the bottom with some zip ties to hold it on and sit on it while weeding. It's close enough to the ground so I can still get up. My fingers have bumps on them from the arthritis, my joints are shot. That's my story. So much for the golden years...

 

[ronott1]

Whow! I almost forgot about this thread, my bad. It's been a while and a lot happened.

Thanks to @ronott1 for reminding me about my own thread. I guess it's true that the mind is the first thing to go, lol.

Since I posted the last time I saw a pain specialist who suggested I have an MRI of my neck due to the continued pain I was having. I was surprised to hear that I have degenerative disc disease, stenosis, foramen stenosis...lordie the list went on and on and the kicker was that it was all through my spine and body. I did two months of PT which helped immensely along with acupuncture which did an amazing job controlling the pain for about 8 weeks.

Things aren't going to get better, unfortunately. The trick is how long we can keep me functioning at a level that is close to my normal daily activity.

I have learned a lot about myself. My hips are bad and like mentioned in a lot of posts I have a lot of time getting up once down in a kneeling position. I've learned to ask for help or hang on to something and pull myself up when my dear husband is not around to help me.

I did plant a small garden this year. DH told me that he didn't want me to give up doing the things I enjoy so I needed to find a way to carry on with restrictions. I do have containers planted this year with pole beans and tomato plants. My container garden is on hold and I've learned to not sweat weeds. I do my best to keep them at bay but if they sneak in, well, I'll get to them.

My chickens are doing great. I use my little garden wagon to haul feed and water from the shop. I'm also not too worried about the coop if it doesn't get cleaned as much as it used to. The less stress is fantastic and I'm enjoying my flock more than ever.

@nomoreemptynest, how are you doing on the Orencia? I stopped the Methotrexate I was on due to side effects. It was so nice to have my hair thicken back up again. I am taking Prolia now for bone loss. It's a kick.....not. It's like which is worse, the pain or the treatment? It's a toss up. I get my second dexi scan this October so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that is shows some bone regeneration

I've had to give up a lot of things that I really enjoy post MRI. Doctor has hinted that if my next dexi shows improvement he may let me do some of the things I enjoy like ride my scooter but frankly I'm not holding my breath. I am a realist. I am almost 67 years old, a lot active than a lot of women my age but I know that what we are hoping for is a slow down of the disease.

Like the old saying goes, if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself!

Hope you all are doing well, I'd like to get the thread going again and start seeing those 'how we cope with arthritis' ideas pop back up again.

I know most of this from other threads but it is nice to see it all in one place.

You are doing a lot to keep the arthritis at bay!

 

[ronott1]

Thought I'd weigh in. I'm in my 70's. I get a little scared lately because I'm so forgetful. I do my best. For several months I had double vision. I had to go through a cat scan and still don't know what caused it. Gradually my eyesight did improve but still not right. I couldn't drive for awhile but now I can. I agree I should have taken better care of myself. DH has Parkinson's and has some mood issues. I try to keep active and my list gets longer each day but I plug along. Cleaning coops. Not an easy task anymore. I need to move some birds. Taking some young males to sell on Saturday. Also, currently cleaning weeds out of the garden beds along with spent plants. I can't get down on my knees and even if I did, I probably would get stuck. I use a milk carton to sit on. I put a piece of plywood on the bottom with some zip ties to hold it on and sit on it while weeding. It's close enough to the ground so I can still get up. My fingers have bumps on them from the arthritis, my joints are shot. That's my story. So much for the golden years...

We have a friend with parkinson's and it is tough on his Wife. It is good that you are keeping up with your health too.

I will likely get on the arthritis track soon too. I have been putting off the Dr. visit due to covid but my left knee is in very bad shape. I hope to go get started on figuring it out next week

 

[microchick]

@ronott1, I think you are already on that train, unfortunately. The knee pain can be bad and prevent a person from doing the things they like to do. I jokingly tell the doctor that I'm running a contest to see which joint I get replaced first, my knees, my hips or my vertebrae.

The best thing you can do is stay active.

@cmom, good to hear from you. Sorry you are having so much pain in your life. I love the milk crate idea.

I'm soon to be 67 so a few years yet till I hit the big 7-0.I do not plan to go gently into old age. I plan to kick and scream my way into it.

 

[ronott1]

@ronott1, I think you are already on that train, unfortunately. The knee pain can be bad and prevent a person from doing the things they like to do. I jokingly tell the doctor that I'm running a contest to see which joint I get replaced first, my knees, my hips or my vertebrae.

The best thing you can do is stay active.

@cmom, good to hear from you. Sorry you are having so much pain in your life. I love the milk crate idea.

I'm soon to be 67 so a few years yet till I hit the big 7-0.I do not plan to go gently into old age. I plan to kick and scream my way into it.

Thanks!

It was about 8 years ago when a Dr. looked at an xray of my right foot and told me I had arthritis in it and wondered how much it hurt.

 

[cmom]

@ronott1, I think you are already on that train, unfortunately. The knee pain can be bad and prevent a person from doing the things they like to do. I jokingly tell the doctor that I'm running a contest to see which joint I get replaced first, my knees, my hips or my vertebrae.

The best thing you can do is stay active.

@cmom, good to hear from you. Sorry you are having so much pain in your life. I love the milk crate idea.

I'm soon to be 67 so a few years yet till I hit the big 7-0.I do not plan to go gently into old age. I plan to kick and scream my way into it.

We all have some pain when we get up in years. I can relate to many of the issues. I try to stay busy still and do as much as I can myself. Things I used to do I can't anymore. When I was young I was a runner, can't do that anymore and ladders aren't easy. I'm forced to do a lot of things because of DH's Parkinson's. I love my birds and that keeps me going. I do have a young fellow that will give me a hand when I need one now and then. We have two coops that need new roofing. All of the other coops we put metal roofs on but have two left to do. They aren't leaking yet but some of the rolled roofing that was on them has come off. I need to order the metal for them and get our young friend up to help us. On the other roofs I did get up and get them prepped for the metal. Once I got up on the roof I had a hard time getting down. Can't do it anymore. We had a hurricane shortly after the new metal roofs were put on and luckily they held and so did the coops. We were without power for a week. Luckily my sister didn't loose power and lent us her generator but it wasn't big enough to run a lot so we time shared it. We live on top of a hill so we get plenty of wind. I had to get innovative during that time. I'm not a big medication taker. I take what I have to. I am prior military so I use the VA. I'm lucky, my VA doesn't seem to have the many problems as others do. DH has another doctor and he is a pill pusher. DH has had some reactions to some of the meds that were prescribed. I would seek another opinion but DH doesn't want to change. Such is life. We all have multitudes of issues. Good luck to everyone...

 

[ronott1]

We all have some pain when we get up in years. I can relate to many of the issues. I try to stay busy still and do as much as I can myself. Things I used to do I can't anymore. When I was young I was a runner, can't do that anymore and ladders aren't easy. I'm forced to do a lot of things because of DH's Parkinson's. I love my birds and that keeps me going. I do have a young fellow that will give me a hand when I need one now and then. We have two coops that need new roofing. All of the other coops we put metal roofs on but have two left to do. They aren't leaking yet but some of the rolled roofing that was on them has come off. I need to order the metal for them and get our young friend up to help us. On the other roofs I did get up and get them prepped for the metal. Once I got up on the roof I had a hard time getting down. Can't do it anymore. We had a hurricane shortly after the new metal roofs were put on and luckily they held and so did the coops. We were without power for a week. Luckily my sister didn't loose power and lent us her generator but it wasn't big enough to run a lot so we time shared it. We live on top of a hill so we get plenty of wind. I had to get innovative during that time. I'm not a big medication taker. I take what I have to. I am prior military so I use the VA. I'm lucky, my VA doesn't seem to have the many problems as others do. DH has another doctor and he is a pill pusher. DH has had some reactions to some of the meds that were prescribed. I would seek another opinion but DH doesn't want to change. Such is life. We all have multitudes of issues. Good luck to everyone...

It is good that you have someone to help!

I try to stay off of roofs too. I have some foot drop on my right foot and can only lift it about 65% of normal. It is not a good idea to not be able to lift ones foot when up on a roof!