Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Everything I do ends up hurting

I can't do anything anymore and its so frustrating. Last time I went swimming my hips were so screwed up it too 3 weeks just to get back to the point that I could put some weight onto them. My PT said no more swimming until after the surgery--and that was the last type of exercise I really could still do.

Then last week I tried doing some yard work since my parents went away and left me some chores that I my dad would usually do. I took two days to recover and this was just light stuff.

Last week, I tried to meet up with a Honda Civic club, but standing too long in the parking lot made the next day hell.

Yesterday I was tired of trying to read (double vision was giving me a headache) and I wanted to do something more productive than watching TV, so I washed and waxed my car...I had even considered detailing it, but thought that may be too much. Today I can barely move and everything (even the vision problems) are worse. I took the morning off to try and recuperation some.

I can accept some limitations, but I have yet to find something I CAN do. And then the alternative, just sitting gets painful, as well--I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir.

I just feel so useless. My dad, whose 65, does all the yard work and when I try to help I spend the next day in pain.

And maybe its not so important, but I really want my car detailed--its the one thing I actually own, but I'm afraid I'll feel even worse than I do now.

There's not really a question in here. I just wish I could actually do something.

Yeah, so I've been thinking about it and relized trying to do something that I knew would end up hurting bad was pretty stupid on my part.

Hey Jeffrey!

I don't think that there are too many of us that can't relate to how you are feeling. Its a huge balancing act everyday to weigh the things that you want to get done, against how much of a price you will pay later.

I really understand about wanting to do things to your car. I was always fanatical about my vehicles. And I hate to say it but this year the truck has only seen the touchless car wash downtown. I haven't even tackled trying to wash her myself. I give the floors an occasional brushing off when I am getting in or out and that's about it. I'm just glad she's white and doesn't show the dust too bad. That's just not the way I am used to keeping my stuff.

If I decide to go over the top and play some golf, or go to an evening at the races, it means an extra dose or two of pain meds to get through it, then I still pay the next day or so. Heck I have a guy that's on total disability mowing my yard, when I can't. Now that really makes me feel good..

You aren't alone out there!! Stay Strong!!

Hi.
Yes, everything either hurts when we do it or will hurt the next 3 days.... I just suggest that you keep as active as you can. Stop before you get done with something. Then the next day keep up and at it.
We do seem to get worse and worse if we do nothing!!

Because of my limited mobility, my weight problem, my joint pain and so on I have to be careful when i excercise

I now never ever over exhurt myself. Instead i follow the advice below.

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness...g-workouts.aspx



Love Joanne

Hi Jeff,
I believe the desire to-do or not-to-do can be a double edge sword for ASers. Many are not permanently bound to a wheelchair, nor incapable of some physical exertion, but as mentioned above, discovering a balance between how-much and how-little exertion proves vital for physical as well as mental health. As unique as AS is to each of us, so, too, the approach you find will be exclusive to you. Exercise pools work for me, though I feel the effect like football two-a-days.

Aside from the distortions this disease created on me, what I found especially difficult when young was accepting my limitations. I still find it challenging, but I also grew an admiration for the physical feats of others. Not merely acknowledging the cliche about lost and appreciation, but to heighten a pleasure from watching others physically perform, whether in a dance studio or an outfield. Not that I don't get pissed from time-to-time, but what I once took for granted I now can vicariously live through at a sensual, yet intellectual, level.

I wish you the best, Jeff. Hang in there, and fight the "good" battle.

no real advice, nothing i could tell you that you don't already know at least,

just wanted to say that yes, i understand.....change the specifics around a bit, and i can hear myself telling my doctors these types of stories.........

but for me, i do get some relief in between more serious spells, still have to watch things during those times, but not quite as much,

hope you get some relief soon, in whatever form it may come,

I definitely understand your frustration, Jeffrey. Nothing more frustrating than wanting to spend a day relaxing or working on your fave project and ending up having to call it a day shortly after starting. Worse yet feeling the pain from that small moment of enjoyment.

It is like driving 1000 km and feeling the pain and tiredness for the next five days. Then having to use a cane to walk around because your baby toe developed a blister and the bandage kept falling off.

I guess the best thing I can say is to take each day as it comes. Realize you have a whole new ball park to play in complete with new rules to follow. You may not win the game, it may end in a draw but what fun you had playing the game! Smile and realize how truly special you are.

You are surrounded by friends here. All of whom can identify with the pain you describe so well. Each one of us is standing or sitting by your side encouraging you to keep going.

No doubt about it; we all have had those feelings, some of us rather recently.

I'm learning that celebrating the little victories instead of worrying over what I can't do helps me a lot. In AA, which I've been part of for almost thirty years, we talk about keeping "an attitude of gratitude". When working with someone newer in recovery I'll often ask them to write out a "gratitude list" when they're whining. Eventually I took my own advice.

Sometimes mine looks like: "I slept inside. On a really nice bed. After a really good supper. My family still likes me. Nobody has shot at me in the last twenty four hours. I haven't had to shoot anyone else in the last twenty four hours. I don't have to eat C Rations. I can stay clean every day."

I can look at that list and remember the days when all of the opposite were true on the same day and smile about today, where they're all true.

I hope this helps some...

I think you said you are getting hip surgery in a couple of weeks. Maybe you need to take it easy until then.