Don't Judge Me for My Good Days: Psoriatic-arthritis.com

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  (This was posted Feb 16, 2024 - but I thought it was such a great topic that I wanted to repost it.) Please don't judge me based on my good days. Looks can be deceiving for someone with a chronic illness. What looks like a good day might actually be a good day. Or it might be a good few hours. Or it could be someone doing their best to function through the pain. You don't honestly know what someone is going through, especially when they have lived with the pain for a long time. You'd be surprised how much pain people can learn to smile through. Read the full article at psoriatic-arthritis.com
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Frozen Bones

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I'm super sensitive to cold. Air conditioning quickly gets extreme for me, pools and water can be torturous and in winter, I'm always bundled up.  I have a hard time trying to explain why I don't like going swimming to others. They think I'm lazy or something, but it's honestly a struggle to build up the courage. I truly want to be able to get in the water and swim, but it's very painful. They don't understand, "yeah, it's cold to me too." So, I started to say it differently now.

"It's like brain freeze in my bones." Literally. It's painful and deep ache to be cold. It tends to get the point across, but people are very insistent of course. I love when swimming pools are heated so I can enjoy the water but otherwise it's completely unpleasant.

Never force yourself into a cold pool. Never let anyone force you. Don't listen to them; you shouldn't have to put up with pain for their enjoyment. If it were them in pain, they wouldn't want to go in either.

Comments

  1. L."Wren" VandeverJuly 24, 2013 at 10:37 AM

    "Like brain-freeze in my bones." WOW, Elizabeth. That's a perfect way to describe the agony cold can cause. I've never been able to handle cold packs on flared joints--it just hurts too much. I even have to grit my teeth when I reach into the freezer for frozen food items, whether I'm flaring or not. In fact, I've actually used gloves!

    Heating pads, warm-packs and hot baths may not actually make a flare go away (at least, in me) but the heat on the flared joint(s) is very soothing. Cold, not at all.

    Thanks for sharing that description. It will help me--and others--explain the pain that cold causes so much better!

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    Replies
    1. ElizabethJuly 24, 2013 at 1:12 PM

      Sorry to hear how much the cold affects you! I thought I had a hard time. In cold weather, I found carrying hand warmers in my pockets help a lot.

      You're welcome :) We all need to share our ways of making it easier to explain these things.

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