Coping Mechanisms during Covid-19

niallbrown

Hi guys,

I hope you are finding ways to cope in these strange times and I would love to hear about them if anyone is willing to share.
I just wanted to say hello as I have just signed up to Versus Arthritis, my name is Niall I’m 31 and I was diagnosed with PSA when I was 26. As many (if not all) can relate, it has completely changed my life. Things that I could once do I no no longer can now.
My strategy (to stop my head from exploding) is reading, writing and listening to audiobooks to help me fall asleep and I am currently making way through the Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Although they are starting to affect my dreams!

I’d love to hear what other people are doing in these strange times?

joann100

Hi Niall ..i also have PSA which sucks big time...must be worse for you being so young! im 50 and have had it for about 3 years, im very active (or was!) and like you it has changed my life completely.

I think if i didnt have my dog and horse to look after i would of gone crazy, they are the only things keeping me going! like you i have started reading and have far too many naps! haha...i have decorated my house and have now run out of jobs to do...i also seem to spend alot of time looking in the fridge and cooking cakes which is lethal!

Luckily i was having really bad flare ups before the lockdown and got to see my rheumatologist who gave me a steroid injection and put me on sulfasazaline to take alongside my methotrexate , touch wood i have had no pain at all upto now which has been fab...i think if i was in as much pain as i was before the lockdown now i would not cope at all.

jo :-)

dreamdaisy

I have PsA, OA and fibro. Life has not changed apart from the fact I haven't been to the shops since the first week of March and probably won't be going until there is a vaccine. All my pre-shielding activities are carrying on as normal (as they have for the past twenty-plus years) as is pain and poor quality sleep. The only notable difference is the world is much quieter and friends keep sending me pics of them doing stuff. My dreams haven't changed either. I guess being an old bat who is well-versed in arthritis has its uses in that I am not finding this current situation challenging, it's merely my normal magnified. It must be far harder for the younger and people who are still relatively new to this arthritis business. DD

niallbrown

Hi Jo, thank you for sharing :) you sound very positive and active it’s great to hear. It’s brilliant that you have ran out of jobs to do, my list of things to do seems to grow every day! Great that you have your animals, I’d be lost without my cat, does the PSA affect your ability to ride? I imagine the freedom that comes with being a horse owner is great :)
I certainly agree re the cakes and the baking and all the cooking is a lot of fun. The added inches around my waist, not so much!
Those steroid injections worked wonders for me too, I was kicking my heels :)hope they work well for you too, how are you finding the sulfasazaline? I have never tried that but I’m currently on Imraldi (previously Humira) injecting fortnightly

niallbrown

Hi Dreamdaisy, thank you for replying :)

Sounds difficult dealing with such painful conditions over a long period of time, 20 + years is no easy task! Have you got someone who is helping with your shopping and meds? Isolation is certainly tough, is there anything you have learned that you have found to be helpful for you?

dreamdaisy

I was a far-to-frequent flyer on here, it wasn't doing me any good so I've cut right back, but seeing as how you have what I have I couldn't not answer! My husband is doing the fortnightly shop but I deal with all my meds.

What have I learned? Not much, really. When I was eight I knew my life was going to be different to that of others and so it has proved. You either sink or swim and I prefer to swim, you get more out of life that way. I am lucky in that I am not the anxious, nervy type, deal with the grot and get it out of the way has always been my approach, whether it's eating the yucky chocs first, learning how to do an injection, exercising when in pain, anything really, GID (get it done) then have the reward of enjoyable stuff. I have always asked for help because that preserves my dwindling energies for the stuff I want to do, why waste them on housework, gardening or lugging awkward shopping? I learned early to use aids, both human and mechanical, because they help. Don't use them, you harm yourself further what's the point in that?

I know how to keep myself occupied, my latest thing is card-making and I am giving cards away to neighbours who cannot get out and buy them, we have a neighbourhood email round here and I send out designs every three weeks or so.

Most useful has been the practice of looking up and out, never down and in. Arthritis is a case of mind over matter, I might mind but that doesn't matter. Arthritis is one of life's less- rich travesties. 😋 DD

Dixon83

Hi all , I am new to here my name is pauline, I got diagnosed with Psa when I turned 30 . I got put on methotrexate at first , it made me feel better pain wise but I felt sick all the time so I changed to sulfasalazine that doesn't make me feel sick but I am in so much pain all the time . I can't even work now! I just want to feel normal . With corna about just makes things worse but I have been reading what people have got to say and I know I am not a lone on how I am feeling.

Ellen

Hi @Dixon83

Good to meet you and welcome you to the Online Community.

There are a number of people using this community who have Psoriatic Arthritis like yourself. Here are a couple of other PsA newbies:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/comment/673898#Comment_673898

Unfortunately people can respond differently to medications. Finding the right combination of drugs might take time, but don't give up yet. Have a look around the forum and join in wherever you feel comfortable.

Best wishes

Ellen.