Home-help

Rj14

Hello, I am fairly newly diagnosed with RA (March 2023) I’m not yet on stable medication and my steroid course of tablets and subsequent steroid injections have now worn off. I am injecting 20mg of methotrexate weekly however I’m only on week 2 of this and I’ve been told to not expect any improvement in pain & swelling for 12 weeks! That’s if it works!

I’ve slowly being getting worse and worse since my steroid injection 8 weeks ago and over the last week the pain & swelling has returned to pre diagnosis levels. Along with extreme fatigue, muscle weakness, constant nausea, loss of appetite and overall feeling of being unwell.

My issue is me and my wife have 3 young children, a 2 year old and twin boys aged 5 months. I am really struggling to be able to look after the babies and do the chores around the house. The toddler I can deal with but the babies and household chores are just so physically demanding. I can’t lift the babies, change their nappies, feed them their bottles or even sit on the floor to play with them. This means that my wife has to look after then 24 hours a day. I also can’t do any chores around the house including cooking.

My question is, is there any home help or home support that I’d qualify for suffering from RA. I have been awarded PIP & a blue badge, but I really need some support around the house, cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for the children etc. As my RA has destroyed my body physically I can’t even open milk bottles or wash my hair!

noddingtonpete

Hello @Rj14 can I suggest that you contact our Helpline 0800 5200 520 in the first instance as they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Best wishes

Peter

helpline_team

Hi @Rj14

Thank you for posting on our Online Community, we are so sorry to hear about the pain you are experiencing and how you are finding day-to-day life so difficult, things must be very challenging for you at the moment.

We would suggest that you either speak to your GP who would be able to suggest a local care agency that will contact you about a care plan to help you with your day-to-day needs and adult social care for an assessment to be carried out within your home to see what help could be provided for you and your family.

Also do please try to contact your healthcare team to see if anything can be suggested to help with the pain whilst you are waiting for the methotrexate to start working.

Heat and ice treatment can help with pain and swelling, heat can be in a form of a hot water bottle, wheat pack, ice can also help with pain and swelling so that can be a bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a damp tea-towel, we know it is difficult when you’re  in a lot of pain but do try to do some small structured stretching exercises that can help with the pain, possibly a referral to see a physiotherapist would help.

I have also added a link to Living made easy who provide aids, adaptation, and gadgets to help with personal care and around the home they also have a helpline where you can also get help and advice.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/

https://www.gov.uk/apply-needs-assessment-social-services

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/

https://livingmadeeasy.org.uk/

Best wishes

Chris

Helpline Advisor