Diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis...........house falling down around us!!

LoopyLinz

Well folks as you can see from the title above I have been disagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am only 24 and have been married for just a year. Still very much trying to get into the whole routine of housework and cooking!!

Basically my main problem at the moment is that my hands are particularly bad and things such as ironing are near to impossible.................anyone got any handy hints to tips that might make this easier? I was thinking...............just dont do it!! Lol

Another issue is that by the time I finish a full days work I am finding it increasing difficult to come home and make a proper dinner. Was thinking that while Im having a not too bad day, like today, I could batch cook and freeze, then it would just be a matter of heating. Can anyone recommend some things that would be good to batch cook? Bearing in mind my cooking skills arent that fab but I am willing to try. Also if I was to do this and freeze some stuff can anyone tell me what the best way to de-frost things is and how long it takes?

Sorry this post is so long but for some reason today I have decided to take control of this thing instead of letting it take control of me!

Thanks
Linz xoxox

Beccatje

I know how you feel.

I'm really sorry you have to deal with this very painful condition.
Are you getting any medication already?

What I do is: take advantage of the good days.
And when you have a bad day, just accept it. When there is something I really need to do I'll take a pain killer, but other times I'll just announce to my family that I am hurting too badly and need a break.

Batch cooking is a good idea, and you can freeze just about anything!
Pasta sauce is good to freeze. as it's very easy to just cook the pasta and mix in with the re-heated sauce.
I defrost things in the fridge.
Take it out in the morning before you go to work or even the evening before.. stick it in the fridge and you'll be ready to go when you need it.

Make a list of 'can't be bothered meals' and have the basic ingredients in your pantry. That way you can just whip up a simple meal when it's one of those days.
For tasks that are just too painful, get someone to help you! teach your DH to do the ironing.

Biggest tip of all for me: Keep warm. When my hands get cold they ache something awful! When I wake up stiff and sore in the morning, I warm my hands around a nice warm cup of coffee to get me going.

In this season again, i wear gloves. Even the fingertipless woolly ones for driving
Keeping warm and keeping moving is the advice my doctor gave me and that's about all you can do.

Good luck..

ceridwen

No need for apologies re your post at all!!!

I think thats the right attitude to take - you are going to control it - not have it control you. Good on you. Best wishes at dealing with this.

Hopefully someone will come along soon with advice re batch cooking -as I dont know about it myself. Can only recall its considered to be a good idea to have a large size slowcooker and cook up a lot at a time of whatever-it-is in it and store the extra portions in the freezer.

parsonswife8

Shame Linz, 24 is very young to be diagnosed with that!

Why not cook up some bolognaise sauce and freeze in two batches. You could then defrost it during the day in the fridge or in the microwave when you get home and then, reheat it to piping hot while you cook some spaghetti. Do the same with the 2nd lot in a week or two.

Or cook up some mince for a cottage pie and make some mash, cook ,let it go cold and cover with cling film. It will keep in a cold part of the fridge for a day or two and you can freeze any mince mixture that is left over to have on toast or on rice another day.

Or make a curry, eat half and freeze half.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Edited to say, I left the N out of mince originally and said, cook up some MICE for a cottage pie.

I'll go and have a lie down!

pigpen

I was diagnosed when I was 17 so I know how it is... and it IS manageable!

1.. loads of red meat and 'spicy' stuff does make it worse.. it increases the acidity of the blood and aggravates the condition.. as does alcohol, especially red wine for some people. I cannot hold a pint glass... even half full.. I have to use 2 hands...
2.. Keep warm and active.. if you don't keep it warm and keep moving it will control you.
3.. I don't take painkillers unless I am physically incapacitated.. I believe pain it there for a reason and so long as it is not completely debilitating I will leave it be and adjust my daily life around it.. if that means I don't vacuum the stairs for a week so be it! Don't push yourslf beyond your boundaries you can only do so much.. the rest will be there tomorrow!
4.. Invest in a wheeled trolley.. so you don't have to carry shopping bags

I avoid buttons wherever possible because I know on a bad day I cannot do them up.. which was horrific when trying to dress the babies because almost everything had buttons!!

pigpen

Just adding.. the flylady thread on here was a God send TBH.. it meant some things did get done even on a rough week.. have a look see what you think

ShelBell

Hi,

I have a type of arthritus, plus a muscle problem, and a seperate nerve problem, so I can really empathise (plus I'm only 29).

I've had to really adapt how and what I cook as my conditions have worsened. My DH does most of the housework, and I rarely iron (although I have a new steam generator iron for doing my son's school uniforms which is fabby).

Cooking - Chop/prep sitting down, you can rest your elbows/forearms on the table then to help take the strain off. I use my slow cooker a lot, because I'm generally better in the morning, and I always batch cook in it. I do curries, chillis, casseroles, stews, joints, soups, pasta sauces, bolognaise, etc in it and always keep in those little foil dishes for freezing in portion sizes. Likewise when I make mash I don't scrimp, cos I can freeze it in bags in portions and reheat from frozen in the microwave

Defrosting - either in th fridge overnight, or get a defrosting board for cuts of meat.

Standbys - I have a repetoire of fast easy meals as it's so easy to fall into the takeout trap when you're tired and sore. For me, this is thai green curry (with microwave rice), spanish ommlette, beans on toast, soup and a sarnie, frozen fish cakes and oven chips, frozen swedish meatballs and spaghetti.

HTH

Shel

Pitlanepiglet

Good luck Linz, my thoughts...

We don't iron, there are only the two of us and the only things we have that need to be ironed are shirts that are supplied for our voluntary work. It helps that DH isn't an office worker so doesn't need shirts, he lives in polo shirts and casual shirts that either drip dry or just go in the tumble dryer and get hung up afterwards. None of my office wear requires ironing and even office type shirts can be tumbled these days I think. It just takes a bit of thought when clothes shopping!

I batch cook, chilli (might not be great for you given Pigpen's comments?), bolagnaise, shepherds pie and soup and stew. I also batch cook roast potatoes - usually just new potatoes tossed in olive oil and oven cooked for a bit, freeze them in a bag and then you can just chuck them back in the oven for 15 minutes or so when you need them.

We also keep individually frozen chicken breasts, salmon steaks and tuna steaks in the freezer, these just get taken out in the morning (the salmon will cook from frozen with no trouble, the tuna gets a bit watery IMO), then we just bung these in the oven (often with the potatoes above!) and they'll be cooked in 20 minutes or so with little attention whilst you go off and do something better.

I don't meal plan but I do make a point of stopping and thinking either in the evening or each morning about what we are going to eat that night.

It's probably well worth you investing in a decent sized freezer so that you can cook when you feel able to and then live out of the freezer during the bad times.

LoopyLinz

Beccatje wrote: »

I know how you feel.

I'm really sorry you have to deal with this very painful condition.
Are you getting any medication already?

What I do is: take advantage of the good days.
And when you have a bad day, just accept it. When there is something I really need to do I'll take a pain killer, but other times I'll just announce to my family that I am hurting too badly and need a break.

Batch cooking is a good idea, and you can freeze just about anything!
Pasta sauce is good to freeze. as it's very easy to just cook the pasta and mix in with the re-heated sauce.
I defrost things in the fridge.
Take it out in the morning before you go to work or even the evening before.. stick it in the fridge and you'll be ready to go when you need it.

Make a list of 'can't be bothered meals' and have the basic ingredients in your pantry. That way you can just whip up a simple meal when it's one of those days.
For tasks that are just too painful, get someone to help you! teach your DH to do the ironing.

Biggest tip of all for me: Keep warm. When my hands get cold they ache something awful! When I wake up stiff and sore in the morning, I warm my hands around a nice warm cup of coffee to get me going.

In this season again, i wear gloves. Even the fingertipless woolly ones for driving
Keeping warm and keeping moving is the advice my doctor gave me and that's about all you can do.

Good luck..

Awwww thank you for your lovely reply. Makes me feel slightly better to hear that people lead relatively normal lives! I think initially when arthritis was mentioned I thought of little old crippled ladies and freaked out!!

Loving the cant be bothered list! Sounds like a plan, at least that way I know DH wont resort to a packet of biscuits or something for dinner!! Also liking the idea of teaching hubby to iron! HaHa! Im guessing that wrinkled look would suddenly become highly fashionable!

xoxox

LoopyLinz

parsonswife8 wrote: »

Why not cook up some bolognaise sauce and freeze in two batches. You could then defrost it during the day in the fridge or in the microwave when you get home and then, reheat it to piping hot while you cook some spaghetti. Do the same with the 2nd lot in a week or two.

Or make a curry, eat half and freeze half.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Edited to say, I left the N out of mince originally and said, cook up some MICE for a cottage pie.

I'll go and have a lie down!

Mmmmmm mice!! lol!
This is probably going to sound really stupid but could I just freeze the bolognaise sauce in freezer bags?

xoxoxox

Pitlanepiglet

Yep you can freeze the sauce in freezer bags with no problem at all. I freeze soup, chilli, bolagnaise etc. this way. Just make sure that you are using FREEZER bags and not just sandwich bags as the cheap sarnie bags will often leave your food with freezer burn.

Take a bag or a couple of bags out in the evening or the morning, leave them to defrost and then chuck them in a pan in the evening to reheat.

Once you get yourself sorted out and organised it will be easy to manage the food side of things.