I started a rose garden, I love tending to it.also I have a bird feeder outside my bedroom window. I love to watch all the different birds-15 so far. Of course I have to open the window and yell at the squirrels!! Thenof course there is my lab Hannah, never could I go thorugh this without her. she wakes me up when I have ketamine nightmars, actually jumps up on the bed to wake me. I love her dearly. I have walked her with tears running down my face.because the pain is so bad- walks are so important to big dogs and I dont have many volunteers. it is so sad if it is one of those days or few days wehn i cant make it out of the house. I try to throw toys etc. so my dear freind hannah is a double edged sword but i couldnt live without her. Ive statrted cross word puzzles the easy ones that helps keep the brain working. MY left arm can not hold the book long- but I can make it through-one. I also have a 90 year old neighbor= she is how i try to give back = by going accross the streeet to visit. the visits mean alot to her. Think abut this one you guys because when i cant go she cries its awful and she cant understand.
next question should be " what did we do before we had RSD. thanks cz

Hi InHisHands,
When I was first diagnosed with RSD my PT recommended that I use play-doh for my hands. It was a great exercise and I found it to be relaxing. Another exercise I did was bounced a ball that too was a great exercise. Before developing RSD I use to do ballet,jazz and tap,but after having RSD and with my shoulders subluxing (not from the RSD) I took Jazz lessons that was a good exercise. In the beginning when I went back to taking Jazz my arms use to catch on fire felt so hot,but my doctor told me that was good so keep doing the exercise. I always have to be extra careful with my shoulders because they sublux if I go over head or out to the side. I use to totally enjoy taking jazz lessons. My doctor has recommended that I take Tai Chi classes to help with my RSD and it has been great. I took a class at the county college one night a week for eight weeks it was really good. He said you should get an instructor to show you how to do Tai Chi becaue you can hurt yourself if your not showed the moves correctly. Take Care

Laraine

I like building computers, and creating websites for friends. Scanning old photos and putting them all on cd's.

I used to love restoring old cars and trucks, now I just like looking at pictures of before and after projects others have done. Hotrods and sports cars were/are my favorites.

I am sooo glad computers are not to hard to work on, and that I can take my time with them

Hi In His Hands--Thanks! i do hope that we all can find some OUTDOOR activities that are relaxing, FUN and "normal"!! Where I live, we have winter basically for 5-6 months. The cold is really bad for my RSD, and I spend DAYS with my arms wrapped around a heating pad (have burned out three already, and the fourth is acting up..). It is really awful, and very bittersweet to watch the kids and adults from myu living-room window having fun in the snow, walking down the street tossing snow-balls at each other, snow-shoeing in the drifts, taking their dogs out fpr play-time....and then remembering how much I loved to ski and ice-skate, attend all the fun activities for Winterfest BEFORE the RSD. And now, dreading to even go out inthe cold just to check the mailbox, lest it really set off the burning and reddish-purple colour of my skin and the sensitivity...

Well, I have decided that I am going to just "get through" this winter by getting that float-tube, etc. ordered! And imagining just how FREE I am going to feel in it!!!!! I can hardly wait for the weather to watm up!

My e-mail friend to check Cabellas and other sporting-good web-sites for some small, chemical packs that release heat---she says her hubby uses these things in his socks and gloves to keep them WARM when he is hunting.
So, the thought being, keep them "on hand" (so to speak) when I try the float-tubing, just in case my hands start doing the icey-cold thing.

Isn't it weird how some of these symproms just pop up? Even though the warm weather is so much more comfortable, I just can't tolerate too much variance in the temperature changes. Has anyone else experienced this??

like shopping at the grocery store---I just dread the frozen food section or the produce section, especially those misters that decide to come on the minute I reach for a bunch of celery!!! Talk about TIMING!!!

It has been so interesting to read about everyone else's hobbies! I too, love gardening, but darned if I can figure out how to plant anything bigger than a six-pack in a flower-box!

Has anyone found a way to dig a hole in the ground, or a device that can do it for you? I would love to try and plant some things in the ground, but I can't manage to use the shovel with my foot to get a hole bigger than a couple of inches deep. ARRRRRRR!!!! I have a light-weight Rubber-made garden cart that I could probably transport a rose-bush in, but getting it OUT of the plastic thing and into the ground.....any ideas??

Thanks to you all!!!

Brokenwings

Um.....you sound like a sales person for that website. Not sure we're allowed to post commercials on here, unless it's strictly for medical purposes.

I have been a busy guy

Changed the website to this cool looking background, and will be adding some new pics tomorrow.

Also created a forum! I know it will never be as great as this place, but just wanted to learn the process. That is what hobbies are for!

So let me know your likes/dislikes, it keeps me busy, plus it helps me to learn what people like or dislike. Dislikes I will change real quick if enough dont like it!

I put the links in my signature.

IMO, it does not sound like a commercial to me........those little warmers are neat..... i like them in my shoes.............

gardening is something i love to do also.....i made up some planters on my own.....they are pretty different, and when they fill in, they look nice..........the photos are when they are not filled in all the way.....the staggerd pots are fun to put together too........and when the flowers are fully bloomed and grown, the pots are no longer visible.....

i dont' know of anything to make digging any easier tho...sorry.....

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Hey Claudia, maybe not, it's just that when 2 out of 3 posts from a brand new poster mention the same commercial website, I can't help but wonder.....

Your plants, btw, are simply *stunning*
all the best

I have so many hobbies! I like to make paper, do origami, do computer stuff, and sculpey clay is fun too. I also have done tennis in a wheelchair, but I don't think that would work for you if you have it in your hands.

Hi Everyone--I am sorry if it sounded as though I was "promoting" a particular web-site--I was just merely making a suggestion as to the TYPES of places one could explore if they wanted to see if various items for getting out of the house and back INTO the "outside world" again.

I am new to posting on Forums, and didn't realize that perhaps I shouldn't post the names of specific retailers or web-sites.

I have had RSD for 4 years now, and battling with the work comp system over getting the appropriate treatment, particularly the nerve blocks.
I am also on SSDI, and am fortunate to have Medicare. For the past two years, I have had to have the blocks provided for unded Medicare, and then pay out-of-pocked for the co-pay.

Juast this week the IC abuptly discoontinued authorization for ALL the meds that I have been on for the past three years (dx'd three yers ago).
I have been on the Neurontin, 3, 600 mg. for three years. The abrubpt wtih withdrawal of the Neurontin wsa AWFUL, and in addtion to severe nausea, it caused me to be extremely "hyper", jittery, and just feeling downright HORRIBLE. I managed to get a one week supply, and resumed the neuronting several days ago.

While researching withdrawal symproms , I stumbled upun this site...I ws very relieved that I did!! It REALLY helped me take my mind off "My" problem, while reading about everyone elses horror stories of RSD, and all the things that everyone is doing in a POSITIVE way to cope wtih it.

So, that is why I shared my e-mail friend's story about float-tubing, where SHE got all her stuff, and where I explored the web to find places where I could too.

As you may all have experienced, when one is given HOPE, and when one has discoverd OTHERS who are in the same RSD NITEMARE, maybe I was a little "overly enthusiastic" in my post--but I sincerely did NOT intend to come off as a salesperson (although it sure would beat having RSD!!!!LOL)

Since I am new to this Forum and navigating the site, and I have to take frequent breaks from the computer (also have bilatere CTS and bilateral post ulnar-nerve transpositions that precipitated the RSD), I guess i should have started off introducing myself.

Anyhow, to the poster that was so kind to post pictures of all the AWESOME flower-pots, THANK YOU for taking the time to do so!!!
Maybe this summer when I am feeling better, I could try to do some hanging ones!!!!

And to ALL the posters--thanks for sharing your stories--I don't feel so "alone" anymore. People who do not have RSD have NO IDEA just how "life-altering", painful, and FRUSTRATING it is.....