Topic: Anyone else gardening with arthritis?

[Juliet]

Just wondering if anyone else on here has health problems which affect their gardening?

Hi Charlie,

I have health problems which effect my gardening too - not arthritis in my case, but ME, which effects the signals the brain sends to the rest of the body & means that anything can malfunction - immune system, digestion, circulation, hormones, etc etc.  In practice this means fluctuating & apparently random symptoms which include muscle & joint pains, splitting headaches, & senses not working properly.    I wake up some days feeling like a zombie with a hangover ???, others feeling like I have 'flu, & others feeling perfectly OK (sorry if you already knew all that - knowledge of ME is a bit limited so I feel if I mention it I have to explain that no, it's not just being tired!!).

Like you, I can't lift heavy bags of compost or anything like that - I scoop it into a flowerpot & move that instead.  Designed my garden to be fairly low maintenance as Romeo hates gardening - though he does mow the lawn for me :).  I find I can do more if I do it in short bursts, & go inside for a drink & a sit down every now & again.  I can do about an hour in one go if I rest for the rest of the day, but on a good day I could probably do 40 minutes in the morning & then another 40 in the afternoon.

Many of the things which are best for ME seem to be much the same as the things which help arthritis - eating a healthy diet with as much organic food as possible; herbal remedies (I take Passiflora when I can't sleep); and fish oil (recently read a book recommending the supplement VegEpa as being better than standard cod liver oil-type things - for arthritis as well as for ME - but haven't tried it yet myself).  I also take anadin every morning as I can't function without :( - would love to cut these out but wouldn't have any quality of life if I did.

Anyway, sorry to waffle on so long.  What I really meant to say is:  if you are setting up a web page about gardening with disabilities you might like to look at the Carryongardening site (if you don't know it already) - it's run by Thrive (disabled gardeners' association) & has lots of good ideas:  you'll find it at http://www.carryongardening.org.uk/.  There is a forum which is good for finding out how other people cope, eg with gardening from a wheelchair, as well as just chatting about gardening, & there are some useful links, etc.  Good luck with your web page - there seem to be a lot of us gardeners out here with health problems so I'm sure it would be useful!

Juliet

[return of the mac]

Re Glucosamine Sulphate: I know several people with problem joints who have taken it and swear by it - I've seen the difference it makes to them and it seems to be quite something.
Wouldn't you know it, when I tried it I came out in a rash!

Amazin- i think its unsuitable for those with shellfish allergies- might be worth checking that out.

Also got very well managed crohns disease- as long as i dont have any cows milk or pork it doesnt bother me. Im quite sure the key to a cure or at least control is dietary.
John

[clairenpaul]

Not got arthiritis but have had problems with my back for years since I hurt it when I was a nurse. changed jobs now but it still flares up from time to time usually when its most inconvenient - like NOW when there's loads to do on the lottie!! Still i'm ok most of the time and Paul is very good at taking over things I can't manage.

i think when you've any sort of problem its best to try and work round it - we're trying to do as much as possible without digging too much. More experienced plotties are giving us funny looks at the expanse of black stuff where they have neatly dug rows but we'll see how it goes.

From what I've read on here there are quite a few of us doing similar things so we'll have to compare notes :)