A Nasty Fall Hurts Far More With Psoriatic Arthritis

I consider myself an outdoor person. I love working in my flower beds. My husband and I love to go fishing and sit by a roaring fire. I spend a lot of time out in my yard. If it's Spring or Summer, you will find me out in it most of the time.

The problem with our yard is that it has a steep downgrade. My husband built steps to lead down to the yard where it levels off so I can have a better way of being safe. However, there are still times when even the steps are not enough.

Setting myself up to fall

I'm sure you are asking yourself if the downclimb is that bad why on earth would I go? Well, that is an easy answer. We have a small farm and the animals must be taken care of. We have ducks, chickens, rabbits, and goats. They do not care that I have psoriatic arthritis, they care that they get fed.

Most days it is not a problem. In fact, it keeps me motivated to keep moving. Part of that love of the outdoors is sitting watching my animals on a daily basis. However, it does take some determination some days when I hurt to go down that hill.

This one particular day of already hurting but pushing myself to go feed them I took a nasty spill that is so much worse than I could have ever imagined.

The great fall

I had already been to feed the rabbits. It was about five steps down from where their cages are to get to the goat pen. I headed back to the steps to proceed down those last five and there it happened.

My foot caught on the edge of the steps. The result as you can imagine was a hard fall to the ground. Nothing was hurt except my pride or at least that is what I thought.

When the next morning came I could hardly move without pain. Everything within me hurt. I was expecting to be a bit sore but nothing like what I was feeling.

Adding to the pains of psoriatic arthritis

I already had a visit coming up with my doctor the next day. I knew I hadn't broken anything because I was able to get up on my own without any help. However, I have seen this doctor for a long time so he knows me pretty well.

When he had me lean forward to listen to my respiration, he saw the grimace on my face. I had no choice but to tell him what I had done the day before. His response to stating that the pain would be worse since I have psoriatic arthritis. He did do a couple of x-rays just to be sure I had not damaged anything.

Once those came back fine he sent me on my way with a warning that since my joints are already inflamed I need to be more careful.

What does recovery after a fall look like?

It took me almost a full week to stop feeling the pain. I realize the fall had jarred everything. Having psoriatic arthritis is painful enough. I will be a lot more careful from here on out to try to make sure I don't take another fall like that.

I was always told that the best lesson learned always cost you something. In my opinion, pain was the cost. It is a very strong reminder that living with psoriatic arthritis requires me to be extra careful.

Psoriatic arthritis has already taken a toll on my joints without me helping to damage them further. Maybe I should consider wrapping myself in bubble wrap before I go to feed. That would be an interesting sight to my neighbors I'm sure.