Moving From State to State

When you have psoriatic arthritis even the little things become really big things. My body hurts whenever I physically overdo anything. I try not to push my body that hard but sometimes there is no way to not overdo it.

Helping a friend move

This month I helped a good friend move from Florida to where I live in Louisiana. She is a single woman that was living in an environment that was not good for her. Unfortunately, my husband had to work so he was not able to help us move anything. Two women, one with psoriasis arthritis, having to pack and load her things. No men to do the heavy lifting. I knew it would take a toll on my body. What I did not know was how bad that toll would be and how long it would take me to recover from it. Wow, my body sure was not happy with me.

The impact on my lower back

My psoriatic arthritis has always been a problem in my lower back. It did not take long for my back to really go to hurting. All the bending, picking up stuff and moving boxes around when they got full to make room to pack more really took its toll. We would stop about every two hours to take a break because we would both be hurting. All-day it was the same. Grab more stuff to pack, sit to relieve the pain. It took us a day and a half to get everything packed up and loaded. We were not cutting any slack in getting it done. On that one night when we decided to stop it was straight to bed to lay down. Oh, the pain my back was giving me. I was exhausted but sleep was hard to come by when I am in pain like that.

The impact on my knees

Of course, her house that she was moving out of had steps to the front porch. Five to be exact. All-day up and down those steps loading boxes. What made matters worse is it was raining. It rained both days we were loading stuff up. So not only was it these stairs I had to contend with having psoriatic arthritis it was having to contend with the rain and getting wet. It was miserable. My left knee let me know it was not happy with me either. By that next morning, my knee was so swollen. It hurt to continue but I had no choice. It had to get done. Another half-day of going up and down those stairs on a knee that was clearly letting me know the pain with every step. It made it harder to do but somehow we managed. The only mistake I made was not bringing my knee brace with me when I packed for the trip. Boy did I wish I had it then but it was eight hundred miles away at home. Yes, I could have gone to town and bought one. However, funds were running low with just enough cash to get back home.

Feeling the reprucussions

The good news is we managed to get everything moved here to Louisiana. The bad news--it is two weeks later and my body still is not happy with me. I am having to wear my knee brace every single day. I went to see my doctor who did an x-ray on my knee. The x-ray did not show anything being broken or torn. She just contributed the swelling to psoriatic arthritis making it flare. I never really thought about it flaring but it made perfect sense once she said it. Her recommendation was to keep it raised when I wasn't walking. When I was walking to make sure to have that knee brace on at all times. While I am happy I was able to be there for my friend the move did teach me a valuable lesson. From this point on when I know I will have to do strenuous activities I make double sure that I have my knee and back braces with me. The consequences of not following this new rule is pain and possible permanent damage to joints that are already affected by psoriatic arthritis.