Arthritis Mom

I was searching around for information on the age people typically get rheuamtoid arthritis for this blog post, and I found this which I did not know: "RA develops more often than expected the year after giving birth."

Well that certainly explains a lot! I knew that 75% of women with rheumatoid arthritis go into remission during pregnancy and that it typically comes back like a train wreck a few weeks or months post-partum. My rheumatoid arthritis did not go into remission although I had a fairly easy first trimester and I did get a break for a few weeks after the births. I did not know the train would keep popping and running me over for a year or so.

I take some comfort in knowing this is common. It means I'm not the only one, and that always feels good (sorry for those of you who have to suffer along with me). And because it says "in the first year after birth" it means that at some point in the not too distant future I can go back to my normal RA life health where the drugs do their job.

What I was going to post about, before I found that tidbit above, was a request. I am throwing this out there to anyone who wants to take up this cause. As the population ages there are more and more gadgets on the market that help with daily living when you have difficulty gripping, doing housework, preparing meals, etc. You know, all those Good Grips products. Because rheumatoid arthritis can hit women of childbearing age, I think we need a line of arthritis mom friendly products. Here's my initial list.

Diaper changing machine or at least something to keep the babies from kicking me in the wrist and wrangling away while I change their diapers. It ends up looking like I'm on the losing side of a wrestling match. If I can't have a machine, then something to keep them from flipping over and trying to get away. And perhaps something to keep one baby from rolling over and smacking the other baby or from putting a foot in the other one's dirty diaper. If not that, then at least something to squeeze the diaper cream for me, perhaps something that would also work on my shampoo bottle.

Automatic snapper for those tiny snaps on baby clothes. Until this one is invented I've started snapping every other snap on bad RA days.

Robot arm to lift babies out of the crib on bad RA days. Some people worry about their kids learning to crawl out of the cribs themselves, this arthritis mom is look forward to that day.

Infant car seat release to help me remove the seats from the base without having to simultaneously squeeze hard, pull and lift over 20 lbs in an awkward position. I need something that fits in my pocket or is attached to the seat. Right now my coping mechanisms are called Husband and Stepsons but it's hard to take them everywhere I need to go.

Adjustable shoes. I know they exist. But I'm 37 years old, I need attractive shoes. I don't want shoes that look like my grandma's slippers, and I'd like buy them without having to take out a loan first. An area they specifically need to expand is the bottom - what is up with the inside/bottom of the foot swelling anyway, it's incredibly bothersome.

Most importantly, I really need medicine bottles that the kids can't open but that I can.