Comments on: Glass Half Full https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/ Reflections on the Messy Complexity of Chronicity Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:58:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Ana Luisa Monge-Naranjo https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/#comment-1183 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:58:41 +0000 http://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=1525#comment-1183 Thank you!

]]> By: Evelyn Herwitz https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/#comment-1181 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:40:55 +0000 http://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=1525#comment-1181 In reply to Ana Luisa Monge-Naranjo.

That’s wonderful that you’re taking a sewing class! Anything that gets you to keep moving your fingers is a good idea, as long as it doesn’t hurt.

I once saw an occupational therapist (OT) who recommended stretching fingers and making a fist in the shower, under a stream of warm water. I used to do this and then stopped, but it would have been a good habit to ingrain before I lost range of motion. You might try that, but a good OT consult is your best bet for expert advice.

]]> By: Evelyn Herwitz https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/#comment-1180 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:38:00 +0000 http://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=1525#comment-1180 In reply to Pat Bizzell.

I hope you get some help for that pinched nerve.

And yes, we do adjust. It’d be nice if we didn’t have to, though!

]]> By: Ana Luisa Monge-Naranjo https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/#comment-1179 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:30:23 +0000 http://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=1525#comment-1179 My hands have become clumsier in the last couple of years probably because of Raynaud’s and the skin thickening. I’ve been taking sewing classes as a way to keep them flexible. Do you know any exercises to help in this regard?
Thank you.

]]> By: Pat Bizzell https://livingwithscleroderma.com/glass-half-full/#comment-1178 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:11:49 +0000 http://www.livingwithscleroderma.com/?p=1525#comment-1178 I am experiencing some of these phenomena, though not from the same medical causes. I have so little grip strength that I can’t open most jars without a tool I bought for the purpose, to give extra torque. I think I have picked up something small and light, only to find it plunging out of my hand, just as you describe. I dropped a glass on the kitchen counter recently and it shattered all over the place.

In my case the problem arises in part from arthritic joints in my fingers, especially stiff in the morning when I first get up. But I think there may also be some neurological involvement from a chronically pinched nerve in my neck, where arthritis has narrowed the spinal opening that the nerve has to go through.

We adjust.

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