Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

In general, luck has nothing to do with it.

  • Home
  • About Me
    • PR & Disclosure
  • Food
  • Things I Like
  • A Beautiful Disaster
  • From The Rally Point
  • Holiday Gift Guide

Life Hacks for Living With Arthritis (That Actually Work)

May 19, 2016 by Alison 1 Comment

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WhatInconvenience #CollectiveBias

 

Did you know May is National Arthritis Month? Did you realize that 53 million people suffer from arthritis? I’m pretty sure if you don’t, you know someone who does. I’m much too young to suffer from arthritis and joint pain. I’m 36 if you’re wondering but in my head I’m still in my 20’s, yet my body says I’m in my 50’s. It’s not fair, but alas, most of us have learned that life isn’t always fair and some stuff just doesn’t make sense. So here I am with arthritis and chronic pain issues. I won’t lie, it sucks, some days are worse than others, but I have to suck it up and figure out how I can make it be as little of an inconvenience as possible. I won’t let it ruin my fun, my ambition, or my desire to make every day the best it can be.

ARTHRITIS red stamp text on white

 

Life Hacks When You Have Arthritis

 

As I said, some days are worse than others so on those days, it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve to make everyday things a little easier.

  • Carry a small pair of scissors with you to open packs of condiments at restaurants or any other packages that are difficult to grip and/or tear open.

 

Carry scissors

 

  • If you have a hard time getting a grip on things with your fingers, you can also use a hemostat to grab and open a variety packages. It’s better than using your teeth and makes is super easy to peel off foil lids and such.

 

  • Now this isn’t new info., but a reminder is never a bad thing. To ease swelling and soreness, soak in Epsom salts with essential oils for some aromatherapy. Epsom salt is made of sulfate and magnesium, which help alleviate pain and every little bit helps plus who doesn’t like a good relaxing soak after a long day?

 

  • For better grip on jars, try putting rubber bands around the lids to provide more traction to get them open. It even works on small bottles, like nail polish.

 

Rubber Band on Jar

 

  • Have a hard time with zipper, put a key ring on to zippers making it easier to grab onto with sore fingers. Pieces of string or zipper pulls also make it easier to operate zippers.

 

  • Cold is good for RA and inflamation so keep some cold packs on hand. You can easily make an awesome gel pack with gallon Ziploc bags filled with two parts water and one part alcohol. You can also freeze plastic bags of corn syrup or dish soap.

 

  •  Heavy appliances can lead to housework being very painful so save yourself the hassle and invest in a small, lightweight canister vacuum with wheels and long or telescopic attachments for vacuuming chores. There will be less bending and stooping and less hand-gripping is needed to handle the lightweight long attachments.

 

  • Furniture on wheels!  Now just bear with me because this actually awesome regardless of if you suffer from arthritis or not. You can purchase furniture with wheels already on it or buy casters at a hardware store and add them yourself so that it’s always easy and pain free to move for cleaning and rearranging.

 

  • Purchase things like hair brushes, toothbrushes, blow dryers, and other beauty products with the largest handles you can find. This makes them easier to grip and make sure you look for easy to open tops on products such as toothpaste, shampoon, Nexium and Advil.

 

Advil Nexium

 

If you have arthritis, it’s highly probable that you regularly use pain relievers like Advil. It works best for me and it’s super easy for me to load up when I’m on my regular shopping trips at our local Walmart.

 

Advil at Walmart

 

 

The fact that products like Advil and Nexium now have EZ open caps makes them the perfect solution for people struggling with arthritis. Of course be sure to ask a doctor before using any medication if you have a history of stomach problems, such as heartburn!

 

Advil EZ Open Cap

 

For more tips and tricks about how to make living with arthritis a little bit easier, check out this Better Living Toolkit created by the Arthritis Foundation.

 

Advil Nexium EZ Open Cap

Filed Under: Helpful Hints Tagged With: arthritis, life hacks. RA

Comments

  1. Kelly says

    May 19, 2016 at 9:50 am

    These are some great tips. I love the idea to add rubber bands to bottles. Easy and genius! #client

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get Paid to Shop!!! Sign up now!

Ebates Coupons and Cash Back

About Me

My name is Alison. My favorite color is glitter. I love tattoos and finding ways to simplify life. Life with my husband, two children, five dogs, three cats, and lots of miniature horses is never boring but I still find the time to advocate for brands that I love and share my life, helpful hints, and a laugh or two with my amazing fans! Read More…

Categories

Beauty Blogging Blog Hops & Linky Parties Business Community Service & Charities Contests Disney DIY Entertainment Family Fashion Gift Guide 2014 Gift Guide 2015 Gift Guide 2016 Gift Guide 2017 Gift Guide 2018 Giveaways Healthy Living Helpful Hints Holidays Humor Kids My Life Chronicles Organization Pets Product Reviews Psychology Rally Point Rants, Raves, Reviews Recipes Saving $$ Survival Technology & Gadgets Travel Uncategorized Weight Loss
Follow on Bloglovin

What’s Next?

May 2016
M T W T F S S
« Apr   Jun »
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

My Recent Pins

Follow Me on Pinterest 
My Pinterest Badge by: Jafaloo. For Support visit: My Pinterest Badge

More Awesome Stuff!

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts with Bourbon Vanilla Glaze

There are few things better on a crisp morning … [Read More...]

My Love Affair with The Walking Dead

I get it, I’m totally not even close to being the … [Read More...]

Show Your Muscle and Get Clean in 2014 | #LiquidMuscle Housecleaning Tips

This New Year cleaning resolution tips post is … [Read More...]

Ring In the New Year with Twisted Shotz!

I received a selection of Twisted Shotz free to … [Read More...]

Tweets by @Jewell5022
Mom It Forward: Blogger Network
SoFab Badge
Everywhere

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in