A little too quiet lately!

Hey it’s pretty dull on this usually busy forum…either everyone is just down in the blues feeling like chit OR too busy training for a marathon and has forgotten to check in. So let’s hear some good old griping and complaining…surely something hurts enough to make you want to blow off some steam!
While ruminating on your knee pain vs your big toe ache…
I’m looking for some information: 1. which is the best brand of tea? (not the pseudo-flowery herby stuff…TEA). (Sorry if this starts a British argument) 2. What is the best use for used tea bags? I have sun dried them and tried them in a pipe (we can smoke anything in Canada) but something is “off”. :slight_smile:

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I am not a tea drinker at all, at least not the real tea. O prefer to get my caffeine from coffee and occasionally soda.

I can definitely complain about things though. That’s never a problem. Let’s see, feet have been the main complaint lately. I can easily throw in eye issues though. Oh, don’t forget my ridiculous back pain.

If you want more generalized complaints, two stupid days of wet snow this last week, immediately being followed by temps in the mid fifties is making me absolutely nuts.

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Tea? Can’t stand the stuff which is very unusual for an Irishwoman living in the UK. However my family swore that Barry’s Tea made in Co Cork is the only tea worth drinking. It’s now available your side of the Atlantic too. You might like it @Amos. I’m a plain black coffee person myself.

Complaints? My Achilles’ tendon is grumbling again. Which is par for the course given I’m due on holiday on a boat in a month’s time. Last year on a boating holiday it kicked off big time. And made life difficult.

I’m waiting to start two lots of meds for Crohn’s issues which can’t come fast enough. One of them is a bowel only steroid which I’m really seriously looking forward to plus Azathioprine a first base DMARD, which will take the usual 12 weeks to do anything useful but is useful for PsA too. Meanwhile the idea is to take my Cosentyx every 42 days instead of every 28 days in case that is actually causing/aggravating the Crohn’s issue. That was on the basis my PsA was fine, it’s not with a grumbling Achilles’ tendon though so I might hold off doing that until the next dose.

So I’m fed up of my bathroom, I’m really fed up with the state of the world and the war in Ukraine and what that might mean. I’m a bit concerned on suppressing my immune system even more given Covid certainly hasn’t gone away but it seems we don’t talk about that anymore.

However the boating holiday is only the two of us plus the dog. I can still work from home and hopefully the weather will be good whilst we’re away so I can eat a decent meal sitting outside a pub rather than in it. I’m craving some food I haven’t sourced on line myself, cooked and cleaned up after. And regardless of Achilles’ tendon issues wandering about slowly on rivers in a boat where the speed limit is 4mph just watching wildlife and hopefully see lots of baby wildlife will in fact be delightful. Furthermore internet signals and phone signals are really patchy so you can feel nicely cut off from everything too.

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Isn’t it wonderful @Poo_therapy to be looking forward to a change of scenery? I hope that your well being is abnormally “up” so you can enjoy it to the max. Those reoccurring achilles/foot issue are more than just bothersome as our feet carry the weight of the whole body…bad feet=bad day! Perhaps the frequent bathroom visits will strengthen your quads, think of each trip as “deep knee bends” exercise…use every moment right? I can’t help but smile at the irony of your “name” and the Crohn’s issues knowing the origin of your “therapy”. I think that the world in general is groaning right now as we are hoping to get out covid life but hit with the uncertainty that war brings…even if it is far away and not so personal. We are in a very slow to go winter…our snow banks in the yard are 3-4 feet high and it was -20C last night. I’m fighting a bit of the Monday Blah’s right now, thankful that I am mobile and somewhat active but just tired of it all. When one breaks a bone or fights off an infection, the end is always visible but with PsA, we don’t really see an end, just a journey of mitigating the daily things that scream the loudest. So we hang on to the better days, even good days though great days seem in the rear view mirror. Please think twice before attempting to waterski behind your boat at 4 mph!

I probably drink 3 times the coffee over tea but do enjoy a mug of tea as a change. Earl Grey is ok but prefer the orange pekoe tea with just a dash of sugar. Black coffee still hits the spot and I consider it medicinal…it seems to jack up the Tylenol effects when needed for pain. My foot pain never goes away but seem to be getting less cramps in them and I know it is purely caused by PsA. I can’t tell if my back pain is PsA or disc issue or aging bad posture or all of the above. But I do know that staying active, walks, gentle work etc is better for me than “resting” everything even though activity increases certain pain issues. What sort of eye issue are you having and are they directly related to PsA? Vision loss is one of my biggest fears although I’m ok at the moment.

Yes the name I chose for myself is hugely ironic isn’t it? Still it makes me laugh both the name and the irony and that’s the main thing! No water skiing allowed on most of the rivers we’ll be travelling, thankfully. I did enjoy such things in my youth though.

Our current temperature is around 12 to 15c presently. The daffodils are blooming and spring is certainly in the air. Birds are very busy and I keep seeing bumble bees, and my cheery blossom tree is nearly ready to burst into its stunning flowers. At this stage of your winter you must be screaming to see green again. If you ever do Facebook there’s a wonderful page called ‘A view from my window’ and people post just the most lovely views from their windows all around the world. It’s certainly enlightening and really rather lovely too.

It’s Tuesday tomorrow and in my eyes that’s always a better day than Monday!

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It’s been a rough winter in Ohio for me because of the wild temperature fluctuations. Rheumatologist wants to inject my knees in 2 weeks. I actually had a toothache for awhile and had to see a specialist who diagnosed it as an inflamed ligament around the tooth. Ligament? PSA? It went away with a return to Cosyntex. A few months later Cosyntex is up to 300 mg again. I’m still attending obedience and agility classes with my 2 year old schnauzer Oliver. He is a life saver, making me move on bad days. Playing on floor every evening with him. Hope everyone is hanging in there.

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Okay, an inflamed ligament? That’s definitely a new one on me. Yes, the wild swings in temperature (I’m in NY) are definitely getting to me

I did agility for a while with a golden retriever. It was an awful lot of fun, and definitely kept me busy. The funniest thing was that there was a person with a Shiba Inu in the class. They were gently told that maybe agility wasn’t for them, as the dog has zero interest in following directions.

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Hello Amos! As a lifelong tea drinker who’s sampled the tea of England, Ireland, Wales, India and Hawaii in my travels, I’ve settled on PG Tips Original as my favorite daily go-to tea. The bags are triangular in shape, no string, and it steeps beautifully. My second favorites are Sweet-Touch-Nee (an orange pekoe & black tea my mother drank), and any good quality Oolong for that special chinese flavor.

Methotrexate has my PsA pain in control (if I take it on time ha ha), but I am having some stabbing abdominal pains the last day or so after eating too much fiber, fruit & pumpkin seeds all in one day (dumb I know).

I enjoyed reading about others taking holidays! We haven’t been away in two years and it’s sucking the life out of me after this horrible Winter in northeast USA.

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Well @Faye that is some new info for me! In Canada, we tend to turn to Red Rose or Salada by default. Nice to have some exploring to do. Yes, I agree that holidays would be nice. Today we celebrate mask freedom as the numbers and science agree that it is overall safe to do so…for now. I think you may have started a new breakfast cereal: “Methotrexate with Fibre”….available at your local Pharmacy.

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Best brand of Tea, hmm in my experience it actually depends on what tea it is. I wouldn’t touch Lipton with a barge pole for their standard tea, but I love their chai teabags which are strong and spicy. We have a brand in Australia called Nerada - they grow organic tea on the high plateau behind Cairns - they are my go to for most teas like black, peppermint or Rooibos. Having said all that I actually drink a lot more coffee! Usually need the stronger caffeine hit :joy:

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OMG @Bern, we have those darn ligaments everywhere don’t we? But around your tooth! Poor thing. Glad the Costenyx has got it back under control.

We only go away within England though Faye. It’s all self catering, the supermarket delivers to where we’re staying - it’s the same as what we do at home but we’re somewhere a bit different and doing something different like driving our own boat coming up soon. Indeed we tend to be more isolated on our holidays than we are home really. So essentially even more Covid safe.

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We used to fun agility with Freddie our black lab, it’s a lot of fun isn’t it? And yes I had the tooth ligament thing too. It’s deeply unpleasant too isn’t it?

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OMG! You guys are a hoot! Yes, I’ve been off the radar a bit of late (probably off my rocker too but that’s pretty standard fare for moi :laughing:) I decided now that Covid restrictions are loosening I had better do a bit of house shoveling just in case someone decides to do actual visitation. I have so many simultaneously ongoing projects laying around that I have to start actually finishing some of them. You all should count yourselves among the fortunate that you don’t live with me and my overactive and somewhat cluttered mind. Wish the rest of me could keep pace…
Favorite tea, hmmm. Since I don’t like insipid drinks, be it coffee, tea, alcohol, whatever, I go for something bold like Irish breakfast or Assam. (If it doesn’t put hair on your chest it’s not a good drink) I can’t get good Irish or Assam here in my neck of Alaska but I managed to find a really good malty Assam online and because of an order snafu I now have 4 pounds of loose stuff. Should anyone come for a visit I’ll be happy to fix a large pot for us. My sister-in-law sent a package of Ruby Oolong Tea from the Spice and Tea Exchange that is very stout, wonderful and just enough smoke to make it memorable. But I’m primarily a coffee fan/snob.

Gripes, hmm :thinking: Can you hear the paper rustling around as I go through the list?

Knee replacement is probably as good as it’s going to get. Much better than the bone on bone that it replaced but not up to original factory specs. Had it checked and all seems to be well and as it should be. PT said it may be my gait (I tend to be a tad knock kneed) so (this is a first for me) he taped my arch/heel snugly. I’m to leave it on a couple more days to see if that helps. It may be that I need more arch support in that foot.

The ol’ sacrum is now a nearly eternal nagger. And let’s not forget the rib/side pain. Nor do I want to start on the feet in general. I should shovel out my closet because I can now wear just a few pair of the shoes I have (and most of those only for short times) and I NEVER wear my business attire anymore. If I have to go somewhere even remotely formal/dressy I don’t know what I would do.

Speaking of going somewhere, we haven’t left town for over 2 years now and we’re starting to get cabin fever in a major way. (Keep in mind that the only way in or out of town is by air or boat) This winter hasn’t helped either. We have broken every weather record so far. Broken? No, that’s not right. Totally blown out of the water is more appropriate. For the first time in the nearly 50 years I’ve lived in SE AK the roof had to be shoveled (it was literally chest deep up there) and for awhile we didn’t have to draw the drapery because the snow blocked the windows. We still have 2 1/2 or 3 feet of compacted snow/ice in the back yard. My poor husband has moved tons of snow and chopped literally 4+ inches of ice in front of the house making a path through the forming glacier just to get to the mailbox. It’s been so cold that even when it rains it barely melts anything. Consequently the storm drains have been plugged and the runoff caused ‘nuisance flooding’ AKA submerged sidewalks, parts of roads, low areas, basements etc. The sump pump under our house ran nonstop for days. I considered getting some cave dwelling fish to put down there for a little fresh catch du jour.
Well now, this is way longer than intended. :woman_facepalming: Spring is on the way, the days are getting longer and we have the occasional night that doesn’t freeze. What more could anyone want?

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Oh! I forgot about the dried tea bag query. I can’t think of anything other than compost or just working it into the garden beds. I know spent coffee grounds are great for the beds. Worms love them. And unless you have mountains of the stuff it shouldn’t really raise the acidity. We tend to have fairly acidic soil because of all the rain we get and if I go to the trouble of keeping spent tea and coffee I put it in my flower beds just to encourage worms.

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Well you asked for it Amos…here’s my griping:

#1 I had chronic nausea for over 5 weeks. went to several docs and they have no ideas what was wrong. The nausea stopped about 5 days ago, but I’m still getting an endoscopy in April.

#2 I’ve had several flares about 10 days apart. Still recovering from my most recent flare that started with sleeping over 20 hours. I’m still very fatigued and sleeping lots.

Holy cow! Winter was very rough

You ought to see the pictures I took ‘documenting’ it. :flushed:
We know how to have ALL the fun. :crazy_face:

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Thanks for contributing, misery loves company! I can’t decide which is better, long mildish flares or short bursts…as if we have a choice!