h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been feeling a bit 'bleah' the last 3 weeks or so. My arthritis has flared up really bad and i'm signed off work for two weeks. It's frustrating as i can't really do much without the pain setting in I also don't get paid for being off work, so money will be tight for the time being.
Anyway i digress.
I went into town today, to get the usual food shopping There are two rivers running through the town and i walk alongside one of them to get to the bridge, which goes to the other side of town. As it was a nice day, i stood looking at the flowing water for a while. Sometimes there are fish swimming at the edge. This time sat on the bank right below me was a female Mallard, she had ten tiny ducklings all round her. They could'nt have been more than a few days old. They were just so cute, i wanted to scoop them all up a cuddle the little fluffy chicks.....awwwww. Seeing the ducklings really brightened my day

Hi Venus,

to hear about your arthritis. I know how painful it is as I suffer from it in my spine and neck. Mine is down to the heavy lifting job I was in some years back, and working out in all weathers which didn't help .

Watching wildlife is very relaxing and the little fluffy chicks are gorgeous .

In the meantime, if you fancy a massage then I will pop down .

All the best.

Nigel

Oh, Venus, I do sympathise. My arthritis has been playing up badly the last week or so. Is yours affected by the weather? Mine definitely is. Mind you, standing all day over the weekend and two days of gardening hasn't helped, but there is no-one else to do it.

I am grateful that I don't work (for pay anyway!) but that must be a bind.

The little ducklings are gorgeous. My other half works somewhere with lots of lakes and ducks, geese and swans. A Canada goose had four 'fluffies' until the other day when one got run over by a car, and now she is down to just one. We don't know what happened to the others, unless the swans attacked. I must go and look at our local lake and see what is about.

Take care, I hope the time off work will help the arthritis if not the bank balance.



Websailor

I'm sorry you're having such health problems (not to mention loss of pay).

It's good if still you manage to enjoy the wonderful things nature holds for us, though.

Hi Venus, it's wonderful how nature cheers us up
There are a few chicks around my garden, not ducklings but a baby blackbird and two fledgling ring-neck doves.

I sympathise with the arthritis I was diagnosed with that at 30, by now I can always tell when it's going to rain
What do you take for it? I used to take cod liver oil tablets, but was told they were next to useless and the neat medicine stuff was much better, but I couldn't stand the taste of that then I found one flavoured with orange and that's not bad! Since I've been taking a spoonful of that a day I've hardly noticed joint pain (much)

Hi all

Nigel.
You should'nt feel sorry for me, you have far more serious health problems to contend with.
Nice to see you back after your stay in hospital.


Webbie.
Thats a shame about the goslings. I wonder if a fox got them during the night. Nature can be cruel at times.

Bel.
I always enjoy seeing any wildlife, despite how i feel at the time. There is something special about seeing baby chicks, butterflies that have just hatched and all other animals and bugs.

Hi GB
Nice of you to drop by.
There a crows nest in the tree beside my garden and when the parents come in to feed the chicks, you can hear them making a kind os rasping sound. Not nearly as cute as other baby birds
I was 33 when i was diagnosed with rhumatoid arthritis, at the time it was quite bad. I had around 5 years of remission, which was great. The downside was, when it started up again and i had to get used to not doing some of things that i could before
I have a host of prescribed medicines i take for my arthritis, none of them are doing a good job just now
My mum used to swear by cod liver oil tablets, like you i found they did nothing for me apart from repeat on me
I always know when it's going to rain too.

Thank you for confirming the 'weather' effect. I am glad it is not my imagination.

GB,I tried the cod liver oil capsules but found the gelatin upset me. I virtuously bought a bottle of cod liver oil (I remember the taste from childhood, so promised myself a treat afterwards!) brought it all the way home and dropped it on the doorstep as I got my key out I must make another attempt as it is driving me nuts.

Like Venus says, Nigel's problems put some of ours in the shade, yet he manages to stay cheerful most of the time

Websailor

Sorry to hear you're suffering, hope the problem is soon brought under control. Sometimes a measure of rest to avoid aggravating the problem plus appropriate diet to supply the right repair factors is the best answer.

I haven't got the rheumatoid arthritis myself (Mother and two sisters do), instead the gouty kind, since I was twenty eight, mostly in remission since with changes in my diet, except a bout of the winter of 2006 - 07. (Pains in the toes before a rain, in the fingers before a freeze.)

Herbals of use for the rheumatoid arthritis; wild yam, a Central American native considered difficult to bring into cultivation. This one often brings the problem under control within a few days. Though the herbal does not contain active corticosteroids, it is rich in the profactors the body needs to make its own. Other dietary sources; raspberry leaf tea, African yams, American sweet potatoes, especially all taken together. Dietary elastin can also help since that's the protein the periosteum membranes that erode with arthritis are made of.

Wishing you the best and with sympathy! I'd throw in a except that its been been my experience most sufferers from rheumatoid arthritis flinch at the prospect.

One of my past special pets was a little duckling that was constantly running to keep up with the flock, growing more slowly than the other ducklings from the clutch. Noticing that he was pecking vainly for grit in the wake of the remainder of the flock, I gave him bone meal with a light sprinkling of sea salt, which produced a marked overnight improvement. In a little over a week he was caught up with the remainder of the flock in growth, no longer a runt.

Ducks do have their hazards. They're grazing animals, constantly craving grasses and other kinds of greens, not really happy with the seeds and grains most other domestic fowl can get by on and so, without care, can be destructive in a garden. I'd worry about your orchids unless they were protected somehow, or the duck(s) were confined. I've never seen more efficient or enthusiastic animated lawnmowers, indiscriminately cropping every green and growing herb and grass accessible to them to a uniform 5/8 inch in height.

Hi Itiwbs.
The ducklings are not in my garden, so the Orchids are safe. They are just starting to bud, so should be flowering in a month or so. I'll have my camera charged and ready

As far as my diet goes, i avoid acidic things as much as possible as they agrivate arthur (my name for arthritis). Also my intake of red meat is very small as too much can also agrivate.
I'm interested in the Raspberry leaf tea, i wonder if they stock it here. I'll have a look in the health food shop next time i'm in town. Oh does it have to be fresh Raspberry leaves, or will ready processed dried tea be ok?
I don't like yams or sweet potato (I thought they were the same thing? )so i won't be eating them any time soon What is deitary elastin?

Dietary elastin? I assume that involves eating stretchy things. Rubbery things. Calamari, maybe.

Eeeuwww! I might aswell eat elastic bands, some taste same texture!

That would put a spring in your step - or your oesophagus.

'Elastin', so called, the stuff that sinews and tendons and protective membranes are made of. The membrane on the inside of an eggshell is composed of it, though it takes a high powered pressure cooker to convert that readily to an edible form. (My grandma had a recipe that used them in bread pudding.) Usually the elastin ends up in the franfurters and hot dogs with process foods.

Things that potentiate; royal jelly on the fourth day of packing with the right protein mix. Strongly accelerates elastin regeneration.

Raspberry leaf tea, I personally haven't any problem with the commercial preparations in the health food stores. Certainly haven't any problem with the fresh gathered leaf either when conveniently available.

Controlling symptoms by means of reducing meat intake... that sounds more like gouty arthritis than the rheumatoid kind, traditional for gout(characterized by sharp pains in the joints, especially finger and toes, like minute embedded shards of glass), avoid red meat except if one has wounds or injuries to heal, especially avoid glandular meats. We've certainly got both kinds of arthritis linked in my family.

Yams and sweet potatoes, respectively of African and American derivation. Superficially similar in appearance, closely related botanically, but the yam is more slender and has a strongly orange colored flesh, almost carroty, while the sweet potato is of more robust proportions and has a lighter, almost yellowish flesh. Very similar in flavor, interchangeable in cooking except for color. I used to detest them until I got into my forties, then I started craving them. Nowadays, I often use a candied recipe for a late night dessert, just before bed along with a cup of (barely) warm milk.

By the by, the "yuk" hyperlink took me to the Smileys page. Was that where it was supposed to go?

It's definately rhumatoid, i was diagnosed years ago. It's not sharp needle like pain. It's swelling of joints, in my case all the joints which is painful. This can be accompanied by a fever, sore throat and all the joints feel like they are on fire, does'nt that just sound like a whole bunch of fun!
I was told by the specialist not to eat alot of red meat, this has never been a problem as i'm not that fond of it anyway.
I don't think i could eat Yams, even if they were candied. The only place i've even seen them here is in ethnic food shops, there are none in this town.
I'm a bit cunfused by your query about the 'yuk' do you not see it as a smiley?

Somehow, the "yuk" came up as a hyperlink, blue rather than black script that linked to the smileys page.

I've got to . Appointment to get to.

You know my sympathy and appreciation for how deeply "arthur" impacts on your every-day life, m'dear. And that simple diet alterations are, at best, cosmetic touches to the regimen of meds you need.

I also know how a giggle of fluffy ducklings can make you melt into a puddle of 'ooooooh' and 'awwwww'. Most endearing, good Lady.

Just checking back. Everything is going okay? At least I hope so.

Hi ITIWBS
I'm not doing too bad thanks for asking
This week i went to see the specialist, he gave me steroid injections to try and give me a boost. They were really painful and still sore now. I can't feel any eefects yet, it takes a week or so for it to kick in. I'm hoping that will be enough to settle things down again.
I bought some raspberry leaf tea, so far i've had one cup.....ummmmmm i think it's an aquired taste and i havent aquired it yet How many cups of this tea am i meant to be drinking a day? I don't think i could manage more than one

How are things with you? I hope everything is going well.