Driving with RD and other tidbits

Rheumatoid Disease is a difficult condition to see with the naked eye, probably because we cannot see pain. 

I have a handicap placard for my windshield. I use it when I am feeling the most amount of pain. Despite the fact I try not to park the spaces closest to the store, because I know there is someone out there who is worse off than I am, people still give me looks of disbelief. When I get out of my car, the first thing I search for is a shopping cart. I hate when I have to use my husband's or children's arms for support to get into the store. Even if I am simply going into the store to window shop, I use a cart. Call it a security blanket, but I would rather have something to "lean" on than be begging for help walking.

Lately, driving has become somewhat of an issue. Grasping the steering wheel is not an easy feat. Then, if there is any type of traffic, changing my foot from gas to brake and back again causes my hip, knee, ankle & feet joints to scream and beg me to stop. Short drives are a little easier, but if I have to stop at a light for a period of time, I find using both feet on the brake (one to support the other) really helps keep pain at bay. And that is just scratching the pain surface of driving.

As we all know, RD and many other autoimmune diseases come with fatigue. Not the fatigue you feel when you are sleepy, but the fatigue you feel when you have the flu. The one that slows breathing to a minimum, weakens muscles, decreases reaction time, and makes keeping eyelids open a monumental task. Yet, the brain is still running at full speed. The days when I am at a 9 out of 10 on the fatigue scale I created, I am terrified to drive. 

I recently asked on social media how others with similar issues handle driving. What do they do to assist them? I received one response, the person gave up driving completely and uses public transportation. If the school district did not charge for bus transportation to and from school(s), I would consider it, however we don't even have a public transportation system where I live. I would be required to call a taxi if I needed to pick my children up from school or if they had an emergency. It just is not a viable option for me. I do not live close enough to family to receive their assistance, and I am pretty much the only one on our road who doesn't work, so relying on neighbors is out of the question.

I know this blog is a little bit all over the place. That may be in part due to my fatigue. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

K