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Self-reported Arthritis-Related Disruptions in Sleep and Daily Life and the Use of Medical, Complementary, and Self-care Strategies for Arthritis
Wilma Howard
Arch Fam Med. 2000;9:149.
I was one of the thousands of children who lived on a farm in the early half of this century. Farm work was hard and used every muscle in our bodies. I was a child of a farmer who had to "clear the land" of trees, shrubs, and roots before the field could be planted. All the debris had to be dug up and carried to a pile to be burned. After we had a field cleared, it was ready to plant. The field crops of corn, cotton, and tobacco had to be planted and kept clear of weeds and grass by hoeing. My back hurts today when I think of "pegging" tobacco. The tobacco plants were pulled from a tobacco bed and put in the field with a peg, plant by plant—but I was young with no pain except a weary body. I carried a 19-L bucket of fertilizer up and down the rows of cotton, corn, and tobacco to drop by the side of the plants to fertilize them.
After a day of strenuous work, I looked forward to sleep, that period of complete relaxation and rest from pain, worry, and activity. Many mornings I would tell my "empty bed" that I would be back when my day's work was finished.
After I reached the age of 80 years, my old body seemed to fall apart. I began to ache in my back, legs, knees, and hips. I used anything that I heard would relieve pain, such as lubricating and penetrating oil (WD-40), 9 white raisins per day that had been soaked in gin, ice packs, heat, snake oil, linseed oil, acetaminophen and diphenhydramine (Tylenol PM), "Bone-eez," and, of course, prayer. I finally went to my physician for a pain medication and something to help me sleep.
I believe that if the arthritis pain could be relieved that my sleep and "old self" would be back to normal or near normal again.
Selma, NC
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Self-reported Arthritis-Related Disruptions in Sleep and Daily Life and the Use of Medical, Complementary, and Self-care Strategies for Arthritis: The National Survey of Self-care and Aging
Joanne M. Jordan, Shulamit L. Bernard, Leigh F. Callahan, Jean E. Kincade, Thomas R. Konrad, and Gordon H. DeFriese
Arch Fam Med. 2000;9(2):143-149.
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