Big Setback
Hey all. I had some dissapointing news about my health recently. Long story short thought I was gonna get treatment and I would see improvement but I am not now. I kinda was pinning my hopes on this as life's been tough recently with a lot of mobility issues. Anyways. It is what it is. My question is... Anyone stuck at home what do you do to keep yourself occupied ? Hobbies etc. I need mental stimulation if I can't do much physically now. I am doing number games podcasts etc. Has anyone else got any good suggestions.
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I’m really sorry to hear that this has happened to you, have they given you a reason why you can’t have this treatment? It’s just a suggestion but there’s quite a lot of free online college courses you can do from home, depending on your interests and what you’d like to learn.
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I quite like reading stuff online, mostly about history or science. Wikipedia is one of my favourite sites as you can click through to related articles and find yourself reading about something totally different to what you started on!! A while ago I started reading about nuclear power and by the end of my session was reading about miners' strikes in Northern Ireland in the 19th and 20th century 😆 you can kind of see how I'd get from one to the other but it wasn't what I'd started off intending to read!!
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You could try language learning.
Apps like Duolingo make it good fun as well as being rewarding. Supplement that with watching series in the language (s) you are learning and you can open up the world without worrying about moving.
Online games are good too. I play diablo immortal on my phone. It gives you lots of tasks to do, which are very psychologically satisfying. I need things to occupy myself with now my mobility is kaput and it fills a hole in my life. Plus it has a social element if you want that too. It is a complex game with an entire world to explore providing an engaging level of complexity. Simple games just don't hold my attention. You can play it entirely for free. I went over a year without paying a penny and as it pretty well saved my sanity it is better than any therapy.
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Hi im sorry to hear about your situation. I hope the outlook changes for you. I've been restricted by mobility for 3 years and im at home most of the time and it's tough.
I'm fortunate I can work at home part time for a charity. I was wondering if you thought about doing some volunteering i.e telephone support, befriending such as Age UK, carers organisation, alzheimer's society something like that depending if you have an interest. I find it takes me away from the rubbish happening to me and gives me some mental stimulation. If i'm not feeling well i make up the time later, but i know I'm lucky.The person on the other end of the phone has no idea of my situation and it gives me a purpose, but I still have time to look after myself. There's only so much tv watching, reading, crafting I can do before that wears thin. As people we need a purpose and connection with others is my feeling. If it hadn't been for the pandemic and home working becoming acceptable, i probably would have lost my job. Shame it took a pandemic. You might need to look at finances. I don't know the rules at the moment for doing volunteering if you have benefits, but might be be an option.
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Quite the scale of films, documentaries and TV shows that are available for free on the internet is astonishing ricky1040!
They aren't difficult to find. I've been enjoying piles of them for a few years whilst I organise my own mobility issues and I've barely even touched the edges of what's available.
Audiobooks, radio, you mentioned podcasts. The number and range of them only continues to expand.
As others have mentioned, learning foreign languages can be great fun. I'm a fluent French speaker and student of Cantonese and Russian and I've found free language exchange websites very useful too. Hellotalk, Tandem, Speaky and Conversation Exchange spring to mind. I suggest there are very few better ways to practice languages than actually using them, and in turn you could help other people learn English or whatever else you know. iTalki is another, and there's potential to get paid to do it there.
Virtually unlimited number games and similar are out there. Have you considered exploring forums as a means of discovering new ones?
Have you enjoyed being creative? Art, music, etc are as big as we make them. Countless tutorials are available.
Good luck working stuff out, there's loads available!
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I'm another fan of randomness on the interweb. Follow links from anything you're on, and it will lead to all manner of things - most of them interesting!
Like poster above, I once was looking for a knitting pattern, and ended up being fluent in Giraffe!! < joke, but not far from the truth!
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I love YouTube. I’ve got into psychology and true crime. But I’ve also taught myself to do patchwork and quilting. It’s an excellent hobby for me (I have back issues) and you need to sew a seam and then you have to press it which means constantly moving about, which is excellent for me. You also get the satisfaction from making something useful and hopefully beautiful at the end of it. It can be expensive but there’s ways and means and it’s an excellent craft for men and women alike. Male prisoners and soldiers with ptsd have found it therapeutic. It’s not just a woman’s craft.
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Hey all thanks for the feedback. To answer they thought I may have gauchers disease. Blood work and symptoms where pointing that way. But they had send off for special test from Manchester and it got botched a few times. Anyways it finally came back negative. Imagine being upset at not having a nasty disease lol. But I was very. As there is no cure but is treatment. I would much rather have 15 more awesome years than 30 not awesome. I had plans in my head that when I felt a bit better I'd be doing this and that lol. So when I learnt it wasn't gonna change I was disheartened.
I do lots of the things you guys mentioned. I love Duolingo. Doing Spanish on there. And I play online games a bit too. My family all play rummikub together. It's a good one if anyone else like sit hit me up and we can play together too. I loved walking my dog but I just can't do that at the minute. Even a short one is out of reach. But I get plenty of cuddles from him. He's my no 1. Haha. Do you guys find a great comfort in your animals? YouTube is awesome too. I do a lot of that. And movies. Speaking of which. Anyone recommend their top 3 fav movies? Actually I'll make a new post about movies. But anyways I have had a talk with myself and I am trying to be ok with my limitations. Thanks all for your support.
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Ha ha, your comment r.e. not being diagnosed with something!! I really know where you're coming from. For me, it's like, I know something's wrong so I want them to identify it so they can help me. When a diagnosis comes back negative, it's not the wonderful moment we're meant to think it is - because it absolutely doesn't mean there's nothing wrong, it just means we're back to square one in identifying it 😕
I realise it's hard to see, but at the end of the day if you haven't got the disease it's not a setback, it just means you've narrowed things down and need to explore other avenues. I know it can be exhausting, though, and feel like finding a needle in a haystack
What kind of dog do you have? I do find them comforting, and they're so sensitive to emotions. Our family dog is quite boisterous/assertive but I got home in tears a little while ago and he came up to me and nuzzled me to see what was going on
Have you got a laser pen? Lots of dogs seem to take interest in the dot they make and chase it around the room. If you want to exercise/stimulate your dog without having to move too much it's quite a fun and cheap toy…you can shine it on the floor and stuff and get him running round a bit, I enjoy winding Jenson up by shining it on the ceiling 😆
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Hey yes that's it. It's getting a solution. I'm a problem solver and I can't solve me lol. They know from testing etc I have all these issues. It's putting them all together and finding why. Pain killers etc aren't really cutting it.
But yes it's another thing off the list. Next I'm having a bone marrow biopsy. I'm just glad they are paying attention and really trying to find the cause after 10 years of not knowing. I hope we both get our answers soon.
My dogs a long haired chihauhau. He's called Bently.
He's an old wee man himself now. He's 13. But still looks like a pup. So he's quite contented with the odd short walk and we have a big yard so he can run UK and down there as I have a coffee.
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I'm stuck at home in a small flat 23.5/7. (Can still get out for short walks occasionally.)
I also have vision issues so have to limit the amount of time I spend using screens, which is difficult without having space to do anything practical at home or the ability to go anywhere else.
One thing I do that can get rid of 30-60 minutes at a time is jigsaw puzzles. Don't need to have a large table for them, I just have a folding board that goes across my arm chair, then can be folded up and tucked out of the way when not in use.
There are various places to get cheap jigsaws new as well as used. I can't stand doing the same one twice, so donate mine to charity after they're finished, allowing someone else to get the use from it.
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Gosh with my eyes it be a while new level of difficulty for a jigsaw haha
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@OverlyAnxious you seem to be quite similar to me. Can I ask what is going on with your eyes.you don't have to answer. I had central retinal vein occlusion and glucoma
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I'm afraid I don't actually know what's going on with mine. Can't access health services due to multiple conditions that now make that completely impossible. I did manage to have a partial eye test done back in 2019 but that only showed a slight astigmatism which can't be the reason for the practical issues I experience every day. However, I couldn't keep my body still enough for one of the machines, so at least one part of the test was abandoned after a few attempts. I've also heard others mentioning different tests that weren't even offered to me at the time.
My overall vision is initially good, but often goes blurred or shadowed the longer I try to focus on anything. Also feels like the back of my head is being tightened on a vice at the same time. I really struggle with high contrast like black writing on white paper, or illuminated screens on cooker, washing machine etc. My smartphone is knackered but I haven't been able to adapt to a new one because of this. I also really struggle with artificial light, so tend to sit in the dark in the evenings, only using lights for necessary tasks. I've also lost a fair bit of depth perception, so keep bashing my knuckles on doors when going for the handles for example. But the biggest issue is that I also suffer from vertigo, and that's been made so much more easily triggered by the increase in vision issues. I lost the ability to even drive my own car locally around 4 years ago, and have not been able to travel in any other vehicle since either. I can't even see vehicles travelling along the road or any motion on TV programs without triggering it. Sorry that ended up being a whole novel lol! But I do appreciate it's difficult to find things to do when you have both vision and mobility issues.
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Sorry to hear u going through all this. It's especially hard when you were used to life being very different. But I guess we have to try and make the best if what we have. Do u listen to podcasts at all. I am getting very into those. Pop it on. NO lights needed and didsapear into a different world. I often fall asleep In the other world lol
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I don't listen to podcasts but I do listen to a lot of music. 🙂
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Sorry for not replying for a couple of days, I have a few things causing me extra grief at the moment
That's true about them paying attention, they seem determined to find the cause I suppose, rather than just sending you away
Same here about being a problem solver!! It's easy to solve other peoples' problems, people in the family ask me all the time, and they seem to come back to ask again so I mustn't be awful at it… but when it comes to myself it's like I need the most fundamental things spelling out for me
I think it's to do with being emotionally involved. There's an area of the brain we can't control called the hippocampus that controls emotion, memory and some autonomous functions. When that kicks in we think in a way that would keep us alive in prehistoric times but that isn't helpful today. In people with PTSD that part of the brain has more influence than with other people, which again in prehistoric times, was a healthy adaptation to having your life threatened - because back then it'd probably happen again - but in modern times is probably more of a maladaptation
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@66Mustang you know you have just beautifully articulated a problem I see in myself everyday. I do see myself doing exactly that at times. And I get very annoyed at myself for it. But it makes much more sense now you've youvsaid that
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and about the following up. I am lucky that the doctors I have at the minute seem to really be trying everything to find what's whatgoing on. What was a bit **** was that at GP level I was getting nowhere at all. For years. They just chucked pain killers at me. I then went to hospital off my own bat to a and e through desperation and from that I have been getting a lot better understanding medicine and investigation that was lacking lackinprior
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I'm glad it helped, your comment means a lot actually
It's a good feeling when you get a doctor that genuinely wants to get to the bottom, and won't give up… I don't really know why they're not all like that, I guess like with any job you get people who want to be there and others who don't
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