I can't believe how much energy goes into making a bed !! I made mine yesterday and was more or less 'out of it' for the rest of the day. Even today after a good night's sleep I'm still a bit tired. No wonder I don't often remake the whole thing, I had forgotten that even before PMR it took the wind out of me! Now with PMR it is a major operation not to be undertaken lightly!
Bed Making!: I can't believe how much energy goes... - PMRGCAuk
Bed Making!
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stellafmdm
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PMRproAmbassador
I can only change the bedding in stages! Anything that involves use of arms finishes me altogether!
Me too, that's what husbands are for
You jest?????????????????? I have to explain every step of him holding the corners of the duvet and cover so I can do the rest...
Jeff was just amazed at how hard it was! One of the better aspects of PMR is the division of labour that has resulted, no more his or her jobs.
• in reply toscats
Watch it though, the more able you become the more you find you're back to doing it all!!
scats• in reply to
I don't know it's been three years now and he already automatically checks to see if there's any washing as he knows I can't manage the stairs while carrying it. I'm hoping I've got him trained ( fingers crossed! ) but I'm always watching for signs of needing reinforcement.
Always wonder why there have been new discoveries to make it easier....like laying the duvet on an open cover and maybe zip up the sides.....just a silly thought.....
OH does the bottom fitted sheet, I do the rest....very slowly, then lie on top exhausted...
We have separate mattresses....shift work over the years and back problems....separate duvets too, can`t beat it.....
So do we - but one double sheet these days, I used to use 2 singles but struggle to get ones that fit our rather thin foam mattresses - light enough for me to move!
It’s a lot easier to use sheets and blankets like we always used to do? At least that is what we do in summer, we just leave everthing “hanging”.
Yes I agree....I have never seen the logic is in duvets.....if someone said we are going to invent something that can be added or taken away in summer/winter......well....it makes sense!....sheets and blankets!.....👍
I do sometimes use just the cover but I detest double sheets and blankets - I can't get my feet outside the way I like. Nightmare when we visit family in the UK! Some of whom have double winter-weight duvets into the bargain!
Don’t be too hard on him - he thinks on a higher scale.😂😂
Me too lol. It's quicker to do it yourself isn't it . Even with PMR
I totally agree!!!!!!!
I said if l lived on my own I’d buy a sleeping bag & roll it up each day!
Terry makes a good bed just not so hot on pillows & cushions, sometimes he develops bed dressing in ways that are unique 😂 but I mustn’t complain, or l may have to buy that sleeping bag! 😂
I'm glad I'm not the only one, I've got GCA. I do the pillow cases and sheet and have to sit down for a rest before I tackle the duvet cover
OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I know, right!!!!! I used to try to do it alone, but now I get OH to help... we have a King sheets and Duvet, it sucks all the energy right out of me!!!!
I've been trying to train hubby for many years, the rule being, whoever gets up last makes the bed. Unfortunately for hubby it's usually him. Unfortunately for me he believes making the bed means more or less pulling the bedclothes up and tossing bedspread on over the wrinkles. I have to tidy the whole mess up at bedtime. I too find changing the sheets utterly exhausting. I timed it one day and it takes fifteen minutes. Followed by recovery time.
Making beds is way overrated.
Especially if you need hospital corners...
However, standing at the bottom of the bed, a quick pull and shake of a duvet and pullng it flat, folded in half - that I can manage! It's putting clean covers on that's the pain but at least that doesn't happen every day!
Oh I can relate! When my shoulders were bad, making the bed was excruciating not to mention exhausting.
This brought tears to my eyes. I thought I was the only one this happened to. Much solace reading your post and the replies—changing the bed, doing dishes, laundry, watering flowers, tidying up—too much for me, exhausted. It’s just hard to imagine the change that this illness has brought about. Thank you for sharing, makes me feel I have kindred spirits out there.
Same sentiment here. My 13 year old granddaughter helps me with vacuuming and bed changes for a bit of pocket money.
So happy I'm not alone in this Twopies, I feel for you too!
I do ALL housework in10 minute ‘bursts’, then I rest/read/write letters, whatever - always 30 minutes before the next burst.😀 It’s amazing what you can do if you know it will only last 10 minutes.
That’s the part that I find mind boggling, Constance13 and the part my mind won’t/can’t/doesn’t accept. My whole life I’ve been a morning person, not anymore. I keep researching—pmr or pred? There are arguments on both sides, not to belabor the point here, it’s been discussed a lot; I guess my only point is I know exactly what you are saying, just wish I were better at accepting it without being so darn frustrated with the whole situation. Hugs to you and thank you!
It’s the putting the fresh sheets on the bed that gives me the most trouble, especially the fitted sheet, trying to align it properly and pull it down the corner of the mattress perfectly and repeat 4x hoping they all stay and don’t require further adjustment. This is made worse by the proximity to the wall and night stands.
I abandoned perfection many years ago! My fitted sheets are jersey or other stretch fabic - plain cotton fitted sheets are evil...
I agree. Completely evil, and to make matters worse, we have an extra thick mattress so the fitted sheets have the extra deep pockets which are murder. The joints in my fingers and bones in my hands ache just thinking about it! If my husband had his way we’d never make the bed. I’m the extreme opposite. I make the bed immediately upon rising no matter how badly I feel and regardless if I’m going to lay back down an hour later to take a nap. Sick and wrong, I know.
I understand that. The thing is, even if nothing else gets done "at least I made the bed"!
Yes exactly! I’ve always been that way as long as I can remember. If I start my day completing a task it sets the tone for the day and as you said even if nothing else gets done, one thing got done. My husband knows after all these years, if the bed’s not made, we are going to the hospital. 😕
Not relevant, but.... Your comment made me think of my MIL. She was a wonderful woman and it was lovely someone brought her to my mind again. One of her many sayings was “at least I had clean knickers on”.😂
I lied a little bit I realised - the sheets for the campervan are cotton and fitted! Bought for the children's 2' 6" bunk beds 30-odd years ago and really not used a lot they fit the single mattresses on the twin beds perfectly. The alternative would be flat sheets - and far far worse! But I make OH pull them out from their position to make it easier - and I don't have to do it every week...
I get my son or grandsons to do mine now. It takes so much effort and I am done in for the rest of the day. It is even an effort to strip it in the first place.
Liz.
Me too polymy - for the last three and a half years - but just keep remembering DL's posts, it WILL get better, keep your chin up!
When we have visitors - the bedding is laid on the bed, they may put the covers on! I do usually manage to unfold the spare bed and get the sheet on though!
I love this site 😂.
When I first got PMR and before it was diagnosed, one of the things I simply could not do was to change my duvet cover. My daughter had to do it for me. Then I bought a couple of pairs of old-fashioned unfitted sheets. I now have a top sheet between me and the duvet. When bed changing I remove the bottom sheet and pillow cases for washing and the top sheet becomes the bottom sheet - not terribly unhygienic as I'm using the other side of the sheet - and I replace the top sheet. I'm knackered at the end but not as thoroughly knackered as I would be after changing the duvet cover. To date I haven't bothered to wash the duvet cover and don't anticipate doing so more than a couple of times a year. During the current hot nights, the sheet without the duvet is sufficient. My method is actually the one my mother used all her life, but of course we had blankets rather than duvets. They too were washed once or twice a year.
Same as my mother. We bought her a duvet and covers years and years ago and when we went to visit her she had a sheet under the duvet (I’d never thought of that). Now our duvet covers are changed once a month, the sheets more often of course. OH does the lot.😀
I know - it seems so obvious I don't know why I didn't think of it years ago long before PMR/GCA set in... I'm not going to wash the duvet cover as often as you, but I sleep alone in a kingsize bed so can sleep on each side in turn and then in the middle - different if you're sharing (being single has some advantages although I'd prefer a lovely partner!)
👍🍾🍸💥
As just changing my own -double - bed makes me feel as though I've done ten rounds with Mohammed Ali I find it hard to believe that I used to change four beds every week - two for the children and two for my husband and me - we had the two single mattresses in one frame which was quite usual in Germany. Now I have to have a pause between the sheet and the duvet cover. Though I do find valanced sheets good - if you can find them - you just throw the sheet over the bed and smooth corners into place but the valance at the bottom does need ironing which is another exhausting procedure which I undertake as infrequently as possible.
I've always hated fitted sheets. I use a flat sheet on the mattress. It's far easier to store and to change. I use light cotton quilts in the summer and they can be washed more often. And I recently started using plush blankets in the winter. They are warmer and lighter even than wool.
I've also tossed the entire collection of decorative pillows. They were pretty, but they were a total pain.
Totally agree, I have been staying with three different friends the last ten days, and those pillows, do I put them on the floor, or lay them on spare side is bed, have done both, an invention of style magazines and show houses. Needless to say I don’t have them at home, just four lovely soft duck down ones.
The energy it takes to change bedding🛏 🛌 😬
I have NEVER understood the role of decorative pillows! I get the "pretty" - but what I want my bedroom for is sleeping not showing it off to visitors!
We stayed with OH's cousin a few months ago - she always has bedrooms that look like a magazine set and very nice they look too. But she has moved from a house with decent sized rooms to one with rooms that barely have room for a double bed! There is less than 18in on each side, nowhere to put any luggage, no room for a chest of drawers or the like. And then you are faced with "Where do I put 4 cushions and a comforter(?) cover?"
It will pass like all fads, wonder what will be next. I wonder what these pillows are for? as not very hygienic if others use them.
It's been on the go for an awful long time!
DorsetLadyPMRGCAuk volunteer
Hi,
When my husband died during my GCA journey I decided to get a new bed - we had been thinking about for some time but never got round to it - as you do!
So I bought a small double - more room all round and got one where the head and the foot rises, like they have in hospital. I thought it might be useful in years to come - have arthritis in shoulders - but actually it’s great when changing the fitted sheets. Because both end lift up, the sheet goes on easier and you don’t have to bend so far or struggle to get top tucked in by the headboard.
Just need to find an automatic duvet cover “putter-oner” 😏!
Anyone found an easy way to fold kingsized fitted sheets?😏😏
Anyone found a way to fold kingsized fitted sheets?😏😏
Sorry! Double post. How did that happen? Oh! I tried to correct something.😀
I roll them up. Lay them on the bed, sides to middle. fold in half and roll.
I so agree. My family just don't get how wiped out I am after the slightest physical exertion. I was trying out clothes to go out with some friends. Was so exhausted after just that I was going to cancel. I lay down for a bit but dragged myself out with no makeup or hair done as I was just too exhuasted to do anything else. There should be a light that goes on when we are so depleted to show people how hard it gets sometimes.
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