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The Perfect Fit

A couple months ago I did a post about self image and chronic illness and here is my long promised post about clothing and chronic illness.

Shopping, as it is for most girls, used to be my favorite activity, but somewhere along my journey of medical problems I came to despise it. Braces would make it hard to try things on and I have constant restrictions on what types of shoes I can and cannot wear. On top of that I have to think about what will accommodate my joints, should they decide to swell. Clothing is complicated!

Here are some tips that make clothing easier (at least for me and I hope you too!)

Yoga Pants, these things are my savior, they are very forgiving for muscle mass changes and joint swelling. I probably wear yoga pants. Another bonus about yoga pants is they are easy to put on.

Jeans, these tend to be a no go, although I have found ways to wear them more recently. 1st I have let go of the whole skinny jeans trend. When I buy jeans I make sure they are stretchier and a bit loose in areas that swell (like my knees).

Shirts, when it comes to tops I generally go for cotton shirts that aren't too tight and do not have any buttons.

Dresses, I am not a huge dress person. In general sticking to things that have a bit of stretch and are easy to put on.

Shoes, this is the big one. If you recall I once wrote a whole post about taking back shoes. For a long time I restricted myself to sneakers, but that isn't realistic. Since then I have created rules. I will wear shorter wedges for short amounts of time. I allow myself to wear my boots whenever I want because I love them any they aren't too bad. When I but shoes I do check for arches. My PT has said that is the most important factor so I use it as my gauge.

I also try to buy the same clothing brands cause than I know my size or around it so I don't need to try things on.

Hurt Blogger also has a great post on clothing and arthritis.
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