Maybe I was being dense but... while I was all eager to have slender arms and redistribution and other perky benefits I didn't anticipate being unable to open jars. I don't mean just one jar, but now three jars of jam (different brands) I tried to open yesterday and today using every possible amount of strength. Fail.
I've only been on HRT 7 months, although things seem to have accelerated in the past month. My HRT prescription didn't include a testosterone blocker and I got rid of a couple things (had GCS) a month ago.
So I'll ask a clueless question. Is this normal? I expected occasional difficulty with heavy lifting but... every jar in my kitchen?! If I stop eating I'll be even less capable of opening a jar.
I have to have my wife open even a bottle of water for me. It is probably partly due to hrt but I do suffer from spinal stenosis at c7 and it can cause weakness sometimes when it flares.
Smiles, Jess
Just run them under hot water. :)
But seriously, I used to be able to lift just about any double wide refrigerator into my van. After about six months that became an impossibility for me. Now all I can handle is a single wide.
$2 strap wrench set, a girls best friend in the kitchen.
Hugs, Devlyn
Wow girl, yes, what is with that??? It used to be funny to have to call our son over to do the heavy lifting but now it can be an inconvenience to not be able to open a jar of peanuts without a hammer. Devlyn has the answer, we need to acquire the proper tools to get the job done. But this is no justification to have a man around the house!
Tia Anne
I use a knife to pop the lid open, with air? I was always skeptical when my mom did that because of obvious safety reasons. But the strength lost there's a bit of dexterity gained. At least I tell myself [emoji6]
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I've never been able to open jars, lift the microwave, carry the vacuum upstairs, etc. But that's what guys are for.
I've always had to give the lid a bash with the back of a knife to open them. I've never been able to open stiff doors either.
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I am the go-to jar opener. If I can't do that anymore ................ pop-tops!!! No pop-top, put it back :)
Before I started working out again my grip strength had gotten pretty weak too. Now though I don't have any problems.
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In the past, before 3 years of HRT, I had strong arm and a strong grip, I could always open any jar no matter how tight the lid was. Now, I have to use those little rubber gripper things and still can have problems. I don't bang the lids on the counter top or with the back end of a table knife any more, I have broken a few jars that way.
If you have an old "church-key" can opener, just use the blunt end (the end used to pry off bottle caps). Engage the blunt end under the top of the jar lid and just slightly lift up, just enough to bend the side of the jar top out a smidgen. Then rotate the jar sixty degrees or so and repeat the process until you've gone all the way around the top.
Only takes a minute and it opens 'em every time!
Don't bend the top too much at any one location around the top or the jar won't seal well when you put it away.
Quote from: itsApril on February 20, 2018, 01:54:49 PM
If you have an old "church-key" can opener, just use the blunt end (the end used to pry off bottle caps). Engage the blunt end under the top of the jar lid and just slightly lift up, just enough to bend the side of the jar top out a smidgen. Then rotate the jar sixty degrees or so and repeat the process until you've gone all the way around the top.
Only takes a minute and it opens 'em every time!
Don't bend the top too much at any one location around the top or the jar won't seal well when you put it away.
My wife taught me that using a spoon handle on a mason jar lid I couldn't open a few weeks ago. It was really stuck with some rust that had gotten between the lid and the jar.
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There's only been a small number of jars I couldn't open in all the years before HRT. I usually wouldn't ask anyone to open a tough one for me, I'd get a tea towel and use that to dull the pain till I got it.
Jars have got easier to open these days, but I do not know why. It's not like my wrists or hands are any bigger. Possibly the tendons are tougher, but there's no way to tell and I doubt they are on me. It's all in the grip I guess.
What my sister and I have done is to use a square of rubblerized open weave shelf liner to grip the lid. It really holds well and increases the grip on jars. Use one for the lids and if need be another for the jar.. I also use a piece in my pickup to keep the inverter and kleenex boxes in place that sit on the transmission hump. It will work for keeping things from sliding around on the dash too.
(https://i.imgur.com/ayz4Pi2.jpg)
A couple of years ago my dad got my grandma an electric jar opener. It sets on the counter and you put the jar under it and this thing closes around the lid and turns it. She totally loves that thing. If I didn't have guys handy most of the time I would get one myself.
I could not open a jar of pickles I ended up dropping it and it smashed on to the floor so I did not have to open it. I am glad I am not the only one having this problem
Most of the time I can get containers open but in the past when I couldn't, I would have my roommate hold the bottom and with both hands I had the grip to take the top off. A few weeks ago I needed to open a gallon pickle jar and I almost couldn't get the lid off by myself. I guess it's time to visit Home Depot and take Devlyn's advice.
I couldn't get a soda bottle open at work so I asked my boss. He said "You have to open them like a girl now. Hold it from the bottom, not the sides." To my surprise it works like a charm. :)
Hugs, Devlyn
Way too much of the time, I have to use a giant channel-lock plier to open jars. If Phillip is home, I have him open them. It helps to have 16 inches of leverage and strong steel jaws for those pesky jars.
It has happened to me too! It is amazing how the simplest tasks are more difficult. I have had to pull out this rubberized disk that we use to put on top of jar lid. It allows for better grip. I use it or just give the jar to my friend!
So I dug through my tool box and found an oil filter wrench. Don't worry it's not too dirty, sort of.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mkq4cxm0cf5ju6/2018-02-20%2018.19.47.jpg?raw=1)
Five second rule comes into play, if it's been more than five seconds since the last oil change, you're good! :laugh:
Quote from: Kendra on February 20, 2018, 08:26:31 PM
So I dug through my tool box and found an oil filter wrench. Don't worry it's not too dirty, sort of.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mkq4cxm0cf5ju6/2018-02-20%2018.19.47.jpg?raw=1)
That is a perfect idea Kendra I am going to go buy myself one
Quote from: Devlyn Marie on February 20, 2018, 08:29:38 PM
Five second rule comes into play, if it's been more than five seconds since the last oil change, you're good! :laugh:
Good quality synthetic 10W-40 causes fewer zits.
Kendra's post got me thinking on me losing my upper body strength in a massive way, as in maintaining my property and vehicles and self defense, since I cannot rely on brute strength anymore, so I rely on leverage and technique and strategy, as taught to me by the martial arts(Brazilian jujitsu and military combatives). Yes, the first telltale sign for me was not opening jars and I went oh o, so I had to re engineer myself in my concept to approach life and things.
I like to do things around the house, fix my cars, et al. Opening jars have become a hassle for me too, but Devlyn provided the proper answer(maybe I'm way overblowing this, but NO, you don't need a man to do things around the house/wherever, except for a minute few things). You just need the proper tools, leverage, techniques and strategy. For example, the other day, I had to reinforce a sheetmetal fence due to high cold winds. Now, I cannot lift up a 90lb cement bag like I used too, so I cut the cement bag in half with a shover, and shoveled dry quick drying cement into a wheelbarrel, got extra fence posts, axe pick, and shovel and away I went to fix my fence, then it started to hail, cold ice/water, girlfriend held an umbrella over herself and cement in the wheelbarrel(so as not to harden the cement, as I was completing the project), not me, as I completed the project.
To build or repair a abrams tank or a skyscraper, you need the proper tools, leverage, techniques, strategy and human beings(men or women). Myself and my girlfriend(gg/very feminine), do just fine, maintaining my house/cars, even if she just looks over me to give me glass of water/sandwich or my wellbeing, while I'm fixing around my property.
Sorry if I went into a tangent, but gender has nothing to do on ability to do things around anywhere, reminds me of a show called "girls garage" on the velocity channel.
My 2 cents...
I have noticed a decrease in upper body strength. I am still the go-to person in our house for all the guy jobs, including opening jars, but I do notice that it is more difficult now.
One trick on jars... Regardless of whether you are right-handed or left-handed, always grasp the jar on your right hand and the lid in your left hand.
Why, you may ask? Well, there is a reason why most screw-threads, are right-handed (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey). It is because most people are right-handed, and the right hand has more leverage when turning clockwise. So clockwise threads are used on things that need to be tightened, including jar lids.
The left hand, conversely, has more leverage when turning counter-clockwise, so it works better at loosening right-handed threads. Regardless of which hand has more strength or dexterity, the left hand will be better able to grip the lid when turning it counter-clockwise.
Quote from: KathyLauren on February 21, 2018, 07:02:00 AM
> Regardless of whether you are right-handed or left-handed, always grasp the jar on your right hand and the lid in your left hand.
Cool! I'd never thoughta that and the logic makes sense.
OMG Kendra! The filter pliers are awesome!!!! Logic escaped me for a bit. Heather and I have both had jars we cannot open and it is kind of frustrating. Luckily, we have a totally cool neighbor that will take care of it for us when the need arises. A few years ago, there were no commercially distributed jars I could not open...that just is not so anymore.
Had to laugh the first time it happened.
I haven't noticed much strength loss. I keep a very active job and most of my hobbies involve outdoor stuff so my arms get a constant work out. Plus I have a few of those hand grip strengtheners that I use quite a bit.
Quote from: Kendra on February 20, 2018, 08:26:31 PM
So I dug through my tool box and found an oil filter wrench. Don't worry it's not too dirty, sort of.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mkq4cxm0cf5ju6/2018-02-20%2018.19.47.jpg?raw=1)
That thing looks like a torture device. Scared of you. Lol
QuoteThat thing looks like a torture device.
Perhaps it could be used for a DIY orchi. ;)
Yes Kendra, you have to use any of the housewife's tricks. Running under hot water, tapping with a spoon all help. Watched my mom and grandma do that countless times when I was a kid.
Or your oil filter pliers, whatever works.
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I never had a problem but after I saw this thread the first two jars I tried to open gave me fits. First one I had to use a wet rag, the second came off before it got that bad.
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Sometimes other containers can be hard to open.
Prescription bottles at times have caps that are not as easy to remove as you would like,
although easy open caps are available.
Rubberized types of gripping cloths often help to get a firm grip on jar caps.
Chrissy
Oil wrench and channel locks for anytype of jars and prescription bottles.