Advice for Heavy Bracelet or Watch?

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:

Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. This would be
something I wear every day, so it would need a versatile look
and be durable, although I could get two such items for different
looks, if I need to. Normally, I just wear a watch on my left
wrist, and adding a big cuff bracelet would look cluttered. I
also need something that will look okay while giving presentations
in a corporate environment (to engineers - polo or button-down
shirts - not suits, usually). I'd like to keep it within $200.

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.

I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.

--
Marilee J. Layman

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:

Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. This would be
something I wear every day, so it would need a versatile look
and be durable, although I could get two such items for different
looks, if I need to. Normally, I just wear a watch on my left
wrist, and adding a big cuff bracelet would look cluttered. I
also need something that will look okay while giving presentations
in a corporate environment (to engineers - polo or button-down
shirts - not suits, usually). I'd like to keep it within $200.

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.

I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.

--
Marilee J. Layman

Marilee J. Layman wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:


Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.

I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP

"JeanneP" wrote in message
news Marilee J. Layman wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:


Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.

I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP


That last one (bi-metal) sounds good since you mentioned you'd like a
gold-tone piece. Maybe gold inlays or something in SS to keep the price
relatively acceptable and have a partially gold tone.

JeanneP wrote:
Marilee J. Layman wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:



Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.


I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP



In this last post of yours your occupational therapist said,
Quote,
that you might need a weight of about 1lb.
Now you continue to write that your Najavo indian could get a silver
bracelet up to 2 ounces.
Now I make this 1/8th of the advised weight.
My comment is that it is unlikely to do what you want.
Apart from the fact that if its bright and shiny, with your tremors it
will attract attention to it not distract from it.

Lets get back to 1st principles,
Ive given it some thought and suggest you do some experiments first
before you order up your Najavo or any other bracelet.
If you were my customer here id make up( it would only take a few
minutes a cuff type bracelet in say the 2oz weight in a piece of lead
sheet( you can cut this stuff with household scissors.
Id then bind it with electrical pvc insulating tape to keep the lead
from your skin you choose the colour!!, make a small cotton sock cover
for it and get you to try it for as couple of days. the Id repeat this
little experiment till you had a weight on your wrist that did or didnt
do what you wanted.
Cost? well say $10.00 each.
Any plumber who has sheet lead to hand could do the same.
then you would be in the know wether your therapist's advice was
relevant or not.
Knowhow is a great help in finding answers to problems.

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous.

You might want to get in touch with Cynthia Eid at www.cynthiaeid.com.
I've heard through a mutual acquaintance that she's recently done
something exactly like this for a person with the same needs as
yourself. If I remember correctly the bracelet(s) she made weighed in
around 250 grams ... of solid Argentium Sterling silver. To be sure
though you should check with Cynthia, the facts may have been damaged
in transport.

Cheers,
Trevor F.

wrote:
I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous.


You might want to get in touch with Cynthia Eid at www.cynthiaeid.com.
I've heard through a mutual acquaintance that she's recently done
something exactly like this for a person with the same needs as
yourself. If I remember correctly the bracelet(s) she made weighed in
around 250 grams ... of solid Argentium Sterling silver. To be sure
though you should check with Cynthia, the facts may have been damaged
in transport.

Cheers,
Trevor F.

Trevor,

Thanks, I'll contact her! Her studio is about 20 minutes from where I
work, apparently.

JeanneP

Ted Frater wrote:
JeanneP wrote:

Marilee J. Layman wrote:


On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:




Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.


I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP




In this last post of yours your occupational therapist said,
Quote,
that you might need a weight of about 1lb.
Now you continue to write that your Najavo indian could get a silver
bracelet up to 2 ounces.
Now I make this 1/8th of the advised weight.
My comment is that it is unlikely to do what you want.
Apart from the fact that if its bright and shiny, with your tremors it
will attract attention to it not distract from it.

Lets get back to 1st principles,
Ive given it some thought and suggest you do some experiments first
before you order up your Najavo or any other bracelet.
If you were my customer here id make up( it would only take a few
minutes a cuff type bracelet in say the 2oz weight in a piece of lead
sheet( you can cut this stuff with household scissors.
Id then bind it with electrical pvc insulating tape to keep the lead
from your skin you choose the colour!!, make a small cotton sock cover
for it and get you to try it for as couple of days. the Id repeat this
little experiment till you had a weight on your wrist that did or didnt
do what you wanted.
Cost? well say $10.00 each.
Any plumber who has sheet lead to hand could do the same.
then you would be in the know wether your therapist's advice was
relevant or not.
Knowhow is a great help in finding answers to problems.

Thank you for the advice, Ted.

As an engineer, I'm a fan of prototyping to get a "proof of concept"
before investing in the full solution.

The 1lb weight is not the minimum needed to make any difference; it's
merely a handy weight to acquire inexpensively (only a dollar or so for
an exercise band) to wear around the house. I've concluded that the
minimum I require to make any difference is a bit less than two ounces,
and I was thinking that any help at all would be better than no help.

I'm still trying to figure out how much I'm willing to spend for this. I
haven't brought myself to be comfortable with the thought of wearing a
bracelet that will want a rider on my home insurance! On the other hand,
this is a professional issue, so maybe it's a small price to pay. Well,
that's my issue to figure out, not yours. At the end of the day, though,
nothing I wear will make the tremors go away completely, so I have to
make sure that whatever I wear looks natural enough so that it doesn't
attract even more attention to my hand, so I can't go too bulky or
flashy. Whatever I get will have to be a compromise.

I just asked an Indian coworker (from India) about gold jewelry in
India, and how the price compares. He told me there are several Indian
jewelry stores in the area that have better prices than the American
stores, and in his opinion they have better quality. There is nothing
below 22k, he says. He showed me a 22k gold bracelet that he's worn
non-stop for 7 years (even sleeps in it), and it looks like new. I'll
have to check them out too. According to my coworker, if they don't
have what I want, they can probably have it made fairly easily, because
they are extensions of family businesses.

JeanneP

Ted Frater wrote:

JeanneP wrote:

Marilee J. Layman wrote:


On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:




Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.


I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP




In this last post of yours your occupational therapist said,
Quote,
that you might need a weight of about 1lb.
Now you continue to write that your Najavo indian could get a silver
bracelet up to 2 ounces.
Now I make this 1/8th of the advised weight.
My comment is that it is unlikely to do what you want.
Apart from the fact that if its bright and shiny, with your tremors it
will attract attention to it not distract from it.

Lets get back to 1st principles,
Ive given it some thought and suggest you do some experiments first
before you order up your Najavo or any other bracelet.
If you were my customer here id make up( it would only take a few
minutes a cuff type bracelet in say the 2oz weight in a piece of lead
sheet( you can cut this stuff with household scissors.
Id then bind it with electrical pvc insulating tape to keep the lead
from your skin you choose the colour!!, make a small cotton sock cover
for it and get you to try it for as couple of days. the Id repeat this
little experiment till you had a weight on your wrist that did or didnt
do what you wanted.
Cost? well say $10.00 each.
Any plumber who has sheet lead to hand could do the same.
then you would be in the know wether your therapist's advice was
relevant or not.
Knowhow is a great help in finding answers to problems.


Best suggestion so far! good post.

If the lead can't be found, perhaps there are arm weights of varying
size or some type of tubing could be filled with water or sand.

Carl


--
to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)

"JeanneP" wrote in message
...
Ted Frater wrote:
JeanneP wrote:

Marilee J. Layman wrote:


On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:40 GMT, JeanneP
wrote:




Hello all,

I'm looking for a good way to get something really heavy on my
left wrist without looking too conspicuous. [snip]

Here's the reason; I have Essential Tremors in my hands, which
makes me look a lot more nervous than I really am.


I dressed up for a party yesterday and decided to put a very heavy
bracelet on my left wrist. It didn't seem to change how my hands
shake, although mine are related to stroke.


I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with that.

I got the advice about wearing a heavy bracelet from an occupational
therapist I've been seeing. She demonstrated how my tremors can be
helped (although not entirely avoided) with better muscle control, and
gave me exercises to work my shoulders and arms. She also showed me that
if I wear a really heavy weight, like a 1 pound exercise band, on my
wrist, I have better control with fine things, like picking up and
placing pegs with tweezers. It may be specific to my condition, though.

To get back on topic, I found a couple of bracelets I like on
alltribes.com, and spoke with the Navajo there who makes them; he could
use a heavier gauge silver in one of the styles and get the weight up
close to two ounces and stay within my bugdet, which may be a good
compromise between function, form, and price. I also found out an
acquainance of mine is an amateur (non breadwinning) jeweler, and he
said he'd like to make up some drawings for me. He mentioned bi-metal as
something that might work for me.

JeanneP




In this last post of yours your occupational therapist said,
Quote,
that you might need a weight of about 1lb.
Now you continue to write that your Najavo indian could get a silver
bracelet up to 2 ounces.
Now I make this 1/8th of the advised weight.
My comment is that it is unlikely to do what you want.
Apart from the fact that if its bright and shiny, with your tremors it
will attract attention to it not distract from it.

Lets get back to 1st principles,
Ive given it some thought and suggest you do some experiments first
before you order up your Najavo or any other bracelet.
If you were my customer here id make up( it would only take a few
minutes a cuff type bracelet in say the 2oz weight in a piece of lead
sheet( you can cut this stuff with household scissors.
Id then bind it with electrical pvc insulating tape to keep the lead
from your skin you choose the colour!!, make a small cotton sock cover
for it and get you to try it for as couple of days. the Id repeat this
little experiment till you had a weight on your wrist that did or didnt
do what you wanted.
Cost? well say $10.00 each.
Any plumber who has sheet lead to hand could do the same.
then you would be in the know wether your therapist's advice was
relevant or not.
Knowhow is a great help in finding answers to problems.

Thank you for the advice, Ted.

As an engineer, I'm a fan of prototyping to get a "proof of concept"
before investing in the full solution.

The 1lb weight is not the minimum needed to make any difference; it's
merely a handy weight to acquire inexpensively (only a dollar or so for
an exercise band) to wear around the house. I've concluded that the
minimum I require to make any difference is a bit less than two ounces,
and I was thinking that any help at all would be better than no help.

I'm still trying to figure out how much I'm willing to spend for this. I
haven't brought myself to be comfortable with the thought of wearing a
bracelet that will want a rider on my home insurance! On the other hand,
this is a professional issue, so maybe it's a small price to pay. Well,
that's my issue to figure out, not yours. At the end of the day, though,
nothing I wear will make the tremors go away completely, so I have to
make sure that whatever I wear looks natural enough so that it doesn't
attract even more attention to my hand, so I can't go too bulky or
flashy. Whatever I get will have to be a compromise.

I just asked an Indian coworker (from India) about gold jewelry in
India, and how the price compares. He told me there are several Indian
jewelry stores in the area that have better prices than the American
stores, and in his opinion they have better quality. There is nothing
below 22k, he says. He showed me a 22k gold bracelet that he's worn
non-stop for 7 years (even sleeps in it), and it looks like new.

Just out of curiosity, what type/design of bracelet is it? Could you "google
out" something similar (and let me know the link to the picture), cause for
quite some time I've been thinking I made a wrong bracelet choice for
myself - I've been wearing my 14k for 6-7 years 24/7 also, and it doesen't
look anything like new, so I think it's got to do with design. Since
everyone (and science) says 14k is longer lasting than 22k I can't come up
with a better reason. Hope it's not too much trouble. Thnx!

P. S. Without paying any taxes or other fees and paying only 10% extra for
the making, 22k would cost you about 15$ per gram. So for 200 you can't even
get half of an ounce, at best. Besides, it's really eye-catching since it's
almost the color of pure gold, and Indians have very detailed, interesting,
intricate designes which also add to the "I'm here, look at me" effect:-)

I'll
have to check them out too. According to my coworker, if they don't
have what I want, they can probably have it made fairly easily, because
they are extensions of family businesses.

JeanneP