Month: October 2014

Adapt and survive definitely not easy

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You might wake up well rested, feeling pretty good. Out of bed.  Start moving.  Your middle toe starts hurting.    A piercing pain shoots through the bottom of a foot.  Just keeps going until every joint in your body in inflamed and in pain. All had been well this last week. Lots done. Exercise class included. Pain level at a simmer. No need for the narcotics. Pleasant. Then blindsided!      Unpredictable!    Discouraging! Now,  it is just hard to exist. Fatigue has joined the rest.  Fatigue feels like an overwhelming exhaustion that makes thinking or doing hard to do. Just simply surviving is hard to do. Each of those joints supporting the 28 bones in each foot cry out for attention. Their chorus is joined by the joints supporting the 27 bones in each hand. Then there are the ankles, the wrists, the shoulders, elbows, and the joints  of the chest bones. To stop is to adapt. There is no choice, not really.  Time for a rest day, a veg out day, time out. …

The RA challenge: Adapt and survive

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“It isn’t the strongest of the species which survives, neither the most intelligent, but rather that which adapts best to change.”  Charles Darwin He must have been talking about rheumatoid arthritis. The most difficult aspect of RA is its unpredictable nature. RA may be simmering.  Suddenly, without warning, a severe fatigue, an exhaustion so bad its immobilizing,  arrives to totally disrupt your day. New severe pain in your right foot makes walking impossible. The simmering pain becomes more than simmering and the constant hurting becomes discouraging. A drug that has worked so well stops working. A very short list of RA’s unpredictable nature. What to do? Adapt and survive. The number  one consideration is your attitude. You will need to come to the understanding that you have a chronic, progressive  illness. It is not going away. And YOU are in charge. You have the balancing act between controlling symptoms of RA and the side effects of medication. You know the importance of RA medication is to avoid crippling disability, which is guaranteed without proper medication. Consider …

A few symptoms of RA

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The only certain thing about Rheumatoid Arthritis is its unpredictable nature. It affects each of us differently and our response to treatment is also unique.  It is  a disease that is considered hard to diagnose. The one who can do it most efficiently is a rheumatologist. Characteristic of RA is small joint involvement.  That is why the joints of the fingers, hands, toes, feet, wrists are frequently affected. Also characteristic of RA is bilateral involvement. That is why the middle finger of the left hand and the middle finger of the right hand might be involved.  Bilateral. Both feet. Both hands. Both ankles. I had problems with my feet for a long time. My primary doctor thought I was too old to have RA. Treatment was delayed and now I have foot damage. I have a hard time walking. When my RA became extremely acute, the pain started in my left shoulder. Soon both hands as well as both feet were affected. And on it goes to most of the joints in my body. How …