Re: RE: HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS?!

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

This is in VA, catching up on the emails sent this week.

Dealing with a chronic illness like arthritis is important, and different for each person.

For the new people, here's a little background about me: I'm 25 and I was diagnosed with Reactive arthritis in 1999 when I was 22. Reactive arthritis typically affects one side of your body (usually your dominant side) and is triggers by a simple infection. For me, it was uvitis, an eye infection similar to pink eye. RAA also typically affects men over the age of 40 (leave it to me to be different!)

I have tried almost every medication available. My current meds are: Azulfidine EN, Methotrexate, Folic Acid, Ibuprofen, Prednisone, and Remicade. For me, Remicade is my "miracle" drug. It reduces by pain and inflammation and helps with my fatigue!

As you probably know, all medications have side effects. One of the crucial decisions you must make is whether potenial side effects are worth risking for the opportunity to feel better. For me, they are. My pain & fatigue were mind-numbing and the relief I receive from my meds is worth the risk.

Also, it is important to have a rheumtologist that you can trust & talk with. My rheumy has many great qualities but the most important is that he treats me as a person and asks about my life (relationships, work, family, etc) and doesn't just treat the symptoms. He's a rare commodity and I'm thankful I found him.

For me, I'm a details person -- I love information. When I was first diagnosed I read everything I can find on arthritis (at first in an effort to dispute the diagnosis). It's important to me to know about new meds and how they & the arthritis affect my body.

Other than that, I can a regular schedule -- bed by 10pm, up by 6:30am. I take a hot shower in the morning to soothe my joints. I eat small snacks throught the day to control the cravings of my prednisone. When my body is up to it, I walk, do yoga or ballet (I was a dancer before I got arthritis). Most importantly, I plan my days and make decisions about what I can and cannot do. They are hard but necessary decisions.

Finally, I educate people about arthritis and how it affects me. For the 1st 6-12 months after I was diagnosed, I didn't tell anyone besides family & close friends about my diagnosis. Now, I most people know about it (I've even had articles written about me in the local paper, focusing on arthritis. My role is to educate people so that they learn they CAN get arthritis.

Sorry for the long email. I hope it helps you.

Take care,

in VA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls.