Living

Cats are very perceptive animals. In my case, my cat, Missy, always seems to know when something is wrong with me, both physically and mentally. When I'm stressed, I find...

Recently, I was sitting in the waiting room of one of my doctors’ offices, and I whispered to my husband Richard, “I’m not scared. I’m terrified.” He reached over to...

One of the perennial challenges of living with rheumatoid arthritis is the question of maintaining the current status of treatment and management choices. Is there a point at which it...

Seronegative. What does that word mean? While it may sound like something you don’t want to catch, it actually is just a fancy word for the fact that some people...

"Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list." --Patti Digh I came across this quote by author and speaker Patti Digh on a Facebook page I...

I’ll never forget the day I put on my first pair of tap shoes and ballet slippers. I was 6 and that day changed my life forever. Throughout the years...

My apologies to those of you who cringed at the grammar. My southern is showing! We deal with so many issues related to a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. Pain, joint deformity...

The RheumatoidArthritis.net community forum is an insightful resource filled with thoughtful questions, tips, and perspectives. Each month we are sharing 5 forum discussions we think deserve extra attention. Explore the...

Do you ruminate? Wow, I do, and I hate doing so. For those who are unfamiliar, rumination is replaying words, events, or situations over in your mind. It is like...

Hey, are you feeling stressed? Is life stressful? Is it the good kind of stress or the bad kind of stress? Does that really matter? Confession: I’ve been feeling a...

Many community advocates on our site have discussed a variety of complications that come from having RA. From heart problems to high cholesterol to random joints that swell out of...

Even though experiencing “good times” with RA may seem out of reach, I have found that when those good times happen, it is crucial to embrace them, take the opportunity...

Since I don’t drive and use a motorized wheelchair for mobility because of my rheumatoid arthritis, accessible transportation options are essential for me to get to doctors appointments, run errands...

Before I was a mother, I dreamed about all of the things that I would do with my children. From thoughts of carrying them on my hip through stores, chasing...

The cause and history of RA are widely unknown. Researchers believe RA may be due to a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors that together affect the body. Studying...

After over two and half years of the pandemic, I finally caught the virus. I tested positive after attending an in-person event and feeling a slight tickle in my throat...

“Invisible illness.” There’s been a lot of talk about this increasingly inaccurate phrase lately. Many of our community members tell stories about how their rheumatoid arthritis affects their daily lives...

As we continue to deal with direness of our present condition, I've noticed that the brain fog I've written about in the past is not only still here, but seems...

My fingers on both hands have begun to swell, throb, and ache again, and I can feel them stiffening into a curled, locked position as I type this article. Each...

Today I realized something that has become a valuable lesson… again. I realized that I’m very good at determining how much I am capable of, what my physical limits are...