Living

Stress is a hot-button topic for people with chronic illnesses. Stress is gasoline on the fire of autoimmune symptoms. No matter where our disease activity currently sits, stress will magnify...

People who don’t need accessibility often don’t notice it or don’t appreciate the tenuous nature of it. They think any ramp is accessible or moving something to a different location...

Over the years, I have purchased, borrowed, and/or rented a variety of tools and devices to make life with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) go a little smoother.  Some have been amazingly...

I guess I've been writing a series of articles lately on my story and experiences with getting diagnosed with some endocrine disorder. The possibilities have varied widely: from Cushing's to...

Over the years with my RA diagnosis, I have tried many medications. I tried many of the TNF inhibitors, the JAK inhibitors, DMARDs, NSAIDs, and good old-fashioned steroids, all with...

COVID-19 has brought a lot of darkness into our lives and I feel like 2020 was a lost year of terror, stress, confusion, anxiety, and isolation--and of course a lot...

I’m old enough to claim that I had to walk ten miles to school both ways in a snowstorm every day, but I’m not too old to have a disease...

Over the years, I’ve learned that my footwear choices directly impact my rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. This has often meant accepting that the cute or trendy shoes being worn by...

Invisible illness. I’ve always hated that term. Why? Because illness is always visible to someone, and in most cases, it’s the person who has it. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is number...

We all live very busy lives. There is always something to be done, someone who needs help, projects that need finishing. From the moment we wake up to the moment...

So lately, I have had trouble focusing my attention on RA management when it comes to sorting out how to deal with some issues I am now attempting to address. ...

Like many people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), I look forward to summer. I live in the southwest United States and the summer here is magical. Dry weather, beautiful skies, and...

Do you have any idea how many times walking is mentioned on this website? Yeah, me either. I searched for walking on the community website, and I got 138 pages...

Can you believe it's June? That means summer is here! Or, for those of us who live in Florida, summer has been here since the last week of March. It's...

It’s not just you and me, the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on people with disabilities according to research published recently in the Disability and Health Journal. “New Obstacles and...

Smack dab in the middle of our long trying to conceive journey, the root of my chronic pain was given a name: rheumatoid arthritis (RA). I was totally shocked that...

Do you remember that feeling you had when you were riding on a swing as a child? I know that I certainly do. I clearly remember in my childhood the...

Receiving a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not something anyone really wants to experience. It's debilitating and causes so many other health problems including heart problems, lung problems, and...

I’ve asked myself this question regarding several of my doctors, perhaps too many times, in recent years. As a person who lives with multiple chronic diseases, primarily rheumatoid arthritis and...

I have been reading a lot latterly about our community members and their issues with family. It can be anyone – cousin, grandparent, even a pet. But more often than...