Living

Lately, I’ve been having some cranky days. I really do take seriously my emotional state and how it influences my rheumatoid arthritis. Perhaps it is silly, but I feel staying...

This is the second of ten things I’d like to go back and tell my newly diagnosed self about living with RA. Mae West has been credited with saying, “Too...

On a recent visit to my rheumatologist, we were sitting with a medical student when my doctor asked me to explain how I was two years old when diagnosed. “See...

Have you ever noticed that you refer to your own Rheumatoid Arthritis disease as “my RA”?  It did not start out that way, but I think this sheds some interesting...

Living with a chronic illness often dramatically changes the way you manage routine activities and responsibilities. You might need assistance to keep up with home chores or may need accommodations...

I’m riding a crowded train home from work and a woman behind me sets her bag on my head. I’m sitting in my wheelchair, so I guess it makes sense...

I turned off the dryer and reached in, burying my hands in the deep-heated load of towels that had just finished the dry cycle. Oh, that felt so good! For...

Did you know that oral health and rheumatoid arthritis have the common link of inflammation? Recent research has found that people with RA experience gum disease at a much higher...

The evaluation of the symptoms of a major depressive episode is especially difficult when they occur in an individual who has a general medical condition. — The Diagnostic and Statistical...

It seems each year, around my birthday, I tend to reflect on purpose; more so now as I approach my last 18 months of full time work.  That said, I...

First, let me start by stating that every person with RA is unique and must grapple individually with pain, stiffness, joint problems and all the complexity of the disease. No...

Our riding adventures began last spring when we wheeled Lisa’s new bicycle out of the local REI store and into our car. Before that moment, Lisa had tested several bikes...

Over the years, especially since the onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis, I have come to deeply appreciate slowing down over the course of each day and “pressing the pause button” whenever...

With my voice revealing the nervous tension seated somewhere in my rib cage, I stood in front of a classroom full of undergraduate students for the first time in the...

Part III of a three-part series. When I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), I was taking what was supposed to be my final semester of college. As it turned...

When melancholy sets in, a kind of invisible but thick and heavy fog invades the heart, envelops the body, constricting its very core. All we feel is this constriction, this...

I know. That headline sounds nuts. Who needs to know what to do when she feels good? What can’t you do when you feel good? When you have rheumatoid disease...

Until the last year, wheelchair accessible cabs have been few and far between. In most places across the U.S., they are rare. But I have found them increasing in number...

Exercise, as tolerated, and sufficient sleep and rest, are integral parts of rheumatoid arthritis management. Both in combination can elevate mood (depression affects people with RA at a rate far...

I am R-factor negative and, not only that, all my labs associated with inflammation are always stone-cold normal. This is really frustrating when you go in to your rheumatologist’s office...