Communicating about RA Archives | Page 3 of 7 | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

20 Replies to Things Not to Say to an RA Patient

Replies to things not to say to an RA patient (UPDATED) Every day, I hear from many people living with Rheumatoid Disease. This post about things not to say to an RA patient was a response to a request from a dear reader about one of the most popular posts on the blog, 20 Things Not...Continue reading 113 Comments » Read more

Lipstick & Luck: Feeling Fabulous with Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease

December 12, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 47 Comments Autoimmune diseases, Communicating about RA, Rheum Disease in the Media

If we try, will we feel fabulous with Rheumatoid Arthritis? Feeling and looking fabulous with RA sells well, but how much can lipstick help? Most people living with Rheumatoid Arthritis have felt the sting of someone suggesting we don’t need to be as sick if we would only try _____. Hearing this can seem harsh, especially...Continue reading 47 Comments » Read more

When Rheumatology Is Sexy

November 2, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 16 Comments Communicating about RA, Living with chronic illness like RA

If medicine can be sexy the way a new car or an iPhone is, what about rheumatology? Is there anything desirable or exciting there? Possibly, according to rheumatologist Ronan Kavanagh who wrote “The sexiness and cool of rheumatology.” Mostly, rheumatologists examine things that healthy people look away from: disability, deformity, and pain. The father of modern...Continue reading 16 Comments » Read more

Is That Your Final Answer? …or Replying to Misconceptions

October 28, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 98 Comments Communicating about RA, Humor with RA, Talking to doctors

A day filled with misconceptions about Rheumatoid Arthritis / Disease I wrote this post weeks ago when it had just happened. I imagined responses that to misconceptions about rheumatoid arthritis are usually held back in polite conversation. Am I the only one who does that? What if it were a game show… It was a day filled...Continue reading 98 Comments » Read more

By the Way, I Have RA

October 10, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 62 Comments Communicating about RA, Doing Projects with RA, Invisible Illness

I have written about the difficulty of disclosing about RA, especially at events like a Mayo Clinic Center Social Media conference. But we haven’t talked much about the other side: When we explain about RA, do people understand? Not so much. In a recent example, I went through three rounds of explanations about why I could...Continue reading 62 Comments » Read more

Living with (RA) Rheum Disease Is Already Multitasking

September 26, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 18 Comments Communicating about RA, Living with chronic illness like RA, Patient advocacy

Where have you been girl? As this post goes up, I’m in a chair with an IV getting my second Rituxan IV infusion. It’s hard to write about myself, but I really need to keep you informed about what’s going on. Couldn’t someone else report about it for me? None of my kids were willing to...Continue reading 18 Comments » Read more

Can We Find Similarities with Rheumatoid Arthritis?

September 9, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 53 Comments Communicating about RA, Professional patient

Very often with Rheumatoid Arthritis, we emphasize our differences. It helps the newly diagnosed to get over the shock of living with a new symptom every day. It helps explain a fickle disease that is quite unreasonable and undemocratic in its attacks. But what about our similarities? Common threads and similarities in Rheumatoid Arthritis As Bob...Continue reading 53 Comments » Read more