Living with chronic illness like RA Archives | Page 4 of 8 | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

Why say a patient #FAILS treatment when RA treatments fail patients?

RA patients are brave and optimistic, as I’ve said. I’ve never been around such a hopeful, resilient crowd. We continually adjust because the disease is progressive and persistent. And we repeatedly hope for the best because there is always one more treatment or therapy to try. Rolling with the punches gracefully becomes sport for us. We...Continue reading      39 Comments » Read more

Mondini Syndrome Is Just Deafness Like RA Is Just Arthritis. Not.

I was home for 3 hours today in between doctor appointments for my Tiger and I spent that time reading up on his diagnoses. As I drove him to 3 doctors in 2 days, thoughts swirled around and I decided to share some of it with you. This is not about RA, but there are...Continue reading      21 Comments » Read more

Is Rheumatoid Arthritis a Factor in Divorce?

At a meeting of Rheumatoid patients, we heard one describe how her spouse is leaving her as a result of her Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis. Everyone in the room gasped as she recounted how her husband told her that he did not want to be her caretaker. However, I’ve read many sad letters with similar stories....Continue reading      77 Comments » Read more

Leaving It All on the Field: Not the Safest Choice But Maybe Best

Sightseeing, small steps, and sleep I’ve spent most of the last 3 weeks lying down with ice on my neck, or taking extra meds for the back spasms. The night before the FDA tofacitinib hearing, my back got so bad that I was about 90% certain that I would not be able to attend. My little...Continue reading      12 Comments » Read more

FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee Hearing for Pfizer’s RA JAK: Tofacitinb

Advisory Committee hearing feed link My daughter Katie Beth and I are in Washington, DC for the final FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee (AAC) hearing about Pfizer’s JAK, tofacitinib. Early in the morning, Katie Beth and I will be en route to the meeting. The AAC meeting will be broadcast online with a live feed. We’ve been told...Continue reading      27 Comments » Read more

Letting Fumbles Strengthen the Heart

Like most people, I was always proud of what I could juggle and how many balls I could keep in the air at once, while making it look easy. Most of us also know that living with Rheumatoid disease changes that. One by one, I’ve had to put down things I’d rather have continued. I remember...Continue reading      28 Comments » Read more

Tweeting an EMG: Another Way to Research Pain

Really important stuff that I read last week, while researching pain scales, will not be on the blog today. I’ve been thinking a lot about how differently a disease affects us and whether we can honestly communicate about that. When Dana asked for resolutions at the weekly #HCSM (healthcare communications in social media) chat, I said I...Continue reading      24 Comments » Read more

Mission Impossible: Crowd Management with RA

Whether you take mass transit, work at a crowded office, or attend conferences like I have recently, managing in a crowd with RA is challenge. This may be one more mission impossible, should we choose to accept it… It’s hard to explain RA to anyone who hasn’t lived it. Have you ever had a sprained ankle...Continue reading      36 Comments » Read more

When Rheumatology Is Sexy

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

Living with (RA) Rheum Disease Is Already Multitasking

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
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