The Real Rheumatoid Disease Archives | Page 7 of 19 | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

5 Reasons Rheumatoid Disease Is a Better Term than Rheumatoid Arthritis

April 18, 2012May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 19 Comments Comprehensive RA Care, Rheumatoid Arthritis awareness, Rheumatoid Disease (RD) better name for RA

The first blog post of this year told how I’ve come to prefer the term Rheumatoid Disease to Rheumatoid Arthritis. The response? Within 2 days in Facebook-land, there were 294 Shares, 583 Likes, and 128 comments. There are now 1,000 Likes, 500 re-Tweets, and 80 blog comments. That’s people voting with their mouse: Yes. But as...Continue reading 19 Comments » Read more

It’s Just Pain, Right? No, Dr. No, It’s Not

April 11, 2012May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 26 Comments Pain Tolerance / RA Stoicism, Rheumatoid arthritis pain, Unrelenting RA - Persistent disease

No, it’s not just pain A letter from a fellow warrior reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to blog about since last summer. Today was technically my last day in the clinical trial. They were supposed to call me to check once more for adverse events because it’s day 210. Everything happens on a certain...Continue reading 26 Comments » Read more

It’s Simple: Who Gets Dactylitis or “Sausage finger”?

April 4, 2012May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 32 Comments Psoriatic Arthritis, Research on Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, Spondyloarthropathy

Dactylitis and diagnosis A woman I know is an educated patient who has worked hard to make certain she is diagnosed and treated appropriately. Recently, she showed pictures of swollen fingers to her rheumatologist and had her diagnosis changed again. Her doctor explained that the swelling in her photo looked like dactylitis or “sausage finger.” Her new...Continue reading 32 Comments » Read more

What’s the Big Deal about Rheumatoid Disease?

February 14, 2012May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 37 Comments Death and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis awareness, Rheumatoid arthritis complications

Just how big of a deal is this disease? I suppose the fact that I’ve written several hundred pages about it is a clue to my opinion. Yet, most of those articles were written with intentional restraint, avoiding hyperbole, at times even understating my own symptoms in an attempt to be more judicious. Many view Rheumatoid...Continue reading 37 Comments » Read more

Crossing the Language Barrier of Pain Scales: #Rheum Blog Carnival

January 9, 2012May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 27 Comments Blog carnival, Rheumatoid arthritis pain

If you either live with or study a rheumatological disease, then you know that pain is a ubiquitous symptom and an essential factor in evaluating disease activity. “Pain is a most important indicator of clinical status in rheumatoid arthritis (RA),” Arthritis and Rheumatism. While pain is the most obvious sign that something is not right,...Continue reading 27 Comments » Read more

We Refuse to Be Mislabeled: Updating Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) to Rheumatoid Disease (RD)

January 3, 2012April 20, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 100 Comments Rheumatoid Arthritis awareness, Rheumatoid Disease (RD) better name for RA, Rheumatoid Patient Foundation

Three years ago, I saw Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients insisting that the name of the disease needed to be changed. They argued that until the “a” word is removed from the name, confusion about the disease will continue. When asked, I said that we could not wait around for that to happen; let’s work for...Continue reading 100 Comments » Read more

Pass the Pickles – and the Croutons

December 28, 2011May 15, 2018 Kelly O'Neill 24 Comments Rheumatoid Arthritis awareness, Rheumatoid arthritis fatigue

Did 2011 seem about four months long? If it were an all-you-can-eat salad bar, I’d want a refund. It went by so fast I think I only got to the pickles. This month I’ve been more sleepy and fatigued than usual. It might be recovery from traveling the last few months. Or it could be this...Continue reading 24 Comments » Read more