Comments on: How To Be Sick: Discussion 2 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/ Thu, 03 Sep 2015 17:55:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3 By: Christina http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6196 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:15:51 +0000 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6196 I was diagnosed 13 months ago, and I still have trouble believing it. Sometimes I just don’t believe I have RA, even though I’m on disability! My brain plays little tricks, like thinking it will turn out not to be RA. This is extremely unlikely, because of my anti-CCP antibody status, which is something like 97% indicative of RA.

Maybe it’s partly because I was first (mis)diagnosed as having Reactive Arthritis, which is usually a shorter term disease (less than a year). The Rheumatologist kept telling me how lucky I was not to have RA, how horrible the RA drugs are, etc. Then he finally decided to test me for RA and the rest is history. But maybe his repeated comments about how lucky I was not to have RA have contributed to my brain’s denial tricks.

]]> By: Toni Bernhard http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6180 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:45:36 +0000 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6180 Jenny – We have so much in common. I suffer from IC too, although I don’t discuss it in the book because it’s been mostly in remission since I got CFS, so I don’t think about it a lot. But when it was bad, it was just so hard to deal with. Funny that you use ice in that area because I used a hot pad!

And I felt the same way about the CFS diagnosis — like it was embarrassing. No one should have to feel that way, but unfortunately, that’s what happens, given the name of the illness. I hope that changes soon.

I hope you find some tools and practices to help in my book.

]]> By: RA Guy http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6179 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:44:24 +0000 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6179 Reaching that point where I learned that I couldn’t control what was happening to my body, but that I could control my reaction to what was happening to my body, was a huge step forward for me. I have a close family member who offered me this exact advice for years…it didn’t sink in immediately, but once it did, I realized that there was actually much more than I imagined still within my control.

]]> By: Toni Bernhard http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6178 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:35:32 +0000 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6178 M. Allport – I love how you listen to your body!

]]> By: Toni Bernhard http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6177 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:34:48 +0000 http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/01/how-to-be-sick-discussion-2/#comment-6177 Hi Leslie,

I know about those painful emotions—anger, anxiety, hopelessness…and all the rest. I struggled with them when I first got sick. What I’ve learned is that what matters to our ability to cope with chronic illness is not whether those emotions arise, but how we react to them when they do. I hope my book can help with that.

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