From November of last year, until around the beginning of this current month, Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy has basically been in one big flare. The most challenging periods, those times when the extreme pain and stiffness could be measured in weeks and not in months, still stand out clearly in my mind: January, March, and July.
While [...]
A little over a week ago, I not only found myself in the middle of a flare, but I also found myself quite surprised with the manner in which I reacted to this flare. Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried really hard to make each new flare a learning moment…an opportunity to put [...]
Page 5 from My Book About Me by Me, Myself, and Dr. Seuss
proudly filled out when I was seven years old!
The night before last, my right hand flared like it has never done before. I woke up in the middle of the night, trying to figure out where the excruciating pain was coming from. As [...]
Quite often, the seriousness of my situation can be read on the faces of the people who are around me. Some of these people I know well, and others are complete strangers. I don’t necessarily mind these looks, and it’s not that they make me feel uncomfortable. But, I do sometimes think that I would [...]
“One – you are not alone.
Two – learning to live with pain that will not easily abate or go away is possible.
Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have discovered that living with pain is a process. A minuet of sorts, maybe not to the tune you would have chosen if you were entirely [...]
A couple of days ago, I told my physical therapist that my condition had to get better the following day, because if it got any worse I didn’t know how I was going to be able to handle things. As soon as the words left my mouth, panic filled my mind. There was a real [...]
When I left physical therapy yesterday afternoon, I was asked to get as much bed rest as possible during the next couple of days.
During most of my life, I’ve had problems (unrelated to RA) with a weak lower back. If you combine this with upper back muscles that were being pulled and stretched apart as [...]
Just as quickly as I bungee jumped into my latest flare yesterday, the invisible elastic cord snapped and pulled me right back out. Today, I am happy to share that I am back to my usual normal. No, that doesn’t mean that I am pain-free, or that the inflammation has gone away completely. It just [...]
