when the mama bear has rheumatoid arthritis
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Let me start by saying that RA isn't the death sentence I once expected it to be.
Nowadays, I give myself a shot once a week (and try really, really, really hard not to cuss because dang it! they sting!), and I go along my business, albeit with a few joints that act like they're double my age.
From the time Jocelyn was born in 2007, though, until about nine months after Robbie was born, I was in pain every. single. day.
If you do the math, that's about three years - or approximately 1,000 consecutive days - of waking up every morning dreading movement because I knew I couldn't move without pain.
First, the diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis came along, following a brief thyroid cancer scare. Since hypothyroidism, which Hashimoto's causes, can cause joint issues, we hoped getting that under control would take away the pain.
It didn't.
(It did, however, give me more energy, so that was a definite plus.)
After blood tests and an MRI confirming significant bone erosion in joints in my hands, the diagnosis came on the phone from a tactless nurse: I had just turned 25 and just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Since then, we've had one more child via pregnancy and four more via adoption. I've adjusted my diet. (Most didn't change anything, though I've found limiting artificial sweeteners and refined sugar can help some.) I've tried various supplements. (None helped.) I've gone the surgery route. (It helped two of my far-gone joints - one knee and one wrist - but I think better physical therapy might prevent future ones.) I've rocked pharmaceuticals. (I'm not a fan of prednisone, plaquenil did nothing, I've opted out of taking methotrexate, Remicade was wonderful but required lengthy infusions that were hard to schedule with small children at home, and Enbrel sure-injectors are my current treatment.)
Now it's not a daily consideration like it used to be.
In other words, I've found that there's life after an RA diagnosis.
Nowadays, I give myself a shot once a week (and try really, really, really hard not to cuss because dang it! they sting!), and I go along my business, albeit with a few joints that act like they're double my age.
From the time Jocelyn was born in 2007, though, until about nine months after Robbie was born, I was in pain every. single. day.
If you do the math, that's about three years - or approximately 1,000 consecutive days - of waking up every morning dreading movement because I knew I couldn't move without pain.
First, the diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis came along, following a brief thyroid cancer scare. Since hypothyroidism, which Hashimoto's causes, can cause joint issues, we hoped getting that under control would take away the pain.
It didn't.
(It did, however, give me more energy, so that was a definite plus.)
After blood tests and an MRI confirming significant bone erosion in joints in my hands, the diagnosis came on the phone from a tactless nurse: I had just turned 25 and just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Since then, we've had one more child via pregnancy and four more via adoption. I've adjusted my diet. (Most didn't change anything, though I've found limiting artificial sweeteners and refined sugar can help some.) I've tried various supplements. (None helped.) I've gone the surgery route. (It helped two of my far-gone joints - one knee and one wrist - but I think better physical therapy might prevent future ones.) I've rocked pharmaceuticals. (I'm not a fan of prednisone, plaquenil did nothing, I've opted out of taking methotrexate, Remicade was wonderful but required lengthy infusions that were hard to schedule with small children at home, and Enbrel sure-injectors are my current treatment.)
Now it's not a daily consideration like it used to be.
In other words, I've found that there's life after an RA diagnosis.
 |
| thankful for this man, who serves me well even when my body fails me |
~+~
For more posts about rheumatoid arthritis:
a testimony of our first year of having RA
on facts vs. truth
{written right after the diagnosis}
on negativity on The Arthritis Foundation's FB page
on encouragement in the midst of chronic illness
on longing for heaven from a broken earthly body
on entering remission for the first time