Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms Don't Rule My Aud Life

 I thought I would take the next several posts to talk about what the first year of living with Rheumatoid Arthritis is like. I’ll talk about what I went through; noticing a few symptoms, realizing the need to see a doctor, handling the diagnosis, experiencing treatments, all the ins and outs of the introduction of RA into a sufferer’s life.

 I think the first time I ever realized that there was something not quite right was driving with my mum down Main St. in Gaylord, Michigan. I stopped at a red light and started rubbing my hands because, they ached a lot and it was getting difficult to hold the steering wheel comfortably. My mum asked what was wrong and I said that my hands had been hurting for a few days, but I didn’t really think anything serious about it. A few days later, I noticed that my feet and knees were tender and a bit swollen, and still my hands were aching so I made an appointment with my doctor, and went without any expectation of what she would say.

 I told her about my stiff, sore hands and my swollen tender knees and feet. She asked about my energy level, which I said seemed a bit low, but I had assumed it was due to the fact that 8 months before I had major surgery and knew how long it took to completely recover, then she looked at my hands and feet, and said, “I’m pretty sure you have Rheumatoid Arthritis.”

 Like I said before, I had no expectations as to what I would hear from my doctor, but Rheumatoid Arthritis was completely out of the blue. “Didn’t old people get this?” I remember my grandmother’s hands and fingers all bent and twisted, and looked at my own. That’s what’s going to happen to me? “This isn’t right, I’m too young!”

 She sent me on my way with some information, blood work orders, and a referral to a rheumatologist in Petosky. I drove home, sat at my piano and cried. I’ve played the piano all my life, before I could even write my name, and now I have some stupid disease that is going to rob me of it! My despair turned into anger and I got on the internet and began to stare this condition in the face.

 At first, the information I found was a bit discouraging- there’s no known cure, it causes a lot of pain, it can affect other organs, and can shorten one’s life. Wow! I felt great!! (A little bit of sarcasm there) I kept looking and found that there were people who have been living happy, satisfying lives even with RA, and a spark of hope started. I’m a stubborn person and can sometimes be a bit cheeky, so I made the decision right then and there that I was not going to let Rheumatoid Arthritis take a full life away from me, and pretty much told it to bring its A-game because I’m planning on ‘jersying RA and scattering it’s chickens’! (A Canadian term meaning to pull one’s opponent’s hockey jersey over their head and continue to pummel them.)

 The next few weeks were a bit challenging with handling pain, trying to find shoes that didn’t hurt my tender feet (the only ones that worked were men’s sandals, they were ugly and I was NOT happy about that!!), and waiting to hear the results from my blood work. I wrote down questions to ask my new doctor, and continued to research and fortify my determination to defeat this adversary.

 How did you handle your first few days or weeks after hearing the diagnosis of arthritis? What was racing through your mind? Was it a shock or did you have a suspicion? I’d love to hear your story…

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Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis can make a person feel very lonely, and definitely not very glamorous. A recent little search online into celebrities suffering with RA made me feel a little less isolated and maybe not so awkward feeling. Stiff fingers and sore, aching knees don’t seem quite so painful when you can watch others live with it as well. Those with more spotlight shining on them are able to give voice to not only themselves but those who can identify with them.

 I watched “the Soprano’s” every week, and not until today did I realize that Aida Turturro, who played Tony’s sister Janice, has also been diagnosed with RA since a young girl. Now in her 40’s, she has become the spokesperson for “Joint Effort Against Arthritis,” an American arthritis awareness campaign sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation. It’s also sponsored by Centocor, a US company that makes a well-known arthritis drug, Remicade.

 I always thought James Coburn was a cool guy: tough, strong and silent with a rough cynical sense of humor. I like the late actor even more now because I’m able to identify with him and the discouragement of living with constant pain and the medical community not being able to supply any relief. Like him, I went off conventional medications like Plaquenil and Methotrexate and tried something a little unorthodox. He found deep tissue massage, electromagnetic treatments, and MSM to do the trick, I’ve found daily exercise, watching my diet, and Lyprinol (green mollusk extract) to help way more than what the doctors were prescribing me. *Just a reminder: I’m not suggesting anyone should toss their physician’s advice!!

 Way back in 1928, Lucille Ball was diagnosed at the age of 17. She was a young model at the time and was told that she would be wheel chair bound for the rest of her life, but after 2 years of barely being able to walk, with metal braces on her legs, and other medical treatments, she overcame this road block and became the television sweetheart known the world over.

 Being able to witness victories won over Rheumatoid Arthritis gives a sufferer a little more strength and encouragement to keep going. I can relate and gain from their experiences; feeling a little more inspired when the going gets tough and maybe even feeling a touch more glamorous!

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I thought I would do a little research into the history of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I really enjoy history and since I have RA, why not combine the two! It goes back pretty far; farther than I thought it would. Some skeletal remains in what is now Tennessee that are dated back to 4500 BC have shown some signs of Rheumatoid Arthritis. So far, that’s been the earliest appearance of this condition.

The first documented appearance of Rheumatoid Arthritis comes much later in 123 AD in India. A text called the Caraka Samhita contains a description of what sounds like RA, painful joints in both hands and feet, eventually spreading to other areas of the body, there was also record of occasional fever and appetite loss.

Then we jump ahead to 1591 in France. A French physician, Guillaume de Baillou, wrote one of the first books on the arthritis disease. He uses the term “rheumatism” to give description to an ailment with inflammation, stiffness in muscles, and pain in the joints. “The whole body hurts, in some the face is flushed; pain is most severe around the joints, so that the slightest movement of the foot, hand or fingers causes a cry of pain…At night…the pain becomes more serious and the patient cannot sleep.”

A Peruvian bark containing quinine, an anti- malarial agent was being used in 1680 to treat the symptoms of rheumatism. Then in 1763, another bark was discovered to produce positive results in fighting the effects of rheumatism; willow bark contains salicylate, the main ingredient for aspirin. Are you still with me? Sorry, if you haven’t found this exciting- I love it!

The term Rheumatoid Arthritis wasn’t coined until a London physician, Sir Alfred Garrod, came up with it in 1859 and that was the start of RA being recorded in medical books and records. Before the 19^th century came to an end, joint replacement surgery had begun with a carbon steel screw and plates system developed by W.A. Lane, in 1893. The x-ray is developed in 1895 which allowed physicians to see actual damage and inflammation of an arthritis sufferer. Two years later, in 1897, aspirin is manufactured by the company Bayer, using the willow bark substance, discovered over a century before. It fast became known world wide as a standard treatment for pain and rheumatoid arthritis.

Turning the corner into the new twentieth century, gold shots became a form of therapy for this chronic condition. In 1927, gold salts began to be injected into patients periodically to relieve muscle pain, associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Two years later, in 1929, the first artificial hip joint was patented and in 1939, down in Melbourne Australia, Sir McFarlane Burnet introduced the first autoimmunity theory. This is the theory that antibodies cause the body’s immune system to malfunction and attack its own tissues. Almost 70 years later, this theory still holds true!

In the 1940’s Rheumatoid Arthritis gained more recognition with the 1941 American Rheumatism Association, and in 1946, the American Committee to Control Rheumatism is founded and two short years later the Arthritis Foundation begins. More important discoveries are uncovered in 1948; Drs. E.C. Kendall and Philip Hench show the world that steroid hormones can be used as therapeutic anti-inflammatory- they win the Nobel Prize! Still keeping with 1948, a discovery just as important is made known; a test is developed called the Rose-Waaler diagnostic test, which reveals the antibody known as the rheumatoid factor is found only in the blood of people with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The next fifty years of the century saw many new treatments, procedures and surgeries discovered. Prednisone, a synthetic off shoot of cortisone is ushered in and begins the most popular oral cortisteroid medication, in 1955. Plaquenil is also introduced as the new anti-malarial drug used to put Rheumatoid Arthritis into remission (remember the Peruvian bark extract used in 1680? That’s the basis!)

There you have it; my little history research on Rheumatoid Arthritis. I would love it, if you could tell me more! Please do!

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Wow, say that 5 times fast! Paying the pain price for peppers. On Saturday evening, our family went for dinner to our friends’ home and had a great time! Played board games, ‘rock band’, laughed and ate. I was having so much fun that I didn’t notice that the nachos had huge amounts of red peppers, an hour later my knuckles and elbows felt like each joint had been stung by bees, some of them even looked like it. Red bell peppers are one of the worst things I can eat regarding my Rheumatoid Arthritis, they trigger a flare up within minutes.

I know that I have talked about food triggers on past posts, but since it’s been a bother the past 48 hours I thought I’d chat about it again. I’m always amazed and sometimes bewildered by the human body and how one part will cause another part to react. What I’m talking about is the digestive system and inflammation of joints.

When I was first diagnosed with RA, a Nurse Practitioner advised me to stay away from night shade vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, egg plant, paprika and red peppers. When I asked why, I was just told that they’re known to cause inflammation, but I wasn’t given any further explanation. I did notice that red peppers, shell fish and red meat made me feel a lot worse but it wasn’t until this past February that I found out the reason why. I was really sick this past winter, and decided to go to a Naturopath to give it a shot. She got out this chart and went through this whole lesson on how our body reacts to certain foods, and it made sense!

The point was our digestive system is crucial to our body’s good health, if we’re ingesting something we may have an allergic reaction to, our body’s going to react. I had always thought that an allergic reaction was a rash, a drippy nose or swelling of the eyelids, throat or lips, but there’s also fatigue, nausea, inflammation of joints, muscle pain and headaches as well, maybe even more symptoms.

Having an immune disease that attacks the body’s connective tissue, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, is going to cause it’s symptoms to escalate when the body encounters something it’s allergic to. To find out my food triggers, I went on a cleansing diet. Ugh! I NEVER want to have to do that again. I had to cut out sugar, caffeine, deliciousness, salt, anything worth while eating, wheat, eggs, corn, fun, dairy, taste, starch and happiness. It was the longest 4 weeks of my life, but I did it and then I was able to slowly re-introduce things back in, one by one to test which ones gave me trouble. I was so nervous with the sugar and caffeine and cried tears of joy when I didn’t react to them! Hallelujah! But, there was a black day when it came to red meat, no more tasty, marbled, prefectly grilled rib-eyes for this gal! But I can drown my sorrows in chocolate. The additions to my ‘bye bye’ list are red wine, shell fish and pork. Oh, and liver! (well, I didn’t really test it out, but I hate it so I’m putting it on there!)

Now I’ve been feeling a lot better since I’ve been avoiding my ‘bye bye’ foods as much as possible, unless they’re cleverly disguised in delicious nachos!

Have there been foods causing you grief? I’m interested to hear what they are, how you’ve discovered them and how you deal with it.

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I’m sure I’ve said it before in a previous post that I’m feeling better in my 30’s than I did in my 20’s, but I’m wanting to make that point again. For about 10 years I was quite a bit miserable, in a out of hospital for so many reasons from stomach and back issues, to having strokes and surgeries. By the time I turned 30 my medical chart was over 2 inches thick and I felt old. There was a 30 year old face in the mirror, but I felt 90.  The biggest reason was the <em>Rheumatoid Arthritis</em> that caused me to feel creaky and rusty like the tin man in Oz before the oil can relief!

So why am I feeling so “awesome” now? I’m learning to live with a different mind set, instead of putting others needs first, taking care of myself has become priority. Let me explain before I get called a selfish wench! How can I help properly when I’m barely able to get around myself? I might as well do nothing because I’m not going to do a lick of quality good for anyone. When I’m healthy and happy I’m in a better position to participate and people actually enjoy my presence because I’m not cranky!

The first step was to inform myself about arthritis and what arthritis causes. I then used my medical history along with professional health care advice to map out the supplements and medications I would be able to take to reduce pain and damage. The next process was getting physically active, starting out slow and doing things I truly enjoyed. 

I found my hobbies to be a great source of therapy. They not only gave me physical activity but my mind was taken off the disease for the time being. Playing the guitar and piano, painting and other creative outlets provide amazing exercise for my hands. Gardening, walking and muscle building has improved my knees, back and feet.

I’m not saying that everyday is a bowl of sickly sweet sunshine, I do have the occasional heavy storm clouds rolling in, but they’re not as severe or frequent as they were, even a year ago. It’s a fantastic feeling to look back upon my day and see all I’ve accomplished despite the fact that I have <em>Rheumatoid Arthritis.</em>

Everyone has interests or hobbies that keep them active - can you share your story?

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