i think i figured out where the hopelessness comes from.
when you’re chronically ill, life loses it’s possibility. you never wake up and wonder what you could go do, you don’t make plans. you just bear down and merely try to exist through what you have to.
-crumbsinthesandI hate when doctors ask me to rate my pain from 1 to 10. HATE IT. it’s hard to tell anymore. what used to be a 8 is now like a 4 because i’m used to it. i’m tougher. because i’m saving the 8 for when it’s a normal person’s 20. Although i feel like saying “4,” i feel like it makes it seem like only a wussy irritation when it still hurts as bad as the 8. i don’t want to be used to it. i just want it to go away.
or maybe give us a pain scale from 1-100. I want to say 8 so they take me more seriously (or maybe they do already, I don’t know). but i mumble “four” and pray they read between the lines.
Chronic Pain person’s scale:
Regular person’s scale:
What do you fellow spoonies think about the 1-10 scale?
-crumbsinthesandArthritis is a debilitating condition that manifests in a number of ways such as in gout, sprue, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis — for example. Arthritis symptoms also manifest in certain auto immune diseases such as Lupus and Scleraderma. Patients suffering from any form of arthritis may experience depression, isolation and crippling deformities along with joint pain if the disease is not properly managed.
Natural home remedies treat arthritis symptoms, and are the choice of many arthritis sufferers who may not want to risk the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. Using home remedies for arthritis can provide significant savings to the patient, avoiding the cost of doctor’s visits and conventional prescriptions. Many home remedies for arthritis reduce inflammation, relieve pain and stiffness, and in some cases, give some patients back their full range of motion. If you haven’t already tried some of the best natural home remedies for arthritis pain relief, now is a good time to start.
If there is once thing I need, it’s for society to sympathize less, and empathize more.
I would add Garlic has been used as a natural remedy for THOUSANDS of years. N~
I recently read the book The Lupus Recovery Diet by Jill Harrington. The book provided some useful insights into how a plant-based diet can help the body heal from autoimmune diseases. Much of the book is composed of individuals with chronic illness (ranging from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis to fibromyalgia) writing in about their experience with healing foods. The author, who claims to have cured herself of lupus, argues that a diet made up of whole foods and mostly plant foods can help eliminate chronic inflammatory processes in the body. In essence, she advocates a vegan, gluten-free diet and eliminates the “4 whites”: dairy, sugar, flour, and salt. Does this sound similar? Yes, this is my diet! I’m already doing these things. Sure, I cheat with the “4 whites” occasionally, but I’ve been pretty strict with what I eat. Most of my diet comes from vegetables and fruits. So why haven’t I had a miracle healing process that the people in the book so eloquently describe??? Perhaps there’s more to it than just vegetables…
By Lynne Peeples
Most people with arthritis have osteoarthritis, which commonly occurs with age.
But there’s another type called rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a serious autoimmune disease. The two are often confused—which can be endlessly frustrating for those with RA.
“Everybody says that arthritis is one word,” says Christopher Evans, DSc, PhD, the Maurice Mueller Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “But the conditions are quite different.”
Here are 13 ways to tell the two apart.
Stop this. Right now.
Illness: A disease or period of sickness affecting the body or mind.
Ugly: Unpleasant or repulsive
Broken: Having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece; rejected, defeated or despairing.
Some definitions for you. I want you to pay close attention to the fact that the definitions of ugly or broken do not make direct reference to illness. Nowhere in those definitions does it state that a use of the definition is to be applied to chronic illnesses or those who suffer from them.
I’ve seen so many occasions where the sick describe themselves as ugly because of their illness, or genuinely seem to see themselves as broken because of the condition they are battling. It breaks my heart, because it just isn’t true.
So your illness alters your physical appearance. Mine does it to me too - I have a virtually permanent rash in the vague shape of a butterfly across my face, and sometimes on a bad day you could fit a two-bed semi in my abdomen (well, nearly). Your body alters because it’s fighting. It’s reacting and doing its level best to give battle to whatever it is afflicting you. The fact the changes keep happening mean it hasn’t given up - and that’s something to be proud of. Your body is an amazing biological machine, and will continue to fight a chronic incurable condition for just as long as you are drawing breath. It won’t give up - nor should you.
Ugliness isn’t a rash on your face or body. It’s not a bloated abdomen or massive fluctuations in weight. It’s not swollen and stiff joints, and it most certainly isn’t “illness” itself. Ugliness is inside - it’s part of a person’s inner nature, not their outer shell. Things like arrogance, self obsession, cruelty and spite - they are ugliness. There is no part of any of those things in a chronic illness.
And as for broken? Broken is when you stop, when you give up all together. Broken is letting the illness win. Our states of victory are as different as our conditions are individual - we know in ourselves what constitutes victory. I’m sure others like me have seen their worth reduced or eradicated all together in the eyes of other people - sometimes, sadly, with former friends.
You want to know what broken and ugly are?
Broken and ugly are letting those people be correct.
You are every bit the person you were before the illness, whatever it may be. Everything that made you the brilliant, entirely unique individual you are is still there. Let it shine, and keep your chin up.
Pain isn’t forever, but with a bit of dedication, hope and determination can be.
Today is one of those days where I’m trying so hard to be strong; but I really just want to break down and cry. The doctors suspected with my Crohn’s disease that I also had Rheumatoid Arthritis, but today it has been confirmed. I’m so terrified. The doctors want to put me on this medicine that…
Hang in there. I will keep you in my prayers. This is something that terrifies me, especially because I have no kids and want to be a mother someday. Stay strong and know that it is okay to cry. I believe crying helps cleanse our soul and it also relieves stress. And as we know oh too well, stress can trigger symptoms in both Crohn’s and RA. Do as much research as you can on any other possible treaatments before starting this treatment your doctor says will make it difficult to have kids.
(Source: sami-shortcake)
In a new study of Swedish women, regular moderate consumption of beer, wine or liquor was associated with a lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Hey Em, I have a quick question for the spoonies taking Cymbalta. What time to you all take your dosage(s)? Did this time have to change based on your pain levels, other medications, or other health issues?
Thanks. I’m really happy blogs like this are so open and encouraging of people with autoimmune diseases. :)
—-I take mine at night, with a dosage of 25mg. I also take 300mg of neurontin 3 times a day, 100 mg of tramadol 3 times a day, 5 mg of cyclobenzaprine 3 times a day, and I also have oxycodone 10mg as needed for intense pain. I found this combination works very well to control the majority of my pain. I very rarely get severe flares. —EmBut lupus is bothering my joints and my nerves. I had one those annoying raynaud’s the morning my foot was yellow and numb. I see the neurology may 9th and my rheumatologist wants the okay to start imuran. Wonderful! And my ankle that’s swollen she said raise the prednisone and I said NOPE! So she…
(Source: my-lupus-state-of-mind)
This was one of the blood tests done for rheumatoid arthritis. So I guess I’m
good…I don’t understand this crap by the way.
(Source: my-lupus-state-of-mind)
Tell someone with Rheumatoid Arthritis and fibromyalgia that they’re psychosomatic. Good way to create permanent resentment.
(via my-lupus-state-of-mind)
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