Many of us will be forced to deal with being diagnosed with a chronic medical illness in our lifetime. My time came when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in my early forties. In addition to coping with the symptoms of my disease, I also had to find ways to combat feelings of depression, stress, and anxiety. I was given the opportunity to discuss my personal experience in dealing with both a chronic medical illness and depression in an interview given by Lene Andersen, the community leader for Health Central’s RA site. In return, Lene has graciously agreed to tell her story for MyDepressionConnection about how she copes with RA and depression.
All about Lene:
Lene Andersen is the Community Leader for MyRACentral, HealthCentral’s rheumatoid arthritis site and had lived with RA since she was a child. Lene has a background in social work and human rights, but is now working on a second career as a writer and photographer.
Tell us about your experience with RA and depression.
Depression in varying degrees was part of my life until about six years ago. I spent a lot of time in hospitals as a child and when I was 16, I started using their power wheelchair, which allowed me to go home. However, having a very visible disability made me different from everyone around me - I was the only one in my high school who used a wheelchair. Much of my depression has been related to having a disability - I felt very isolated, different and alone. And then there's the fact that the world isn't terribly accessible, which can really get to you.
My RA has also been a frequent source of depression, primarily during flares when the disease became more active and impacted my ability to live my life. I had a horrendous flare in 2004 that essentially ate my life and by the end of the year it was so bad I could only get through each day by giving myself an out. I made a promise to myself that if we my doctor and I - hadn't found a treatment that worked by the summer, it would be okay to give up, to kill myself.
Luckily, in the beginning of 2005 I started Enbrel, one of the newer biologic drugs for RA and it was a miracle medication for me. It gave me back my life in the most literal way possible.
Are people with chronic medical conditions like RA more susceptible to developing depression?
When you get diagnosed with a chronic illness, you have to grieve the loss of your healthy self and it's normal to feel angry and depressed. It can take quite a while to work through these feelings. In addition to the depression that may be experienced after diagnosis, RA itself is associated with depression. 20-25% of people living with RA experience depression and some have suicidal thoughts. RA can place limits around what you can do, preventing you from participating in your family, at work in your community. Historically, the longer you had RA, the more likely you were to experience limitations and more likely to experience depression, as well.
