Health Expert Lene Andersen shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/80106/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/80106/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/80106/index http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153413/meds Wed, 30 May 2012 14:51:15 -0400 Lene Andersen When you have rheumatoid arthritis, medication can be an essential part of controlling the disease and managing symptoms. This is the moment where those who are insured breathe a deep, relieved breath. At least they won't have to worry about medication cost. Or will they?   There are now more treatments available for RA than ever before. The Biologics, such as Enbrel, Humira, Orencia and Rituxan, have made a revolutionary change in the... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153413/meds http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153379/10 Tue, 29 May 2012 14:26:06 -0400 Lene Andersen Many people who live with rheumatoid arthritis are engaged in advocacy and raising awareness in one way or another. Many more want to get involved, but have limited energy or don’t know what to do. As part of our celebration of Arthritis Awareness Month, we wanted to profile a number of people who have found various ways, big and small, to spread the word. We hope that these stories might inspire you by showing that there is a range of... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153379/10 http://www.healthcentral.com/osteoarthritis/c/80106/153231/increasing Wed, 23 May 2012 20:37:00 -0400 Lene Andersen "Arthritis is a major player in the health tsunami that is coming to America."                       - Dr. Patience White, VP of Public Health, The Arthritis Foundation   22.2 percent of Americans over the age of 18 live with one of the over 100 kinds of arthritis. This number represents 50 million people whose lives are affected by... http://www.healthcentral.com/osteoarthritis/c/80106/153231/increasing http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153015/hope Wed, 16 May 2012 10:16:24 -0400 Lene Andersen “I was always ashamed of my hands.” “I used to hide my hands.” “I never shared a photo of my hands before.”   Five months ago, RA Guy put out a call for submissions to a community collage showing the hands of people living with different kinds of inflammatory arthritis. "I knew I had tapped into something powerful when I saw my inbox completely full of photos," RA Guy says. Many of the photos were... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/153015/hope http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152595/fou Wed, 02 May 2012 10:27:00 -0400 Lene Andersen     Meet Amelia and Liberty Shultz. They are four and two and half years old and are this year's National Arthritis Walk youth honorees, selected to represent the 300,000 kids in the US who live with juvenile arthritis   Amelia was diagnosed at 23 months and Liberty at 13 months. Both are on weekly doses of Enbrel and methotrexate and although the medication is working, they are not in remission. They are too young to quite... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152595/fou http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152575/ra Tue, 01 May 2012 19:45:00 -0400 Lene Andersen This is your month. Our month. This is Arthritis Awareness Month. And do we ever have great things planned...   Our first great thing is a contest! Not only does it give you an opportunity to win one of three Visa gift cards, but at the end of the month it will also be something very important. In this contest, we ask you to come up with ideas for small, medium and big things we can do to raise awareness of RA. We'll put it all together and... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152575/ra http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152561/awa Tue, 01 May 2012 10:49:00 -0400 Lene Andersen Awareness. Action. Advocacy. Education.   To celebrate Arthritis Awareness Month, HealthCentral's RA Community is hosting a month-long contest. We wanted to make the contest meaningful and give it the potential to be more than just a contest.   We who live with rheumatoid arthritis have a very personal interest in efforts to increase awareness about our disease. Almost all of us find a way to educate the people around us so they... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152561/awa http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152188/tips Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:19:00 -0400 Lene Andersen Many RA meds have one side effect in common: they can make your gastrointestinal system very unhappy. Acid reflux or GERD can make it feel as if there's a roiling vat of acid burning up your midregion. Then there's nausea, bloating, gas and constipation or diarrhea that can feel very similar to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Speak to your doctor about your symptoms. If they seem to be side effects of your medications, most of the time, it's... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/152188/tips http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/151822/tips Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:21:00 -0400 Lene Andersen It feels as if somebody's pulled your plug. As if you're enfolded in a lead lined comforter, weighing you down with every step. A 2011 study published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases stated that 70 percent of people with RA experience a healthy dollop of fatigue, sometimes a level of exhaustion as profound as in chronic fatigue syndrome. It can make it impossible to do your job, take care of your family or just get through the day. Even when... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/151822/tips http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/151720/ren Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:56:03 -0400 Lene Andersen After an extremely mild winter, Spring sprang early in much of North America. Outside my window, the hedge that is always the first sign of green officially marking the transition from winter, popped a week ago - a full month ahead of schedule! It's a little unnerving, but now that it's here, I've decided to embrace it.   This is the season for newness. Whether it's buds of green growing every day, lambing season or birds hunkering down... http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/c/80106/151720/ren