Single with Rheumatoid Arthritis... In Another City!

Thanks!  The move went pretty darn well, and once I'm back from my trip, I'm looking forward to exploring Baltimore.  There is already so much on my list to try out!

S

Thanks, Lene- me too!  It definitely feels like the beginning of a new phase, even if RA is still kicking around in the background :)

Thanks, Ellen!

Thanks, Rena!  You are right- it was stressful, but it went well, and I'm lucky that I had great help from my parents in helping on the unpacking end.

Hi Anonymous,

I think you raise a really good point.  The label 'expert' that HealthCentral uses to identify those who write for them is misleading in some cases, including my own.  I am not an expert, nor am I a doctor.  I am someone who is learning to live with RA just like many others on this site.  Unfortunately, I wish I could tell you how to rid yourself of RA, but as of now, there is no ultimate cure, or even one path towards figuring out to manage this disease.  As you will probably see from reading other shareposts on this site, many of us have taken different approaches to treating RA.  For me, the medications my rheumatologist prescribed have worked (at least for the moment). I take plaquenil and enbrel.  I also take fish oil supplements, which I feel help my RA, as well as calcium, magnesium (for my migraines), vitamin C and a multi-vitamin with iron for good measure.

In addition to that, I practice yoga and meditation, as some of my earlier posts document, and I feel that that has been incredibly helpful in easing some of my worst symptoms and in keeping me in good maintenance now that my meds are working for me.  Many also use acupuncture to help ease flares, or eat different types of foods and/or avoid others.  This site has a great wealth of information and tips on different things to try.

My posts here at MyRACentral and over at my blog are about my own personal journey with rheumatoid arthritis.  I share them in the hopes of connecting with others in the same boat, but certainly realize that they may not be relevant or helpful to everyone with RA, or at every stage of dealing with RA. They are not meant to represent everyone's experience with RA since it is different for each of us, but rather to share what my own experience has been in a personal, narrative way.

I wish you the best with your own journey, and hope that you will find other resources and personal connections on this site that will help.

Take care,

Sara

I've been where you are too.  I'm not an expert; I'm just another person, recently diagnosed with RA, trying to figure out what works best.  I too struggled with the idea that there was nothing I could do but take the prescription drugs.  I've always thought that if you are balanced in all parts of your life, your body will heal itself.  For me, this seems to be one of those things that require drugs to get there.  I was told by a doctor at the Mayo Clinic, if I didn't start taking the prescription drugs, I'd be irrevsibly crippled within two years.  So, I started taking them, and they did make all the difference.  

RA does seem to be one of those things that affects everyone differently, so the cure is different for everyone.  Different drugs, but also different alternatives.  For me, massage really helps relieve my symptoms.  I have a prescription for them.  Also, I've been doing detoxes which involves using electronically charged water, pulling toxins, metals, and other harmful things out from your feet.  I notice an immediate difference when I walk out of there and my flares seem calmer for a week or so. 

I too take fish oil; the omegas are supposed to be good for your heart and joints, which I have read in a number of places.  Really, I take a large number of supplements, because if anything, they will help my general health.  Burdock, calcium, zinc, iron (the RA made me enimick), magnesium, multivitiams... 

Also, sharing my experiences on this website has been very helpful too.  RA doesn't hit you physically.  Lately, I've been hardest hit by the day to day, being sick.  Talking about it and hear other's experiences has been very important to me feeling better, on many different levels.

Really, you have to take all the advice you get (and you will get far more than you want), and store the information away.  Then try things one at a time until you find something that works for you. 

And as far as experts go, I think no one is really an expert.  Even the doctors seem to be taking a shot in the dark every time we try out a different treatment.  There's no magic-pill cure, so it's all trial and error.  It sucks, but is true.

Good luck finding something the works for you. 

Thanks, Esther!

Only half-kidding!  Isn't that really what you and Lena and others are?  After all, it's sort of like war (in your body, that is)...  you can go through a lot, share your experience, and still not 'know it all!'   (not that the doctors know all either - unless they've been there, they don't know the patient's view, and may not be aware of alternative and complementary therapies that may make life with RA more tolerable, even if it's not the cure...

In spirit,

Ellen

Or perhaps "Expert Patient" (meaning, despite all you know as a patient,you still have to be "patient" in both senses of the word...

no kidding!!!!  I moved into my last apartment a few weeks (literally!) before RA struck.  Had the timing been just a little different, I would have made sure a tub was intact.  Can't wait to be able to use this one!

S