11 Tips to Deal with Nausea with Chronic Illness
Updated March 29,2020 Queasy. Green around the gills. Nauseated. If you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there’s a very good chance you know nausea. For that matter, anyone with autoimmune arthritis or other types of chronic illness probably knows it, too. Between the effects of the condition itself and the medication to treat it, most of…
Preventing Chronic Disease in Women
38% of American women live with chronic disease. That’s more than the 30% of men and is rising. On top of that, six out of the top 10 causes of death in women are chronic diseases — often preventable. My two-part series on chronic disease in women and how to prevent them, even when you…
Sexual Side Effects of Rheumatoid Arthritis Meds
You take the medications to feel better, so you can live well with rheumatoid arthritis. And when you think of side effects, it’s mostly things like nausea and fatigue that come to mind. No one ever expects the medications to mess with your sex life. But they can. In my new article for HealthCentral, and…
Get Savvy — a New Movement for Patient Insights
Chronic illness advocacy is pretty much a patchwork and not always as pretty as a quilt. Each condition has its own way of being engaged in feedback to organizations and actually connecting is very much a matter of luck. Savvy Cooperative is changing that. What Is Savvy? “Savvy is an online platform that acts like…
#AskLene July 2018
This month on the #AskLene Facebook Live, I talked about disability benefits — what’s good about them, what isn’t, and what it takes to qualify — as well as what to do when people don’t believe you have a chronic illness.
Build a Good Relationship with Your Doctor
When you have a chronic illness, your doctor is one of the most important people in your life.When you find a good one, they’ll be with you for years, even decades, sometimes more than other relationships. My new post for Mango Health shares tips on how to build a good relationship with you doctor: “If…
Changing the National Building Code for an Inclusive Canada
I have never visited my sister’s home. I have never been to my partner’s home. If my friends are having a party, I can’t go. My partner and I can’t live together. Housing in Canada is usually not accessible to people who use wheelchairs. It contributes to isolation — you might even call it segregation…
CAPA Creates New Methotrexate Tool for People with Inflammatory Arthritis
Dawn Richards presenting the CAPA methotraxate tool at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology “We all have a story about methotrexate,” said Dawn Richards, Vice President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (CAPA) Steering Committee. This medication has been around for a long time and is considered the gold standard for treatment of inflammatory arthritis….
Taking Pride in Your RA Body
When you have rheumatoid arthritis, celebrating your body is a revolutionary idea. I wrote about that journey in my new article for HealthCentral: “When you think of the feelings you have toward your body, especially connected to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is pride one of them? For most, the answer is no. Living with the changes…