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Last week, 31 bloggers came together to write about rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or, as some prefer, rheumatoid disease (RD to reflect the systemic nature of the beast.

Every day had a different topic and every day, I’d read through the entries, in awe of the talent and passion of all who participated. Here are five that made me think or taught me something new.

Monday’s topic was about issues related to getting your pain treated. Rachel Tait from What a Pain wrote a story of what happens when she was desperately trying to get treatment for her pain. Hint: doctors do not come out well in this one.

But her post was about more than that. As governments increasingly restrict access to opioids for treating pain, cancer-related pain is always an exception. Of course that kind of pain should be treated, but I’ve always felt that this dismisses all other pain as minor. Rachel summed it up when she said ““I don’t think anyone has the right to tell me that my pain doesn’t matter because it isn’t caused by cancer.”

Read A Shocking but Familiar Tale.

The second day of RD blog week explored staying fit, managing stress, and relaxing. I wasn’t surprised when my pick of the day was Cathy Kramer from The Life and Adventures of Cateepoo, my good friend, but also mentor in learning to be better at listening to my body.

In Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tools for Managing Treatment, Side Effects and Pain, I talked about the yellow oxygen mask rule. I borrowed the concept when the yellow masks come dangling down on a plane. You’re supposed to put it on yourself first and then help the person who is dependent on you, which many people find counterintuitive. But if you don’t take care of yourself first, you might become unconscious and then both are you are in trouble.

That translates really well to life in general. Take care of you, because otherwise you can’t take care of anyone else.

I can do the theory, but am not great with the reality. Cathy, on the other hand, really knows self-care. She absolutely blew my mind with this: “[e]ach day as I think through my day, I include some type of self-care activity.”

That’s when I learned why I’m not good with self-care. Because I don’t actually include it on my list of things to do in a day. Well, I didn’t. I will now.

Read Tips for a Great Day with RA.

Day 3 brought me back to thinking about mindfulness. After my Big Flare, mindfulness had a profound effect on how I cope with chronic illness. It is responsible for getting me through a really hard time with some element of grace. It also what taught me about gratitude, instilling an instinctive search for small moments of beauty in my day.

Judy from United Advocacy Australia wrote a wonderful post explaining in more detail what mindfulness is and what the benefits can be, especially to those of us who live with RA. She described mindfulness perfectly when she wrote “Mindfulness is like defocusing from the clutter that is all around us and the clutter that is in our minds and instead focusing on what’s directly in front of us or direct surroundings.”

It can be a real challenge to learn that uncluttering. Thankfully, Judy also shared a list of resources, including breathing exercises, body scans, and guided meditations.

Read Mindfulness.

Thursday’s prompt was all about research. My parents taught me about research and how I could use this to gain knowledge about the condition that was having a destructive house party in my body. Sometimes, it teaches me things I’d rather not know, but at the end of the day, knowledge is power. Not just on a personal level. Research leads to better treatment and I am very much still here writing this because of those treatments.

J.G. Chayko of The Old Lady in My Bones is a writer and advocate for RA. She is also involved with Arthritis Research Canada and shared her story of the way to illustrate the need for continuing research. It is a powerful piece of writing. When she says “it seemed I aged overnight,” it shows the transformative power of this disease. And the urgent need for research to transform lives in a more positive way.

Read Transforming Lives.

Friday’s prompt was about marijuana. As in have we used it or would we?

I shared my own story of using marijuana for fibromyalgia pain before it was a remotely legal, even in a medical sense. And I still hope that won’t get me arrested.

Rick Phillips from RADiabetes, the creator of RD blog week, shared the story of the state in which he lives it — Indiana — and its approach to marijuana, hemp, and CBD, joking that he believes Indiana will be the 148 State to legalize medical marijuana.

For the readers outside of America, you might want to remember that the US only has 50 states.

Rick’s post is a pointed critique of the approach in this state and a reminder of why people turn to marijuana. He also shares a fairly common problem, namely that of finding somewhere to get it if it’s not legal. “If pain started outstripping my pain medication, then I would be tempted to obtain and use it as an illegal substance, but where to even start?”

Read Mary Jane and Pain.

This is just a sampling of the many amazing post written for RD blog week. Consider this an appetizer. You won’t regret diving deeper into the week.