Driven to Drink
The universe is continuing the theme… There’s a bit of a celebration going on this weekend and although I normally don’t partake of alcohol (it gives me headaches), I decided to go in search of a particular product. I first learned of Woody’s pink grapefruit cooler when it was handed out free on the street…
Bullying and Juvenile Arthritis: A Memory of Childhood
Writers across many HealthCentral sites are doing posts related to the theme of back-to-school. We’re interpreting it widely, discussing not just going back to school, but also educting kids about various medical conditions. My contribution was to write about bullying of kids with chronic illnesses froma personal point of view: “I flew across the schoolyard,…
Winners and Losers
Weirdly coincidentally, the universe has conspired to push me in the direction of a follow-up. If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember my experiences with some interesting accessibility issues at Winnersabout a year ago and the grocery store Metro in late fall 2010 (as well as the very satisfactory resolution of both)….
Being Human
For the past few weeks, I have been immersed in Being Human: The Complete First Season, a wonderful little British series about three roommates who happen to be a vampire, werewolf, and a ghost. I’ve been nagging encouraging everyone I know to watch this series, not just because of how good it is, but also…
RA2day: An Awareness Campaign for Rheumatoid Arthritis
I’m very excited to share this news. Today, RAHealthCentral has launched a new awareness campaign for RA called RA2day. It’s got real potential to pull us all together and give a realistic view of what it’s like to live with RA: “What does your experience with RA look like today? Is it an intimidating pile…
A Walking Paper, Pt. 2
Dear Ambulatory and Ablebodied Public At Large, Four years ago, I posted a guide to walking geared to assist the clueless perambulating public to not be an annoyance (or danger) to those who travel seated in wheelchairs and scooters. Recent events when I’ve been out and about have led me to believe that this is…
6 Steps to Happiness with RA
This week, I used National Tickling Month as a jumping off point to talk about how to get happy when you have a chronic illness: “When you are in the midst of RA, with all that comes with it, can you still be happy? When you’re juggling pain, exhaustion, a dizzying amount of meds and…
Nothing More than Feelings: How Doctors Minimize RA Reality
Updated August 30, 2020 Catastrophizing is a popular concept in medicine, particularly when dealing with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and chronic pain. You’ll find endless studies and articles on the concept, described as negative self statements, feelings or coping strategies. For instance, someone saying “this is the worst pain I’ve ever had” or “what if I can’t…
Painless Meme for Rheum mates
Kelly over at RA Warrior came up with a meme about what defines us. Have you done it yet? Here are my answers: What is one thing that defines who you are, regardless of RA? My faith that change is possible. What’s one food you know they must have in heaven? Ris a la mande….
Going to Gondwana
This weekend, we went to see the Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants from Gondwana exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum. Basic story: big dinosaurs from the southern hemisphere. Really big. We did a herd excursion – somewhat fitting, what with the herds of extinct creatures – piling friends and kids into one group and got set loose…
Catastrophizing and Good Doctoring
I’ve been thinking. And what with being on vacation, there’s actually been mental room to move some ideas around, played connect the dots and whatnot. Settle in, this is a long one… More specifically, I’ve been thinking about catastrophizing. This is a concept discussed in the field of rheumatology. The concept states that people who…
Opening Up
This is why I’m five days into a very necessary two weeks off. Actually, it was worse than that. It was the eyes going *boing* the minute I turned off the light, but no actual ideas coming, because my brain was moving so fast with everything I had done that day and needed to do…