Voting and Chronic Illness
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that there is an election coming in the US. We all have opinions about it, but that is not what my new post for HealthCentral is about. It’s about the obstacles that people with chronic illness may face during the election process and what you can…
Job Hunting and Chronic Illness
Our September theme on RAHealthCentral was all about chronic illness and work. We had a lot of great posts and some terrific conversations came out of it. I am closing out the theme with my new post on job searching with a chronic illness. I made sure to share some important information, but we also…
How to Nurture Self-Worth When You’re Not Working Because of a Chronic Illness
Work is an important — even essential — contributor to self-worth. But what do you do if you cannot work because of a chronic illness or disability? I take a look at this issue and share tips on building self-esteem without work in my new post for HealthCentral: “‘What do you do?’ It is often…
Back to Work with Chronic Illness
Years ago, I was away from the job market for 10 years. A change in government meant I lost the job I had and it was very hard to find something else. After the big flare, my body prevented me from finding something else. And then I found something that was perfect for me, both…
Disclosing Chronic Illness at Your Workplace
One of the benefits of RA increasingly being an invisible illness is that you have a choice about whether you want your employer and colleagues to know about it. Sometimes, it’s necessary, though. In my new post for HealthCentral, I take a look at the issues around disclosure: “You’ve just gotten a diagnosis of a…
Dealing with Side Effects and Workplace Accommodations
That’s a bit of a weird combo, huh? It’s been a busy months, so I thought I’d lump together my last two posts for HealthCentral. The first is about the emotional impact of having side effects from RA meds: “When our doctors talk about starting another drug for our rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one of the…
New Creaky and Tipsy Collection Raises Awareness about Arthritis
I love my job for very many reasons. One of them is that I get to interview a lot of interesting people. The latest is Michael Kuleva, the man behind the fashion label Tumbler and Tipsy. His new Spring/Summer 2017 collection is entitled Creaky and Tipsy and raises awareness about arthritis. You see, Michael has…
Two Studies on Developing Safer Opioids
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know is that I often rant about the hysteria of the war on opioids and how it often leaves people in pain untreated.There is some good news on the research front. Two new studies show promise for the development of opioids that have no…
RA Complicatons and Comorbidities
A couple of weeks ago, someone bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t a list of all the extra conditions and complications you have to be aware of when you have RA. So I wrote one: “Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) isn’t just a bit of arthritis. It’s a serious disease that affects the joints and other systems…
Demystifying Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Options
With spending so little time with our rheumatologists, we often don’t get an opportunity to ask questions and that can create a lot of fear around treatment. My new post for HealthCentral clarifies the options so you can get more specific in the questions you ask. And that will help you make better decisions about…
The Latest Of My Posts on HealthCentral
I have a couple of posts of on HealthCentral’s RA page that had been published in the last week. First is my post on coping with the guilt of chronic illness. I’ve become intimately acquainted with this feeling in the last several months. Wanting to be able to do things with your family, for your…
What You Need to Know about Zika, Chickungunya, and Dengue
I’m back at work after a month off and so far, it’s going pretty well. My first HealthCentral post in August is a slideshow on several mosquito-borne viruses that can cause joint pain: “In the past few years, mosquito-borne viruses that have been linked to joint pain have become more prevalent. Chikungunya was the first…