Blog Articles About medication

Finding Hope When RA Meds Don’t Put You in Remission

What do you do when medications don’t work as well as you’d like? In my new column for HealthCentral, I write about how developing a hopeful mindset can help you get through the pain and frustration: “EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, there is hopeful news about rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment and what it can do for your life—all…

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Removing the “Ick Factor” From RA Meds

Like it or not (and mostly it’s not), medication is part of living with RA. But when you’re not used to swallowing pills or giving yourself an injection, how do you get to a point where it’s less intimidating or gross? In my new column for HealthCentral, I share my pro tips to get the…

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Here’s how to handle the stigma of treating your RA with medicine in a culture obsessed with an “all-natural” approach to healing.

How I Came to Terms With Taking Meds for RA

Rheumatoid arthritis medication get a bad rap. In this column for HealthCentral, I talk about how to handle the stigma of treating your RA with medicine in a culture obsessed with an “all-natural” approach to healing: “EVERY DAY, I take medication for my rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including self-injection with a biologic drug I stash in the…

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Side-effect risks can be downright terrifying when you’re trying new RA therapies. Deep breath. Lene shares how she keeps her balance.

How to Make RA Treatment Decisions With Less Stress

Side-effect risks can be downright terrifying when you’re trying new rheumatoid arthritis therapies. Deeeep breath! In this HealthCentral column, I share how I keep my balance: “The ads make it look easy—you can create a wonderful life of walking on the beach with your beloved and a golden retriever by simply treating your rheumatoid arthritis…

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Two Kinds of RA Pain and How to Cope

Pain is often one of the first symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and may continue to play a leading role in your life with this condition. When you have RA, there are two general causes of pain: one is active RA inflammation and the other RA damage. I’ll take a look at both, as well…

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Side-effect risks can be downright terrifying when you’re trying new RA therapies. Deeeeep breath. In my new column for @RAHealthCentral , I share how to keep your balance.

How to Make RA Treatment Decisions With Less Stress

Rheumatoid arthritis and medication go hand in hand. But… what about the horror stories about side effects? How do you balance the fear of what might come with the meds with hope for remission? Read more in my new column for HealthCentral: “The ads make it look easy—you can create a wonderful life of walking…

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New Tool Offers Side-by-Side Comparison of RA Medications

Finding the right rheumatoid arthritis medication for you, one that has benefits, with the tall pro level of side effects, is a trial and error process. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a tool that can tell us what life on a particular medication would be like? I recently interviewed a rheumatologist who is…

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How I Cope with Taking Medication for My Chronic Conditions

Let’s get this out of the way first: no one likes taking medication. If my fairy godmother showed up in a sparkling red off the shoulder number (because my fairy godmother rocks) and offered to waive her magic wand over anything in my life, of course my first choice would be to magick away my…

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What You Need to Know About Methotrexate

Almost everyone who has RA who will be prescribed methotrexate at some point or another. So I wrote a slideshow on everything (almost) you need to know about this medication: “When you first get diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) there is a very good chance that you will leave your doctor’s office with a prescription…

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Real RA: Side Effects of the Miracle

Yesterday, as I moved down the street with the first vague sense of woozy pressure building in my sinuses, it came to me that the next post in my Real RA series should be a look at the cost of the miracle. And by the miracle, I mean Humira and everything good and beneficial it…

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