Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
I saw my rheumatologist today and she wanted to know why I hadn't been in for six months, noting the state of affairs of my knuckles, swollen ankles and a stingy right hip that won't move properly.
I thought about her concerned scolding, and told her "I am the reluctant RA patient...I don't like coming here...I bumble along until I need my meds refilled or I can't stand it anymore, whichever comes first." This is of course counterproductive to being a conscious and informed healthcare consumer, but...I don't know where my resistance stems from..it is just there. I take the meds now (for a time I was non-compliant) get the bloodwork, do alternative therapies and somehow cobble together a life, but it feels seemingly pointless as RA skates over me, crisscrossing me with deformed joints and pain, rendering me less than who I was. Oh, I just yearn to be free again. I had a remission this summer, which was bliss.
So no purpose to this post, just an observation. I left the office with a sheaf of papers to get ready to start biologics in the new year and a ton of instructions floating in my ears about bloodwork, x-rays, vaccines, infections.....blah blah blah.........just more paperwork to define who I am now.
I thought about her concerned scolding, and told her "I am the reluctant RA patient...I don't like coming here...I bumble along until I need my meds refilled or I can't stand it anymore, whichever comes first." This is of course counterproductive to being a conscious and informed healthcare consumer, but...I don't know where my resistance stems from..it is just there. I take the meds now (for a time I was non-compliant) get the bloodwork, do alternative therapies and somehow cobble together a life, but it feels seemingly pointless as RA skates over me, crisscrossing me with deformed joints and pain, rendering me less than who I was. Oh, I just yearn to be free again. I had a remission this summer, which was bliss.
So no purpose to this post, just an observation. I left the office with a sheaf of papers to get ready to start biologics in the new year and a ton of instructions floating in my ears about bloodwork, x-rays, vaccines, infections.....blah blah blah.........just more paperwork to define who I am now.
Paperwork will only define you if you let it!!! Cyber hug.
In the beginning so many meds and tests were pushed on me. They didn't help. A lot of time I felt worse. Mentally and emotionally, the less time I spend at the doctor is less time I spend focused on this crappy disease. In my case you could call it a "survival" mechanism. Spending the bulk of my time pursuing the things that I love and can do is very good medicine for me.