The Girl With Arthritis

This year, 2013, has been a phenomenal year for The Girl With Arthritis! In 2012 I was lucky to get a few views a day but this year my views have gone above and beyond my expectation. Iwas even given some awesome opportunities. This is all because of you reading my posts! Thanks so much for sticking with me from the beginning or just reading for the first time. Not only has my blog been more successful, but greater things have come as well. I think my favourite is getting to 'meet' and talk with new people through this and other blogs. You've gotten me through the worst of times and helped me celebrate the best of times. And though 2013 was a great year for the blog, it was a very hard year for me. A lot happened over the course of the year in all parts of my life. Arthritis wise it was a tough year and I went through a lot between dealing with the disease itself and complications from it. I still am going through a hard time with it. Since the year is almost over, I want...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I certainly did. I've had the pleasure of being surrounded by family for the past few days. Although sarcastic by nature, I don't mean it sarcastically: it was actually nice to see my family again. Mostly.    There was one event in particular that stands bright in my memory. It was towards the end of the night and only a few were left. My younger cousins were playing nicely when the inevitable happened- a crash and some crying. An object that wouldn't be heavy to an adult but very heavy to a very petite eight year old fell on said child's foot. Even though we're still questioning if it really "just fell" or "if he threw it at me," one thing I can't question is that the child was really hurting. What I thought was interesting was the reactions of three people. The first person had a wonderful time with the child, however it was quite miserable for the child. He really enjoyed jokingly telling ...

Oh, to be young and rested... Wait, that's a total contradiction. From what I'm told, young people usually live perfectly fine off borrowed energy, caffine and crashing at two in the morning until they're tweety five-ish. That seems about right to be honest. Except in the cases of if you have some sort of autoimmune pain disease: You still live off borrowed energy, caffine and falling asleep at two in the morning (and probably some medicines) but you tend to flare, be miserable and lots of other 'fun' things. Oh, to be young and chronically ill. I'm a jealous person. I'm jealous that a week of school and Christmas shopping takes a lot out of me. I'm jealous there are days I'm doing work in bed or on my couch because I can't muster the strength to sit up correctly. I'm jealous that although I can and will push myself to go and do things, I often end up very painful and tired after (but never regretful). For goodness sakes, I'm jealous I ...

With all the wonders of science and technology, researchers have found a new therapy that is able to help with chronic pain, depression, and all sorts of diseases: Touch therapy. Different from massage therapy, touch therapy is simply a person touching certain points on the body to relax a person. Touch is also known to release chemicals in the brain that reduce pain and give joy. It's amazing what our bodies can do from touch, so why has it never been pleasant for me? I've had arthritis since I was extremely young. There was evidence since I began walking when I was one year old. My uncles were very... Playful. They loved to toss around their nieces and nephews but I never had much of that. I recall it being very painful, and to think that was only the beginning! I didn't like games in school very much either as they tended to involve touch that was often a slap as they ran by (I was always rubbish at running anyway). I was about eleven when my 'friends' thought ...

A lot of people have the notion that some kinds of arthritis are 'better' than others. Some people argue it's worst to have an autoimmune arthritis than an osteoarthritis, and it goes farther to which kind of autoimmune arthritis is the worst. I think what we don't understand is that it isn't which kind of arthritis is the worst, it's how each individual's disease progresses that judges how severe it is. Let's take a conversation from about a year ago. It was between my mum and the parents of a friend of mine. My friend's parents had run into my mum and they began to chat. My Friend's parents knew about my arthritis and asked about it. At that point I was not doing well in any sense: Not only were my joints a mess, my kidneys weren't so hot From the medication. Anyway, before my mum brought up that my Friend's dad asked what kind of arthritis it was. My mum told them juvenile psoriatic arthritis, to which he replied "Thank God it...

"If you didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings or being prim and proper, what would ask for or want people to know?" The one thing I would ask is for people to learn how to properly hug a chronically ill body. I've had hundreds of hugs in my life, and I can count on one hand how many were 'just right. ' There are times I really just need a hug. Unfortunately it can often be very painful: People squeeze too tight or are very distant and cold. People tend to not want to touch me because they know it hurts sometimes, and it's horrible to know people are afraid. The ideal hug would be that given by gentle arms. Even though squeezes are painful, you can certainly wrap your arms around me. Don't be afraid of me; I promise I won't break or pass on my chronic illness. I might feel awkward and stiff, but I'm not trying to be cold: It's just how my body works. And please excuse my freezing hands! After all, don't they say cold h...

As we get older and our situations change, our groups of friends tend to change a lot. Before I was diagnosed with arthritis, I had a close group of friends. After I began treatment after diagnosis, I lost them. We were young and I don't think they could really handle having a sick friend at that point: I understand, I stopped being mad a few years ago after I realised that. I think chronic illness reasons for lost friendships are the easiest to understand but also the hardest wounds to heal. Awhile ago,  I had some friendships end. To sum it up, I was told repeatedly that "I'm such a jerk," and that these friends are "so much better [people] than [me]." They meant it. I know them well enough to know they meant it. I'm going to leave it at that: I don't want to be too much more of a jerk. I tried to think of all the things I've said that could be hurtful, but I really couldn't think of anything. I consulted a few friends to ask if I'm...

One place I can commonly be found is at the library, and that's not a surprise considering I volunteer there. I gets me up and moving, and I enjoy the work: Typically putting away books and tidying. The area I most commonly work in tends to be the children's room, which I love aside from the low shelves and the messes that appear as you're not looking. Regardless, I adore the library: Books are one of my favourite ways to learn. But I know too well it's usually people who teach us the most important lessons. In my first few weeks there, I met a woman and her young son. The children's room was filled with children of every age playing or doing homework, and many parents supervising. I was shelving DVDs when the woman came with the little boy, the both of them with a spring in their step. The woman spoke with an excited voice, pointing out paintings the children had done earlier and the different sections. The boy didn't speak but he smiled at everything. The tw...

Waking up isn't so hard, it's the getting up part. In the morning my back is killing me and more recently it's extended to my ribs. They're just so achy in the morning, like I got punched there or something. It's odd and I don't like that. But it is a quite common symptom in autoimmune arthritis- of course bring it up with your rheumatologist if you are experiencing this. I think wake up pain and late night pain is the worst kind of pain because your focus tends to only be then pain, rather than other things. It hits you at a time when your most vulnerable, mentally and physically. I once read that although we may experience pain in a different body part, pain always comes from our brain. It is best to keep our minds busy when we're in pain. It also explains brain fog.  I try not to dwell on pain, but it's not always possible. So today I decorated my Chrismtas tree. It's a small, white little thing and it's all dressed up in red- it's warm ...

As it is now December and officially time to start our Advent calendars, I think it's time for the dreaded C word. No, novt cortisone; Chrismtas! 'Tis the season for festivities and fun! I can't think of any time of year I love more, except perhaps the summer when I can actually move. Anyway, people are beginning to come up with present ideas for their friends and families. I can completely sympathise if you are struggling because there are quite a few people on my list giving me a run for my money (you know who you are). I am a firm believer in the thought being what counts the most- I'd rather recieve nothing but told how much they thought of me than something that was obviously bought in haste without a thought to who I am. That said, I think it's sometimes hard to come up gift ideas for those of us with chronic illnesses. Since most people aren't millionaires, my wish of a hot tub won't be on my list, but there are small things that are very appreciated....