RA Sisters

I can vaguely remember a time when I was scared to take more than one pill at a time. I was kinda brought up believing that only the weak take medicines. It was better to just "tough it out". After I was diagnosed with my autoimmune conditions, the medicines just kept multiplying! In the beginning I decided that I was going to change my diet, use essential oils, and make my diseases disappear. I tried to talk to my doctor and see what he thought about my decision. Long story short he told me to go ahead and do what I wanted to do, but I was NOT going to stop taking any medications. He informed me that my diseases, RA and Lupus are very aggressive and if we did not treat them aggressively, they would harm my body more than any medication could. I went home that day feeling defeated. The next morning I was sitting in a chair feeling like I was on my death bed. My 5 year daughter asked me to brush her hair and put it in a ponytail for her. When I started to brush her hai...

     I am having one of my HARD weeks this week. So hard in fact, that I can not bear the pain of standing up in the shower to bathe in the morning. I get so weak and dizzy from the shooting/throbbing/stabbing pain i want to faint. Like I have said before, I do get a little down and out, but I try to always see the good in every situation. So here it is...      When you have a disease like RA, it is essential to have supportive and loving people surround you. I just happen to have several in my life. Thanks be to God. My husband is at the top of the list. He isn't always perfect, but when I am hurting really bad, my husband really comes through for me. After complaining about how hard it is to stand in the shower, I asked my hubby to run to the store to buy me one of those chairs you put in the bath or shower to sit on. You know, the kind old people have to use... I woke up the next morning to find this chair put together and waiting for me. Instead ...

 After I was diagnosed with RA, my Rheumatologist said he wanted to do a blood test called Vectra DA. He gave me a pamphlet and told me to go check out the website. He assured me that it was a good resource and information on RA. If any of you have ever been diagnosed with something, the first thing you do is.... GOOGLE IT! I had done my share of Googling already after my sister was diagnosed and already knew all the doom and gloom. I pulled out my pamphlet and looked on the Vectra DA website as soon as I got home. It was excellent. It explained all of the information I had already read on RA, but it had something else. It had an explanation of what the Vectra DA test was and why it was important. Out of all the blood work I had had done in the past, I never had had an explanation of what it all meant. This was the first time I actually understood what the blood work would tell my doctor about my disease. Awesome...      Now comes the important...