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As many of you know, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and very recently, I had a new challenge thrown my way because that’s how life works. Don’t get too comfortable! Keep your seatbelt on at all times because life is a roller coaster ride.
Tag: <span>Rheumatoid arthritis</span>
“Move! Move as much and as often as you can.” How could she say that? I looked at her in absolute disbelief. She knew what I was going through.
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After a diagnosis of an incurable disease, it takes a while until we understand what it actually means. I remember it so well. I knew my lab results would come in that day or the next and when I saw my doctor’s number coming up on my cellphone, I excused myself, grabbed my husband’s car keys, and walked out.
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Just a low dose, but still, it’s a chemo drug and I have mixed feelings.
It gave me my life back but took small pieces of my freedom as well.
Seven weeks have passed since I started the chemo-drug Methotrexate. Sadly, my dose has increased, which seems to be normal -a fact they didn’t share with me at first. Once a week, I meet the Nightingales, that’s what I call them. A form of endearment, a tribute to Florence Nightingale and all the others who followed in her footsteps, and take care of us when we need them the most.
How can five small pills be so powerful?
The fear I felt before I took my first low dose of a chemotherapy drug was real. I felt very nervous, had read up on it, had researched it mercilessly. The internet, as always, helped me to picture all kinds of horror scenarios in my head. The printed list of potential side effects that came with the medication didn’t help much either: Possible death. I chuckled when I read it out loud. My husband didn’t think it was humorous at all.
When I battled COVID for the second time at the beginning of this year, it threw my health up in the air and now, two months later, I am officially a bit out of whack -a tad wonky, out of balance, off-centered, and not too happy about it. The last two months have been more painful than usual.
I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Celiac Disease and because I dislike pain, and much of the pain is food-related, I eat mostly vegan meals and cook healthy dishes. Many of them I found online, others I compose by using my older recipes and then I adjust them to my needs. NO dairy, NO meat, NO gluten, NO sugar, NO GMO, NO processed food, but, surprisingly enough, it doesn’t mean it has no taste or is not filling, it also doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. YES to taste! Yes to health!
I love to cook and I enjoy good food but these days I have to listen to my body, which is attacking me at all times if I don’t eat right. Autoimmune disorders, in my case an inflammation that affects my small joints. Pain, and joint stiffness, endless fatigue, and brain fog I should get a patent for. All gone if I stick to a healthy diet. Too much protein is my downfall, sugar drives me mad, gluten inflames my gut, dairy, including my beloved cheese, has become my archenemy.
I have a disease that can take up to fifteen years off my life expectancy, and I happen to find this highly inconvenient. I have been setting the age of my demise at 80′-something, so fifteen years less would mean I could say bye-bye with 65, which is just not an option. Don’t you dare cheat me out of my years!