The Girl With Arthritis

I try to stay very active in the community of fellow autoimmune disease owners. I'm actually part of a group on Facebook (My Immune System Hates Me) for young people who own autoimmune diseases. I really love being a part of it: Even though I'm not very active on it, I've really gotten to know everyone and I really care about them. My heart breaks for them, too. As just the other day, my heart was torn in two for one. Though I won't say who for privacy reasons, this person talked about graduating university just the previous year with hopes of going on to a bright future. However, she is now struggling a lot with her health and it's so hard for her to get by day to day. It's amazing how fast your life can flip. Scratch that, it's scary how fast your life can flip. Especially when you're only so young. Life doesn't get to be put on pause until you can feel better- time keeps ticking and dreams collect dust. I think it's funny how our brains are...

Updated October 2022 Lately, I've spent a lot of time reading articles online. One of my favourite places is All Women Stalk: I like the beauty and hair advice, and I really like the name. Last night I was on All Women Stalk and one article was very interesting to me: 7 Skin Problems That Are So Easy to Treat. I expected this article would talk about things like dry skin, but I was proved very wrong. One of the problems that are so easy to treat is psoriasis. Psoriasis?! Easy to treat?! Over my dead body it's easy to treat. The article states that the number six easiest skin problem to treat is psoriasis. This is what the website says: "You might not realize how common psoriasis is. In fact, it’s one of the most common skin conditions that affect adults. It produces red, scaly, dry patches of skin and can appear most anywhere on the body. There are several types of psoriasis, and some require nothing more than taking a prescription pill. As long as you remember to t...

I was in a life drawing class with one of my friends. They noticed my nifty eraser grip, which makes it much easier to hold and use. "Wow, cool grip." They said. We were setting up easels and getting ready for the class to start. "Yes," I said, "Yes it is. It's so I can hold it without killing my hands." "Well, aren't you special with your arthritis?" They remarked. "Oh, I'm not just special . I'm extraordinary ." I don't know who you are. I mean, I might. But the odds are I probably don't. If I asked you to introduce yourself in as many one or two word sentences as you could, you would probably define your roles and highly important traits. Short and straight to the point. 'Mum.' 'Husband.' 'Teacher.' 'Student.' 'Athletic.' 'Outgoing.' 'Musician.' 'Young.' 'Artistic.' Just a few words would give me a better understanding of who you...

I have heard many stories of people in America having a difficult time trying to get benefits for their disability. This post contains help for any person in the US with arthritis who would like to apply for Social Security Disability. This article is here for my reader's benefit, and I hope you are able to find guidance in this post. It was written by Ram Meyyappan at Social Security Disability Help. Links to Social Security Disability Help are featured at the end of this article. -Elizabeth Arthritis and Social Security Disability   Though various forms of arthritis may allow you to continue working for some time after the initial onset of the disease, as symptoms progress most forms become increasingly debilitating, putting more and more limitations on your everyday abilities to complete normal job functions and tasks in your personal life as well. If you suffer from arthritis that is preventing you from working as you once did, you may be able to qu...

I was taught that teachers are there to help us. And typically this is the case. Except for gym teachers.  I used to go to school with very athletic children. Naturally, gym classes were very competitive and intense. And with extremely athletic children comes extremely athletic teachers. The worst was a woman who didn't take 'I can't,' 'I'm sick,' or 'My bone is literally protruding from my skin,' as an excuse to sit out of class or to take it easy. One can only imagine the fun I had in that class: Crying after a horrible game of basketball where she kept yelling at me to push harder. Her encouraging everyone to call me names when I limped heavily. Being treated horribly by her after my doctor made it clear I am not to participate and should do special excersises instead. And my favourite; The time she made me cry of embarrassment when she pointed out how slow I am, how 'stupid' my knees look and why I'm generally inferior. What ...

One of my friends has trouble with speaking. When she was very little, her parents discovered she had hearing difficulties. Rather than trying a hearing aid, which had more promise of helping her hear, they opted for letting the child walk around unble to hear. The reason for this was not that they couldn't get my friend an aid, it's that their child would look different from others. They denied the child the right to hear properly (which is crucial in developing speech) for vanity. You can only imagine how hard it is for her now. I always wondered what would have happened if my parents tried to hide my disability. I bet they would make me wear trousers and long dresses all the time so no one could see my knees. And I probably would have worse arthritis because it would be ignored. That is, if I would be let out of the house at all due to my limp. The world is a cruel place. For some people, home is an understanding sanctuary. For others, it's where the cruelty begins u...