The Girl With Arthritis

A few weeks ago I was talking with a student nurse. Our conversation somewhat ended coldly, but not the way you would expect. You see, this person happened to say, "I mean, it's just arthritis." I kind of smirked, gave a small laugh and said "You're lucky you said that to me and not a patient: I know what you meant, but a patient would think you just completely dismissed their pain." As I gave her the heads up, she proceeded to obviously lose attention and began to text and laugh at a message, not acknowledging I had spoken at all. I get it. Nursing is an extremely difficult career. Believe when I say I understand- not completely, of course, since I'm not a nurse- but I see a lot of things they put up with and lots of great things they do enough to see the passion behind it. I'm in hospitals enough to be reminded of this constantly. And I understand that there will be one patient with a slight fever who insists they are extremely ill and in agon...

I'm actually writing this as I try and begin an art project (just a painting of a kitten), so please bare with me. I think it's funny how people have to take medicine to care for the side effects of the medicines that care for the symptoms of a disease. I remember taking one NSAID that caused me headaches, severe light headedness, fatigue, muscle ache and later extreme nausea. The light head feeling was so bad that I would tip my head upside down and cover it with a pillow just to feel like I actually had blood in my head. I ended up staying home from school for about a week, with that weekend being filled with- to put it bluntly- vomit. I think the worse part about this all, was the doctor kept telling me to push on. I actually ended up in way more pain from the medicine than I ever have from the disease. My mum, being the smart woman she is, took me off of it after I couldn't move. And me, being as stubborn as ever, eventually fired that doctor after two years of him ig...

I apologise for being away for so long, I've had a very long and busy week between school, school work , a family gathering and also seeing a film I've wanted to see for quite a while with one of my best friends. At the moment, I have many Enbrel side effects including headaches and fatigue. In fact I fell asleep after school, of which I never do unless I'm extremely ill. Tonight I have worked on my own clothing design for a shirt. This is completely and utterly unnecessary work. The reason I am doing it is because a girl in my class took credit for an idea I came up with and drawings I did last year. She didn't mention it was my idea, she took all the credit and continued to saying that she was the only person who cared. I am not letting her win this. I am bringing all my former drafts to class as well as my NEW ideas, which in my mind are brillant. I'm not letting her get away with this. If we're not allowed to cheat on tests, why should we be allowed to che...

I've beem doing my own Enbrel injections lately at the doctor's office, but tonight I did it at home. I can't say it was my best Enbrel experience but it definatly was a success. I actually recorded it on my phone to show friends tomorrow before school, so I'm rather excited to see their reactions as some are interested and others usually grossed out. I HAVE gotten side effects on Enbrel: A lot of fatigue and headaches at first that are beginning to lessen, as well as some general weakness and muscle pain. Also the first few days I got moderate muscle cramps in my feet, but it did not last. Nothing out of the ordinary, hopefully they will lessen the longer I take Enbrel. On a positive note, I've been very busy the past week and keeping myself in great spirits with lots of things planned for the coming months. Nothing is better for a young person than looking forward and taking control of their future. :)

Last night was one of the last times I will be taking methotrexate in pill form. This will sound gross, but when I swallowed it a few seconds lately I became violently ill and vomitted anything I ate a few hours prior. I really didn't think I ate much. My mum had to call Marc, my doctor, and we have to make arrangements so I can begin taking injections of methotrexate again. This time I am going to learn to give them to myself: I've seen many people on Youtube do it and I think it will be a good idea for me to learn to do it in case I'm unable to get to a nurse or doctor. I was actually thinking of getting the injections done at school so I could make my friends watch. Yes, I write make. I want them to see myself injecting yellow liquid into my own flesh. I want them to feel my pain... Okay, actually I would really just like moral support because I know at some point I will not want to do it and I will get sick at the smell of rubbing alcohol or something. Not that I need...

They all say its the easy fix. Methotrexate, they claim, is a little miracle and all it takes is some little pills, a little liquid or an injection once a week. That's all, and there shouldn't be any side effects and if there are, we'll take care of it with this little pill. They coax you to take it and claim any side effect is all in your mind. But it's much more difficult than that, I promise you.It has side effects! I take about 20.0 mg of this wonderful drug once a week. It's not a lot compared to the amount others take, and though I try and tough it out, today I simply cannot. I can't tell you which day will be my Methotrexate day: Some days I just can't handle taking it. It's an extreme battle for me to take it. I use a clear capsule to put all seven of the small tablets in. My mum does this for me because I can't handle the smell of it. When I actually take it, it's not the simple fact of swallow with a little water. It's choke it do...

Now that I've told you the truth about Methotrexate, I think it's clear how clueless everyone is about it. Through no fault of their own, of course. When I first started it again (orally this time) I was in Disney World with my parents and other family members. I had only been taking it two or three weeks before the trip. I didn't realise how sick I would get. The worse thing was the mood swings. I won't specify but there was a lot of tension that week. My depression and mood swings were not the best thing to mix with stress. I cried a lot. Also, my jaw hurt an awful lot that whole week. I was tired all the time as well, and though we use a wheelchair in there anyway, I was literally stuck in it except for getting on and off rides. AND my mum had made reservations to all my favourite restaurants but I had lost my appetite that week and forced myself just to taste all my Disney favourite foods. I got nauseous too, and thank God I never got sick. The worse part of thi...

Updated October 2022 Truth is, I take powerful medications to treat Arthur. It's called Methotrexate and in much high doses it is used to treat cancer. In small doses it is used to treat arthritis - it is not considered chemotherapy when used for arthritis. We use it to treat arthritis because it suppresses your immune system, which does not work properly in many arthritis cases, except in the case of Osteoarthritis (arthritis you get due to wear and tear). Though I take it in small doses once a week in pills (people with cancer can take it in pills too), it does not mean I do not get the side effects. Sure, it's much less worse than a person taking it in high doses but no doubt it's still there. I've lost some hair (most people won't lose all their hair), especially eyelashes much to my annoyance. I get mouth sores too and whilst they don't hurt, I do get that odd taste in my mouth. I get nausea too, as most people do. Fatigue happens too. In fact, when I fir...