The Girl With Arthritis

Lately I've been trying to cover the topic of depression. This week I posted  Medication Depression , and much earlier I talked about  My Arthritis Depression  discussing the hard time around my diagnosis and early treatment. Today, I decided to talk about what helped me get through it. These things may help you. If you are depressed, please reach out for help: We can only help if you want it. These tips will not get you through it completely; they're merely small tricks to make it easier at times. Everyday, Have Look Forward to Something . Having something to look forward to helps keep you positive. Long term goals are excellent- Promotions, awards, holidays, birthdays and such are great. Short term goals and little things work wonderfully as well. I'm looking forward to the release of the last book in my favourite series in a few weeks, I'm looking forward to seeing some friends tomorrow, I'm looking forward to wearing my favourite winter clothes, and all sort...

When I was going through early treatment for arthritis, I was very depressed. Part of it was due to medication. Very few people realise it, but medicine can affect our mental health more than we think. It makes sense when you think about antidepressants affecting one's mood. What we put into our bodies has a great affect on what comes out, whether it's a good result or a bad attitude. Many medications warn they can cause mood changes or depression. Medicine for autoimmune disease is no different: several of these can cause mood changes. I can't talk from personal experience about many of the medicines, however I can talk about two: Methotrexate and Enbrel. If you're a frequent reader, you may already know that methotrexate did not work well for me whilst Enbrel has. I've taken Methotrexate for two years; one year at a time with a year between. I took it both through subcutaneous injection and orally. Both times I experienced mood changes. The first year I mostly...

In this post, I talk about a very hard time after I was diagnosed with arthritis. I share this because I think it's important for others to know that this is a hard disease. For the longest time I felt weak and that I was the only one weak enough to feel this way. But I know now that that is far from the truth: Many people feel this way and it's because they are strong. I know I'm not the first when I say 'I don't want to be alone in this disease.' I don't think anyone has ever said, 'I want to fight this alone,' and actually meant it. It's an ongoing thing that never seems to end, with surprises at every corner. I couldn't go on if it weren't for the wonderful people behind me. I know that for a fact because there was a point when I had almost no one. I did it almost alone for a long time. I had my mum, and she had me. Even then, sometimes there was a wall of fatigue between us. I was newly diagnosed and was taking methotrexate. It ...