The Girl With Arthritis

I am cold all the time. I get shivers down my spine all the time that give me muscle spams that are bad enough to get noticed. Which makes people stare, of course.  I know very many people with autoimmune diseases that struggle with the cold. I am one of those people. Its not just that you're a bit chilly, its that the cold is actually painful. One time, despite being on holiday in a very hot and tropical area, I still wanted my jumper because it wasn't quite hot enough. My mum wouldn't let me have it: she told me I'd overheat. She was probably right. And, despite knowing its horrible for your skin, I bathe in hot water ONLY. Cold water is painful. I don't really know why it seems people with autoimmune arthritis and related diseases seem to be affected by cold more. There doesn't seem to be much research out there about why feeling freezing is so common (if you come across any, let me know!). I think two of the best things you can do for a person with Ar...

I've had a wide variety of physical therapists in my time. My first was a young woman. I had to go to Physical therapy for a few weeks to recover  from a flare when I was eight. She was very nice, and I don't remember too much actual 'work,' because mostly it seemed like we played games and such. :) My next physical therapist came when I was about twelve. She was an older woman who always started out sessions by loosening my hip. She was very nice indeed, though she did not tolerate when I started giving up the last few minutes of the session: I had to be giving way more than humanly possible at ALL times. Sometimes I wondered if this was like military training. I had another physical therapist around that same time. He was an older man and very kind. I remember we had a lot of laughs. After he taped my feet so I wouldn't be so flat footed, he informed me I could stop walking like a robot. I only saw him a handful of times, though I did like when I got him. ...

I'm a very bad patient. I take all my medicines on time (most of the time). I go to my appointments. I eat rather healthy and keep my weight healthy. But I don't do physical therapy. Even though the doctor wants me to so much. I've had a long history of physical therapy. Years and years of it. It never really showed any results. I've found that working out on my own has been the most effective for me personally: swimming, walking and biking has been the best for me. At physical therapy, I was stretched out and did a lot of exercises that stretched and world muscles I didn't know I have. But, mostly it did not help because they were not muscles that I needed in everyday life. By working out by myself, I'm able to strengthen muscles I use and need. For example, stairs are a problem and by working on machines that mimic stairs (with less strain that normal stairs), I'm beginning to find I'm slowly having an easier time. For some, Physical therapy is...