The Girl With Arthritis

I think this past academic year has been the oddest of all. By no means was it a bad year. But it certainly was taxing, and I did more growing up than anticipated. My mum had a heart attack in the beginning of October. We didn't see it coming, and it came in the typical fashion with women- quietly, and appearing to be a case of the flu. Even though it happened at noon, nobody called me until 7 pm, the time I finished class that day. My mum was very clear that I was not to be told until after class, and even as I talked to my dad on the phone that night, I could hear my mum saying "she's supposed to be hanging out with her friends tomorrow, tell her to go hang out with her friends." Rest assured, I did not go hang out with my friends the next day. Thankfully, my mum is recovering; it takes at least a year to recover from a heart attack. As soon as she could, she sent me from her hospital room back to college. My mum is so adamant that I never stop my life f...

I have to admit, I've said "Having arthritis is so stupid" in a serious conversation. It's a very frustrating thing to have. Insulting it doesn't take arthritis away but it does make you feel a little better. I think the thing that's so frustrating is that much of what happens when you have arthritis is out of your control. You really don't get much choice in things you want to do when your body isn't well, especially with a disease that isn't always well controlled.People commonly have dreams, or rather nightmares, about losing control. But it's very hard to deal with something out of your control in real life, especially the way it so intimately is involved in your world. A few months ago my school was advertising a blood drive, and I was very excited. I had always wanted to donate blood, and my friends and I were going to give together. But being the person I am, I did my homework before the day of the blood drive. I found out that people ...

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...

Whenever I'm introduced to a new doctor or present doctors with new, odd symptoms, my mum likes to tell them "she's going to give you a run for your money." That's completely accurate. Most times, doctors can't figure out what's wrong with me- at least, not for the first two visits. I think the only time I ever got a diagnosis in one doctors appointment was for a classic case of bronchitis (that I walked around with for a month or so because I just didn't want to see another doctor). And I know I'm not alone in that either. Lots of people I know walk around for years not knowing what's wrong with them. I went about a decade. I know a lot of GPs are not able or don't know how to properly treat many autoimmune and other chronic illnesses, but I can't understand why patients aren't refered to specialists faster. It's cruel to make someone suffer and ignore it. I also hate when specialists dismiss patients quickly. Maybe it's ...

Finger nails and toe nails: We've all got them. Some people paint them, some people bite them, and some people have psoriasis on them. I have psoriatic nails. They're highly common in people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, though you don't need either to have psoriatic nails. At this point in time I don't have psoriasis, which makes people wonder how I can possibly have psoriatic arthritis. It's actually because psoriatic nails are highly common in those with psoriatic arthritis and shows the presence of psoriasis. I know of a few people who are diagnosed in the same way. Psoriatic nails tend to having pitting (dents in the nail) but can have lines or seperation of the nail and skin, as well as brittle and discoloured nails. I've dealt with all those problems except pitting. Luckily it's mostly on my toes rather than my fingers, but it still does have it's share of problems. I use to have to swim for school and I'd want to wear open toed s...

I've always been really good with numbers, even when I was little. I was about twelve years old when I became very interested in statistics: 1 in every 1,000 child will have some form of arthritis, 2/3 will have 4 or less joints affected, and at least 30% will go on to have arthritis as adults. That's a lot for a child to take in. Sometimes you seemed like one of a large group and other times you were rare. When I was fourteen and got diagnosed with juvenile psoriatic arthritis, my numbers changed a bit: I felt part of an even smaller group. Only 2-10% of cases tend to be juvenile psoriatic arthritis, but it could be more since it sometimes looks like other types. And even though I found out 80% tend to have nail problems too, I also found 85% have psoriasis first. I'm one in a small group of people who don't have psoriasis before the arthritis sets in. They say that one develops skin problems within months or years of the onset of arthritis. But I have had evidence o...

Skin psoriasis. Nobody wants it, but some of us get it. And some may be thinking, "Psoriasis? So what? It's just an itchy elbow." But anyone who has it knows that's not the case. Unfortunately even when diseases are very visable, they are still considered to be 'not a big deal.' I can't understand why it would be thought as not a big deal, but the reality is is that psoriasis is a chronic disease which can cause a lot of pain, embarassement and emotional stress. And far too many people don't see it. I do not have skin psoriasis. I am very lucky I do not have skin psoriasis. I am very thankful I do not have skin psoriasis. However, my psoriatic arthritis had to come from someone and that someone is my mum. My wonderful mum has psoriasis and there is not a day that passes where I wish I could take that away. This was not a life long problem- she got it when I was ten years old during a very stressful time. Regardless, it's a horrible thing to live ...

Psoriasis is a horrible disease. It can affect one's skin, which is terribly itchy, uncomfortable and burning in some case. It can also cause arthritis, which is extremely painful and can lead to major deformities. But very few people realise is that you can have psoriasis in your nails. It can cause discolouration, defomity and other horrible things. I know this personally. I do have psoriatic arthritis after all. While I don't have skin psoriasis, I do have nail psoriasis. It is currently extremely mild, as it responded well to Methotrexate and later Enbrel. However I did struggle for years! While it was nothing like most of the pictures you would see if you Googled 'Psoriatic toe nail' (And I recommend you don't), it was very bad and painful. I had, what looked like, nails growing over my nails. It cause pain with many kinds of shoes, so I had to buy shoes based off of how much 'toe room' they gave. I ended up having to get part of one of my nails remov...