The Girl With Arthritis

  Photo credit: Psoriatic-Arthritis.com If I could use one word to describe my time taking methotrexate (MTX), it would be: sluggish. Frankly, I felt like a zombie sometimes. I had no energy and was very tired all the time. And I had lots of other not-so-fun side effects, like nausea, cankers, and hair loss. Read the rest of the post at Psoriatic-Arthritis.com

   Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) affects every part of your life, even in subtle ways – including your friendships. After living with PsA since childhood, I assumed I knew everything there was to know about navigating friendships with arthritis. But after graduating from college and entering “the real world,” I was in for a huge shock. As it turns out, maintaining adult friendships is much more work than I anticipated. View the full article at HealthGrades.com .

  Photo credit: Psoriatic-arthritis.com I much prefer the summer to the winter. New England winters are bitter, to put it lightly, and rough for anyone dealing with arthritis. Being cold makes me hold myself stiffly which means I'm less likely to stretch. This makes my joints lock up and it's very painful. The barometric changes due to snowstorms and freezing rain can also significantly impact my pain. But even though summer has fewer triggers, I still have a few surprising ones...  Read the full post at psoriatic-arthritis.com

  When I started my first full-time job after graduating college, I was surprised at the toll my 9-to-5 took on my body. I thought I would choose a desk job and that would be it. I was wrong! The long hours, repetitive movements, and even the commute ran me ragged. In my first few months of working, life was an endless cycle of work, sleep, repeat. Fatigue and burning pain from PsA made it impossible to do much else. Over the years, I had to learn ways to make my office job easier on my body. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, I figured out what worked. View the full article at HealthGrades.com .

People with arthritis often talk about how they 'pay' for being too active one day with a lot of pain the next day. I can completely relate: there have been plenty of times when I accidentally overdid it while having a fun day out and about. The overexertion aggravates my psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and this pattern makes it hard to balance my need for social interaction with my need to take care of my body.  View the full article at HealthGrades.com.

  My unique talent is that I can sleep for 12 hours and wake up feeling like I didn't sleep at all. After living with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) for more than 10 years, I've experienced various symptoms, such as joint pain and stiffness. But people always seem surprised to hear that I deal with chronic fatigue, too. In reality, it's extremely common for people with PsA to experience fatigue, especially if their arthritis is more aggressive. And it’s so much more than just being tired: it’s a dragging, weighed-down feeling, as if each limb weighs a ton and you’ve never gotten a chance to rest. View the full article at HealthGrades.com .

While brushing my hair this morning, I discovered a single gray hair. This is delightful, especially since I'm still in my early twenties. I'm prone to growing a white strand of hair during particularly stressful periods, and I believe this was the third one I found this week. To say it's been a stressful few months would be an understatement. Click here to read the full article at Psoriatic-Arthritis.com.