The Girl With Arthritis

The process of being diagnosed and treated for one chronic illness was brutal. I wanted to cry when I realized I’d be going through this process again with another chronic illness. I’m stronger and wiser this time but also a little jaded. While I’ve had psoriatic arthritis (PsA) since childhood, and it’s had a significant impact on my life, it’s not my only chronic illness. Unfortunately, once you get one autoimmune disease, it’s not uncommon to be diagnosed with another. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA

 My treatment options for PsA aren’t just determined by my rheumatologist. My insurance company also has a say. Learning to manage my insurance is just as important as learning to manage my arthritis. Whenever I see my rheumatologist, I come out feeling positive. I have a great dynamic with my doctor, and she always addresses any concerns about my psoriatic arthritis (PsA). But whenever we discuss my treatment options and plans, it’s always between three of us: myself, my doctor, and my insurance company. My health insurance always seems to have the final say. It determines which specialists I can see and which hospitals I can go to. But the policy that has affected me the most is step therapy. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA.

 My PsA is sensitive to any change in my body, especially hormonal changes.  Our bodies need hormones to function. Insulin regulates our blood sugar, thyroid-stimulating hormones regulate our metabolism, and melatonin helps us sleep, to name a few. As incredible as they are, they can have a lot of power over us. Usually, when we think of hormones, we think of the not-so-great parts, like mood changes and body odor during puberty. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA.

Living with chronic pain doesn’t mean learning to ignore it. Listening to your body can help you figure out what works when managing pain. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Push through the pain. Pain is weakness leaving the body. No pain, no gain. These are just a few of my least favorite sayings. The meanings aren’t lost on me. I get the point. But as someone living with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), dealing with pain is not that simple.  Living with PsA does mean having to push through a lot of pain to get through each day. To an extent, you get used to it because it just can’t be avoided. It’s true that sometimes “the only way out is through.” But to say “no pain, no gain” is not just an oversimplification — it’s not true! Yes, there are many times when we push past it. Sometimes, it feels worth it. Sometimes, it’s a matter of survival. Either way, our bodies may say differently and punish us for ignoring their warnings. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA.

 Flare-ups can be hard to deal with. Some are aggressive, while others are more bearable but still unrelenting. They are all important in relation to your baseline health. After I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis (later, juvenile psoriatic arthritis or JPsA), I started to hear the term “flare-up” used at my doctor’s office. While I understood its gist, I didn’t use that term long ago. Initially, I thought I wasn’t having flare-ups at all. When I was little, I had been hospitalized due to severe arthritis pain and symptoms. After having been so sick and in the worst pain of my life, I hesitated to call anything else a flare-up. I would tell my doctor how I was feeling worse or in more pain, but I couldn’t bring myself to call it a flare-up. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA.

When you’re having a flare-up, getting dressed up and going out somewhere fancy doesn’t sound appealing. Dates don’t need to be fancy to be special. Consider some of these unique date night ideas for an arthritis-friendly evening. When I was little, I imagined all the fun dates my future husband and I would go on. I pictured dinner, dancing, ice skating, hiking, and other fun and romantic activities! What I didn’t picture at the time was dealing with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) as a young adult. I didn’t know that dating would look a little different for me. My pain and fatigue have influenced many parts of my life and my relationships, from little things like dates to what the future might look like. Read the full article at Bezzy PsA.  

 Fatigue is a whole body symptom, and fighting it takes a whole body approach. People don’t get it when I say that fatigue is one of my most challenging symptoms. But the fatigue I experience from psoriatic arthritis (PsA) flares is different from just being tired. It’s like I have a never-ending case of the flu or like living in a fog. It’s hard to go about the day; even thinking and focusing can be challenging. Fatigue is a difficult symptom to treat. Short of directly treating the cause, there’s no magic pill you can take to fix it. With PsA, it’s often the effect of ongoing inflammation. Living with chronic pain is also an energy-suck; it’s mentally and physically draining. Read the full artcile at Bezzy PsA.