The RA Meme - My Answers

This meme is the first for RA and comes from my favorite RA Health Activist Kelly Young, the RAWarrior. You can find her page for the meme here.

So, grab a cup of coffee and sit down to contemplate your own answers while you read mine to the questions she poses. Maybe one of my answers will surprise you:

1. How many other diagnoses (co-morbidities) do you have?
   I cannot count them all. Ignorance is bliss.
2. When were you diagnosed?
   I still don't have a firm diagnosis. I'm told it doesn't matter, the treatment is the same as my other autoimmune diseases and I need to just learn to live with it.
3. How many Rheumatoid Arthritis treatments have you tried?
   It's been so long, I'm not sure how many. More than 5. If you count alternative stuff, more than 10.
4. What kind of a reward do you give yourself after taking any medicine that you hate?
   Hmm, reward - that's a good idea! Usually I have a water chaser - something else I really am not fond of consuming.
5. Who helps you open doors or jars when you need it?
   Whoever is around. I'm stubborn. I always try first. Big mistake *ouch* I feel anyone around me with good hands is fair game.
6. What would your ultimate good rheum doc do?
   Doc would insist pain be adequately treated and work with me diligently to that end.
7. What’s your favorite comfort for RA?
   Heating pad. A good pounding hot shower helps too, since I don't have a hottub. Daughter is in therapeutic massage school, so next year my answer will be - a massage!
8. What was the hardest thing you have done since being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis?
   Look for a doctor to help me get through it or, maybe trying to get adequate pain control to make my life livable. Both are arduous things to endure and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
9. What’s your biggest RA-related fear?
   That the pain will become permanent and unbearable and there will be nothing left for me to try.
10. How many pills do you swallow every day?
    Only about 5 pills, give or take. Then there are the liquids, the shots and, well *other* ways of getting the other meds in me.
11. Something surprising that you wish insurance would cover for Rheumatoid Arthritis patients?
    A bed so I can sleep through the night, which would help everything else too. Water therapy, specifically a hot tub. Massage therapy at least weekly.
12. What do you wish people knew about Rheumatoid Arthritis?
    That it is an autoimmune disease and that the pain does not go away, even with meds - provided we could get the pain meds we need in the first place. That it is such a terrible struggle for pain relief. That we have to make a conscious decision every day how to live our lives and manage to do it with the grace they see, despite the fight they cannot understand.
13. What would you like to say to your RA? I was taught it's impolite to swear in public o.0

Thank you Kelly for some great questions! I can't wait to see how others begin to answer them too...