A rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis can throw you for a loop. Partly because many can receive this diagnosis as young as in their 30s and 40s. And it can force them to worry about how RA – with its feet pain, hand stiffness, and hip aches – will affect their future.
Professional folk-rock singer/songwriter Rain Perry talked to Lifescript.com about how she felt when she received her rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis at age 22. Since she was a professional guitar player, she was worried the diagnosis would shatter her career hopes and her dreams of being a star musician.
Like many others with rheumatoid arthritis, however, Perry learned to deal with the symptoms, found a medication that saved her, and is now achieving her music dreams at 44.
(You can read her whole story at “Life After a Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis.”)
Some of her tips:
- Educate yourself about your disease. Perry says that reading everything you can about rheumatoid arthritis will help. Also bring written questions to your doctor’s appointments and make sure you feel comfortable with all the answers you receive.
- Don’t focus on what you can’t do, but on what you can. When Perry wished she could be “super mom,” running along the athletic fields with her daughters, she forced herself to stop. It just made her sad. Instead, she learned to focus on what she could do: sing with them, prepare meals in the kitchen together, cheer them on at their events, etc.
- Find a support system. Perry said a strong system of support has helped her tremendously, even just getting out of the doldrums.
To learn even more about rheumatoid arthritis, be sure to visit Lifescript’s new online Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center, where you can find articles, quizzes, recipes, and plenty of other rheumatoid arthritis information.
The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not, nor is it ever intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice or professional recommendations, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician(s) or other qualified healthcare provider(s).
Filed under Arthritis, Arthritis Care by on Feb 3rd, 2012. Comment. 
Getting a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune disease that results in inflamed joints and muscles at different points of the body – can be disturbing.
For one, it affects younger people (typically ages 30 – 45), who may be wondering why they’re suffering from anything with “arthritis” in the name. Secondly, it tends to affect women more than men, though researchers aren’t sure why. Third, sufferers often wonder what causes it, and what type of people are most likely to get it.
Robert Lahita, M.D., author of Women and Autoimmune Disease, spoke with Lifescript.com, a women’s health and wellness web site, about all of these issues.
Researchers can’t quite pinpoint the actual cause of rheumatoid arthritis, he said, although some general truths have been revealed. Researchers know that:
- RA can affect younger ages. While osteoarthritis is a deteriorating of the joints that can come on over a person’s lifetime (affecting older people), rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that can hit even in the younger years.
- Race is not an issue. RA affects people of all races equally, unlike other autoimmune diseases.
- Gender is an issue. About four women are affected by rheumatoid arthritis for every one man.
- RA is hereditary to a degree. A person can have the immune-response genes, however, and still not get rheumatoid arthritis. Genes are only one factor that a person has to have, along with gender (see above) and an additional, unknown factor.
- What’s the additional unknown factor? Researchers aren’t sure what the additional trigger is, though they’ve looked at various viruses, conditions, diseases and bacteria to try to pinpoint the cause.
More and more research is being done on rheumatoid arthritis. Visit Lifescript.com to learn more about the condition, read the rest of the Dr. Lahita interview, and find out more about rheumatoid arthritis causes.
Also, be sure to swing by Lifescript’s new online Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Center for additional rheumatoid arthritis information.
The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not, nor is it ever intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice or professional recommendations, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician(s) or other qualified healthcare provider(s).
Filed under Arthritis, Arthritis Care by on Jan 30th, 2012. Comment.
Gin-soaked raisins? Cayenne pepper? Could these solutions really work as a natural treatment for osteoarthritis?
For eons, arthritis sufferers have been searching for natural treatments to help relieve the joint pain and stiffness the condition leaves in their hands, knees, hips, back or feet.
And many sufferers find strange-sounding treatments – like cherries, cider vinegar, hot peppers and more.
So do they work? And, if so, how?
Here are some of the popular ones:
- Hot peppers. Peppers contain capsaicin, which is a naturally occurring analgesic that may relieve mild to moderate osteoarthritis pain. Though you don’t eat them to relieve the pain – you apply the capsaicin as a gel or cream. (Although eating hot peppers might also work to a degree, if your stomach can take it. The spicy foods encourage the body to release endorphins, which are feel-good hormones and can help alleviate pain.) Traditionally, however, capsaicin is applied topically. You can find gels and lotions with capsaicin in them at your local drug store. There might be a mild burning sensation at first, which is the cream desensitizing the nerve receptors in the painful area.
- Gin-soaked raisins. Raisins contain compounds (three different acids) that are said to be pain relievers, and gin comes from juniper berries, which has an anti-inflammatory compound. Combine them, and you get both the pain relief and anti-inflammatory benefits! Although there isn’t any study or actual research to prove this works, many osteoarthritis patients swear by its effectiveness. Most use golden raisins, soak for about a week in a thin layer of gin (until it evaporates), then eat just 8-9 per day.
Visit Lifescript.com to learn more about how the hot peppers and gin-soaked raisins work for arthritis pain, as well as learning additional popular, natural treatments for osteoarthritis (including cider vinegar and cherries).
Also, be sure to visit Lifescript’s new Osteoarthritis Health Center, where you can find quizzes, recipes, tips, articles and more osteoarthritis information.
The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not, nor is it ever intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice or professional recommendations, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician(s) or other qualified healthcare provider(s).
Filed under Arthritis, Arthritis Care by on Jan 27th, 2012. Comment.