Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Best Prescription Is a Good Attitude

We were in Myrtle Beach, and my husband chose to have a heart attack. He probably didn't choose it, but he had one. In the hospital, my foot felt like it was on fire. I finally ended up taking my shoes off and walking on the cold floor, which was a lot of comfort, really. But by the time we got back to Charlotte, some of my toes had fused together and turned in. They said it was OPD, which is old people's disease. Then they finally thought it might be lupus. Much later, the RA factor finally showed up in my blood work, and it was rheumatoid arthritis. I don't think my relatives, except maybe my husband and my mother, had any idea of the ramifications of having rheumatoid arthritis. You know, they hear the word arthritis and they think, "Oh, everybody's got some arthritis as they get older." But they don't realize rheumatoid arthritis is part of the autoimmune system, which involves a number of things in your body. When it finishes its job, your joints will be bonded together. The place where I have the rheumatoid arthritis the worst is in my toes and my feet. I have some arthritis in my knees, and my hands, and my wrist. I guess the worst side effect that I had with any of the medicines was, I just was dizzy all the time. Another one just made me sleepy all the time. Another one, nauseous. I had to weigh taking medicine that made me feel drowsy or just not functioning. I have no regrets in my decision to go off of the medicines. It just works for me. I think you feel better when you're not taking it. But then you have to deal more with the pain. It makes it hard to do things that give you joy. On a good day, I can do a little bit of sewing, but I can no longer crochet. That's one of the first things the doctors have you stop because it pushes the fluid out of your joints even faster, and it's going fast enough. In my opinion, for the people that are just learning that they have rheumatoid arthritis, try to look on the bright side of everything. You can have a better outlook, and you can just find ways to cope for yourself. Don't just listen to all the bad things. Don't just listen to all the good. You need to have all the information. Everybody has to decide for themselves, after they've gotten the information, which way they want to approach the disease.