ReportWire

Tag: Real talk on RA

  • Taking Care of Your Mental Health When You Have RA

    Taking Care of Your Mental Health When You Have RA

    [ad_1]




    Rheumatoid arthritis can take a toll on your mental health. Jennifer Holder, community leader of Webmd’s Facebook RA group, talks about how her friends get her through the tough days – and how accomplishments both big and small are worth celebrating.


    Video Transcript


    JENNIFER HOLDER: RA can take a toll on us mentally because when you have those days where you’re unable to do even just normal, everyday, basic things like hold a toothbrush or a hairbrush, or even tie your shoe, when your fingers, your joints and your fingers are swollen, those are really hard things to do. That takes a toll on us mentally. If we dwell on it every day, all day, those negative thoughts take a toll, and it makes RA more scary. But if you take control and find a happy place wherever you can, I think it helps.
    My girlfriends are amazing. None of them have RA, but they were always supportive, always helpful, and understanding when I was not able to do something. If my friends were going out and I’m tired, they understand that sometimes people with RA are very tired. It’s not always just work. Sometimes with RA, there’s days you just can’t do a whole lot.
    And they were understanding. When I had bad days, I was able to pick any one of them and just vent. They were my lifelines. And I’m always forever grateful to them.
    If there’s one thing I have learned in having RA, you have to pamper yourself. You have to. Now that I’m in remission and I’m able to do a lot more, I don’t want to miss out on anything. And so I go for massages. I take myself on a solo girl’s day– get my nails done, get a massage, get a facial. I go on vacation a lot. That’s my thing.
    I love to travel. It’s something I always wanted to do. And I didn’t think that I would get the opportunity to do so because in my mind I always thought that at this age I would not be able to move around and do the things that I wanted to do. So I’m always on the go. I’m always looking for the next place to visit in the world.
    The biggest victory for me is that I’m here still reaching for my goals and doing what I want to do with my life. And I guess a small victory for me would be back in 2021, I hiked a trail on Oahu in Hawaii. That was pretty– it was hard. [LAUGHS]
    I did it with my oldest son. He made it to the top faster than I did. But the fact that I was able to climb that hiking trail was big for me. The whole time I was doing the hike, all I could think about was how when I first had started symptoms of RA and what I went through to get a diagnosis, and remembering how in my early 30s I would envision myself at this age crippled or bedbound, and that was pretty scary.
    So the whole time that I was doing the hike, I just kept thinking about how far I’ve come. And I feel like I have a second chance at life. So I’m taking every chance I can.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How One RA Patient Manages Her Diet and Exercise

    How One RA Patient Manages Her Diet and Exercise

    [ad_1]




    When Jennifer Holder, community leader of Webmd’s Facebook RA group, has an RA flare up, she knows she’s missing out: on sleep, hydration and taking care of herself. Tending to her diet and exercise routine keep her on track and keep her flare ups at bay.  But that doesn’t stop her from taking fabulous vacations.




    Video Transcript


    JENNIFER HOLDER: For me, nutrition and exercise, those are the only things that really, truly work for me. I have to monitor what I eat. When I eat poorly, I notice a lot of inflammation. And when I eat more healthier options, I notice that I feel better. My joints are not inflamed. So for me, nutrition is big and exercise as well.

    When I do get a flare-up, I’ve learned that usually, in my case, I am doing too much– not sleeping enough, not hydrating enough, and just not taking care of myself. I work a lot. So if I don’t watch my sleep and take care of my health diligently, I will get a flare-up every now and then.

    I’ve been tested for celiac disease, and I was negative, but I’m told I may have a sensitivity. I do notice that when I eat too much, too many foods with gluten in them, I do notice joint swelling. I do notice my ankles are changed. They’re swollen. My knuckles are swollen.

    When I go on vacation, I don’t really monitor what I eat. And so I do notice often that when I return from a vacation, I may have a mild flare-up simply because I probably took in too many gluten-filled foods or sugary foods. I tend to watch my sugar. I have to eliminate those gluten-filled, sugary-filled items from my diet. I may do some fasting and definitely some exercise. Exercise helps relieve my inflammation symptoms– the swollen joints and knuckles, achy knees.

    I am a student of nutrition, and I kind of got into that because of my RA. I think people tend to see nutrition as mostly a weight management thing, but I think it’s also a health management thing. And so right now I’ve been reading a lot about magnesium. And so for me, that’s my home remedy.

    Ginger. I’m big on ginger. Ginger and turmeric. I put that in pretty much everything. And these are things that help me. And I’ve heard other people say it helps them too, but for the most part this is what helps me.







    WebMD Feature


    © 2023 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • From Symptoms to Diagnosis: How One Woman Manages Her RA

    From Symptoms to Diagnosis: How One Woman Manages Her RA

    [ad_1]




    Jennifer Holder, community leader of Webmd’s Facebook RA group, got diagnosed with RA before she turned 30, but it wasn’t an easy path. Her concerns were first misdiagnosed as carpal tunnel but she persisted in finding out why her body was still in pain and was correctly diagnosed some five years later. To understand how to manage her symptoms, she first had to understand the disease and the effects it has on her body.


    Video Transcript


    JENNIFER HOLDER: I was 29 years old when my symptoms started, and I didn’t actually get a diagnosis until maybe about four or five years after that. So my RA presented as carpal tunnel. I had all the symptoms of carpal tunnel. I saw a hand surgeon, and he did all the tests necessary for carpal tunnel. And I had bilateral carpal tunnel releases.


    The pain never went away. The numbness and tingling associated with carpal tunnel did. So I went back to the surgeon, and he decided that I should have an MRI. And the MRI is where the RA was first discovered. No one had ever done blood work to check my inflammatory markers. So they just went by the symptoms of carpal tunnel until finally the pain never went away after the surgery, and he did a little further study.


    Early on, I didn’t know how to manage it. I hadn’t any real knowledge of what RA was. I guess like everybody else, I just assumed it was another form of arthritis. Most people think arthritis is associated with older people. So of course, my first reaction was, rheumatoid arthritis? But I’m too young for that.


    So it’s a little less scary because I have more knowledge, and I’ve learned how to manage it. Not enough people understand the health issues they’re going through. They may get a small couple of sentences from a doctor explaining, but a lot of people don’t really thoroughly understand the RA that they have. They’re told, OK, you have RA, but they don’t really understand what that means.


    I think when you understand what RA is, and where it comes from, and the effect it has on your body, and you do your own research, you start to know the questions to ask. You understand what’s happening to your body. And I don’t think that a lot of people dig deep enough on their own to really understand what it is their body is going through and why they feel the way that they do.


    So I would say, number one, do your research. Understand what RA is. I know we don’t often want to read scientific stuff because a lot of people feel like that’s just not them, but you want to know about what’s happening to you. And if RA is what’s happening to you, you want to understand thoroughly what that is.


    So you know the proper questions to ask. You know why a doctor is telling you to do X, Y, and Z. So number one thing I would tell people is to read. Read about RA.


    [ad_2]

    Source link