rheumatoid arthritis

2 Comments Posted on Arthritis, Patient Talk, Rheumatoid arthritis

What is your worst symptom of Rheumatoid Arthritis? Please share at our latest poll!


Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

As some of you may know my late grandmother suffered , through most of her life with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

As a child it is hard to understand all the various symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis she lived with and how they impacted upon the totality of her lifestyle. Certainly RA put massive strain on her marriage.

If you has asked me at the time I would have said that mobility was her biggest issue. Indeed she was housebound for the last 15 or so years of her life. The perhaps pain. She died 25 years ago when pain management was much more primitive that it is now.

But with the benefit of hindsight I going to suggest something rather different. I’d say now depression. She came from a generation which did not “mention these things”. Only after her death did I find out that she had been hospitalised a number of time for depression during the forties and fifties. Due in part to, of course, to the pressures of the war but also, I’m certain, to her RA.

Thinking about this I wondered to what extent her experience was similar to yours. To achieve this I was wondering if you could take part in the poll below which asks “What is your worst symptom of Rheumatoid Arthritis?”


If you would like it would be great if you could share more of your RA story in the comments section below. If we have missed out your worst symptom of RA in the poll please could you mention it in the comments section as well!

Many thanks in advance!


1 Comment Posted on Fibromyalgia, Mental health, Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk, Research, Rheumatoid arthritis

Do you suffer from depression as a result of another medical condition?

Stephen Fry on Depression

Stephen Fry on Depression

This morning on the news there were an interesting set of reports about a recent report which suggests many people with cancer do not get proper treatment if they develop depression.

Indeed it goes on to suggest depression is highly correlated with a diagnosis of cancer.

I found this very interesting as I know from my own family’s experience. Indeed my grandmother who suffered for many years with rheumatoid arthritis. Of course, in those days, few people saw a relationship between the two.

These days it is different. I know from anecdotal evidence from my years in healthcare research that people with say fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis may often develop depression.

On the other had with the current popularity of the ALS (motor neurone disease) ice bucket challenges it reminded me that I was told by an ALS research that there was much more chance of depression affecting the caregiver than the person with MND.

So I am really interested in the very simple question “Do you suffer from depression as a result of another medical condition?”. It would be great if you could take the poll below to share your answers. I have included some responses for caregivers as well.

Please feel free to share your story in the comments section below!

Many thanks in advance.


10 Comments Posted on Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Pain Management, Patient Talk, Women's Health

The menopause and chronic illness – What effect did the menopause and pre-menopause have on your main medical condition?


The menopause and chronic illness

The menopause and chronic illness

A few weeks ago we ran a short blog post on Multiple Sclerosis Heat Intolerance or Uthoff’s Phenomenon. While there has been some interest in the subject there were no comments on the blog until yesterday.

A lady kindly commented “Now add pre-menopause hot flashes, which in PREmenopuase means I get hot hours!! This sucks so bad. It only gets harder.”

The comment really hit home. What really is the impact of the menopause and pre-menopause on the symptoms of a chronic medical condition? Not just multiple sclerosis, of course, but also other related chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis.

Not just that what do women do to help with any exacerbations of their symptoms caused by the onset of menopause? This is the aim of this blog post.

Firstly would it be possible for you to take the poll below so we can assess the percentages of our readers who symptoms are changed (or not) by the meno pause.


Finally it would be great if you could share a bit more in the comments section below. You may wish to consuder the following questions:-

a) What is your main medical condition?
b) What is the impact of the menopause on that medical condition?
c) How did you deal with these new symptoms? How successful were these treatment?
d) What one bit of advice would you give to a women with your medical condition who have just started the menopause?

Many thanks in advance!


Leave a comment Posted on Diabetes, Diet, Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk, Rheumatoid arthritis

Organic Food, Health and Diet – what would you recommend?


Organic food - more antioxidants?

Organic food – more antioxidants?

Organic food? Here to stay of a hippie-dippie fad?

Certainly diet is important for a range of medical conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and, of course, diabetes!

I have to say that I’ve been following the debate over organic foods for around 20 years and have not yet really made up my mind on the subject.

Why?

Well the information seems to change all the time. That being said I read this article in last months Guardian by Damian Carrington and George Arnett which argues that organic produce is higher in antioxidants. You can read upon the benefits of antioxidants in a previous blog post.

That being said it does seem if sales in organic foods have been dropping over the last few years. Certainly the costs for both producers and consumers are higher than conventional foodstuffs. But this may be more a byproduct of the recession of the last few years.

So what do you think? Are organic foods better for us or do they make no difference.

To gauge the few of our readers we have set up a new poll to find out your thoughts. Please do take part below.

Also it would be great if you could share any more thoughts you may have on diet and health in the comments section below.



7 Comments Posted on Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk, Rheumatoid arthritis

Staying cool – Improving health – Lowering pain. Sharing tips to keep us cool this summer!

Ice pack. Make at home a cool off!

Ice pack. Make at home a cool off!

One of the original ideas behind this healthcare blog was to provide and online space where people could share their ideas and experiences. And most importantly their tips.

Last year we ran a poll looking at how temperature impacts upon pain levels. In that case the poll itself looked at the cold but from the comments it became clear that heat was also an issue for pain for many of our readers and commenters.

Indeed one of our most popular posts of last year was the great tip on how to keep cool in the heat. Indeed I was introduced to the idea from a member of the multiple sclerosis community who found it a very effective way of reducing summertime pain.

Similar applies to other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.

So what is the point of this blog?

Well pretty simple from past research we know that people with conditions such as MS and fibro have loads of great ideas on how to keep cool. The aim of this blog is to ask you to share them in the comments box below.

By the way if you are a commercial vendor we won’t delete you post but we do ask you to be very clear the your offering is part of a business.

Otherwise cheap and effective are the watchwords for the comments on this blog.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

NRamey The sponge ice pack is a wonderful idea! I usually don’t have a problem with being too hot at night because I sleep with a fan blowing on me, even in the winter. My biggest heat problem is when I go out in the summer. I’ll keep this idea in mind!~
patienttalk Julie White Thanks Julie
Julie White You can buy “chillow” to keep your head cool & I have a mattress pad made from cooling gel which is invaluable! Just pop it under your sheet & sleep comfortably- until you get too cold then move over the other side if the bed!! Got mine from bright life uk. Xx
patienttalk FrancesSedgwick Thanks Frances This is great
FrancesSedgwick I live with ME/CFS/FMS since 1993. I had a constant symptom of head sweats whenever I tried to rest or sleep. I started using wet washers, then bags of ice, then onto large gel ice packs. I put them in single layer in a freezer, wrap them in a half folded velour towel. Put them on my pillow behind my neck and sleep in comfort. I wake up when they get hot or defrost too much and I get up and replace them. Probably 3 or 4 times a night. I had surgery 18 mths ago and when I came back to the ward, they could not get my temperature down and I was very unsettled, the nurse did not know what to do for me. Luckily hubby was there and I had bought 2 ice packs in with me. He asked for them to be got and I settled immediately. Slept the anesthetic off and was able to go home. I keep about 4 large 6 x 6 ice paks in the freezer now and take on to bed every time I lay down.