So, after the whole pacemaker ordeal and adjusting to that- life returned back to normal.
At about 17, I started experiencing new symptoms. I was tired and wanted to sleep a lot. My left hand had two knuckles that began to swell a lot. Again, I had the doctors stumped. Tests were ran,we checked for lupus, tick bites, you name it. At the time, I was too old to be diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and too young for adult rheumatoid arthritis, but in the end the doctor's agreed that, indeed, that was the diagnosis. There were not many options to treat this disease back in 1990. Gold shots were an option, but everything was heavy duty and they were not sure of the side effects, especially if I wanted to have children later in life. The best bet at that point was to try and keep the symptoms down and go from there. Over the years my medications have varied. Some have been recalled and pulled from the market due to side effects. At one point I was taking over 10 pills a day. I am not a very good patient- I really hate being compliant. (I'm a little hard headed that way!) I have endured several surgeries and probably need a few more, just trying to hold off as long as I can. Rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating disease, but believe it or not, the more active you are, the better off you are. Seems like the opposite would be true, but I finally got tired of the disease controlling me. In 2001, I was on a waiting list for a new medication, Enbrel- a shot that you take once a week and it shuts down your immune system so the disease will not attack my body. It has been a big help and provided a lot of relief, but I have been able to manage my symptoms a lot within the last year and a half, by regulating and monitoring my foods. I will address that in a later blog- but due to dietary changes, I went from one shot a week to one shot every few months. It's been pretty amazing.
The other issue (as if those two were not enough!!!) would be talking about my eating disorder that I battled in college. If you remember from my earlier blog, I mentioned that I was always pretty thin, until I hit my late teens. Then the weight started to pile on- maybe from medication, the rheumatoid, whichever. I didn't handle that very well and I really didn't know how to deal with it appropriately. I exercised a lot but didn't realize that my nutrition wasn't on par. This led to many binges and developed bulimia while I was away at school. I tried to keep it hidden, my roommate and suite mates were aware, but we didn't have a lot of education on disorders and it just wasn't talked about. In the end, it became so bad that I had to be hospitalized over it and that's when it really frightened me. I worked hard to try avoid those behaviors and it isn't something I deal with on a regular basis anymore.
There's a lot more that goes into dealing with all my health issues- combined, it can be a lot to handle some days. When it's good- it's really good. When it's bad, I won't lie, it sucks. However, I have found new information about foods, exercise and my nutrition that helps me create new habits to replace bad habits. As a result, my health has improved. Is it perfect? Nope. But anything is better than how I felt a few short years ago. You have a chance to take control of your life, your health and your future. You can do it!
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