Massage Therapy and a breath of fresh air!

I will admit it: I am addicted.  
It calms me, it soothes me, it relaxes the muscles of my back and neck which bother me, it stimulates an immune response which helps me manage my RA.  I crave time where I am forced to do nothing but chill.  And this takes the cake.
I’ve been to [...]

Get Ready for Invisible Illness Week: Beginning Sept 14th

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know
1. The illness I live with is: Rheumatoid Arthritis
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2006
3. But I had symptoms since: May 2005
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: slowing down, cutting back on physical activities.
5. Most people assume: that I’m being [...]

The post where I mention that sometimes I’m not the brightest crayon in the box.

So it appears that this flare has been sponsored in part by…….(drumroll)………extraordinarily low levels of both potassium and iron!  With independent auditing provided by the phlebotomist at my doctor’s office! Major sponsorship provided by “Amanda’s an idiot who gets excited about needing less of the hard stuff and forgets to take standard supplements for months [...]

Feeling good…I think

I’m afraid to say definitely because the past few months have been like being on a roller coaster with a stomach full of candy apples, corn dogs, and blue slushy.  Blllleeeeecccchhh.  Don’t you appreciate my visuals?
I like my job.  It’s nice to have a job where I don’t have to manage anyone, have measurable goals [...]

I love probiotics.

I realized last night, as I stuffed my face with chips and jalapeno cheese dip while I watched The Biggest Loser, that my stomach is feeling much better. 
Seriously.

Flare Update

So my body is still acting like an indecisive teenage girl and trying to decide if it’s going to flare or not.  I go from feeling good to feeling like complete crap back to feeling good again. Yesterday morning, I enjoyed a nice walk.  Yesterday at lunch, I was nauseous, achy, and my knees and [...]

Snow Day Thoughts

I live in South Carolina. When faced with winter weather, we shut down. I’ve actually seen idiots put chains on their tires for nothing more than a deep freeze. And then you have all these rednecks who think “if Dale Jr can do it, so can I.” And they’re wrong. They can’t [...]

Experiments

So, I’ve been reading a lot lately and am getting ready to try some experiments to see how my symptoms respond.  Ultimately, I want to try to go med-free over the next few months- I’m having some weird side effects with methotrexate right now that are concerning me.  
1. Diet:  Let’s face it.  I eat [...]