Are you longing for those days when you were able to do things without limitations or do you wish you could at least do some of what you once could. You watch as this Disease take away the person you once were with the help from the Medication designed to make your life better. Here begins the battle between Rheumatoid Arthritis and our Medication and our fight to be the best we can in this battle between them.
Yes, they work hand in hand making our lives a life that can become almost unbearable. Rheumatoid Arthritis with the pain, the fatigue, the disabilities, the inability to do and the many uncertainties it brings and our Medications with the many side effects it brings such as the sickness we’re left with, the foggy brain, the fatigue and the many other layers of disabilities we’re left with. So here we are fighting 2 battles trying to get a good result from 1 but sometimes failing at both. Getting a double dose of illnesses that’s slowly breaking our bodies down is just what’s happening in our fight to get better. Our efforts to make ourselves better is a struggle that we’re taking on just as we’re struggling with this disease.
Of course our medication was designed to make our lives better and bearable but it has become what many of us dread dealing with. Our side effects are many but we know without it the complications we are left to battle from RA will be many and more harmful. This crossroad set for us can be difficult, still the majority of us know our direction. We take the one that offers us hope, while it may bring with it many conditions, we know that is the road meant for us. We try many times to get what works best, though failing at many but never giving up on the effort. As complicated as it may be, medication is what is known to be best for us. That is why we are caught between the fight of our disease and medication and the effects of both.
The battle between our disease and our medication is a part of our lives that can’t be avoided and living this battle is a hard one. Our lives are difficult to say the least and our fight is just to maintain in this double struggle. Not only are our cries from the pain that we endure, the fatigue that overcomes us along with the many issues from Rheumatoid Arthritis but also from the additional pain, fatigue and issues that we endure that is caused by our medication. It sometimes comes to a point that we may get confused as to which one is causing which illness. This is something that adds more stress to our lives and gives us more to deal with emotionally. No one realizes what we endure as a result of our medicine because the biggest fight is with our disease. Yes we know that having our medicine is a must and enduring the side effects is the answer to our hope of keeping this disease at bay. It is unfortunate for us that our lives are full of many unknowns brought on by both this disease and our medicines but we stand firm in battling them both.
While we work tirelessly to get our lives in control, it is a fight to get that to happen. We are in no way willing to sacrifice ourselves even when the struggle with our medication gets the best of us making our fight that much more harder, though some may throw in the towel. Without medicine, the struggle to live life may come to a point where we are unable to maintain at all. Looking at the choices to be made can sometimes crowd our judgement and cause some to look elsewhere for hope but the reality is, there aren’t many remedies out there for us to choose from but we make a choice from what we have in hopes that it will be the best and the one that will make our lives tolerable. The truth is there maybe side effects but without it, the consequences are greater and the fight can be harder. So Rheumatoid Arthritis vs. Medication for all of us will continue as we keep fighting for a better way of life.
You see our Rheumatoid Arthritis and our Medication each has its own hold on us. We are bound by one trying to fix the other. So each time we reach for our medicine whether it’s a pill, injection or infusion, we are sure to think how it will make us feel. We know with it comes feelings that we won’t like or care to deal with but our truth is, this is what it takes to control something as debilitating as Rheumatoid Arthritis. We will let our medication do its job in our fight against RA as we continue to fight in our struggle against both. We will not give up our fight to win this double battle.
Be Blessed.
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March 21, 2016 at 2:37 pm
You capture the duality of our medications very well; they are necessary, yet destructive in their own ways. Thank you or being a voice of RA, Corrie.
March 21, 2016 at 4:28 pm
You are so welcome. Thank you for stopping by. I try to show the people things they don’t know or see through our eyes. Blessings.
March 21, 2016 at 11:32 pm
You have touched on a very real part of our fight, Corrie. I often wonder what has made me feel worse… the medication or the disease. I have abandoned several RA meds in exchange for natural therapies. I no longer take prednisone or methotrexate because the side effects were just too much to bear. I have been fighting RA for 38 years and my body can’t handle the abuse of prescription medications any longer.
I’ve found that a “clean” diet (no sugar or processed foods), gut health and keeping my weight in check have helped quite a bit with the pain and inflammation. Vitamin D, B vitamins, omegas, folate and magnesium also help with my digestion and energy. I’m not cured (of course) but I am determined to fuel my body the best I can 🙂 Any strength we can get for the fight certainly can’t hurt.
Keep fighting, Corrie!!
March 21, 2016 at 11:58 pm
Very good. You are so right. I’m sorry you’ve struggled so long but glad that you still here to fight. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Blessings. 😇
March 22, 2016 at 3:13 am
Thank you that was beautiful. I will be starting on rituxin infusion on Thursday I really don’t want it. I am currently in a flare due to being off my rheumatoid meds and a switch in doctors. I am very afraid of this infusion but I’m more afraid of the pain getting worse. It saddens me that we have to put poison like this and our systems. I have had rheumatoid arthritis over 15 years and have taken any medications and have had many side effects. I often wish let the doctors treating us also had rheumatoid arthritis so they could know how we really feel. Thank you so much for your honesty I hope it helps others understand us. Stay strong my fellow sufferers.
March 22, 2016 at 11:23 am
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I do appreciate it. By the way I am on Rituxan and have been for about a year and half and is scheduled for my next infusion next month. I have not had any side effects at all just a little tired because it does take about 5 hours for your first round. They give you Tylenol and benadryl first and then the infusion. They go slow so they can see if you can tolerate it. In 2 weeks you go back for round 2 which doesn’t take as long. It as really worked well for me and I hope it does for you. I hope I have helped to shed some light on your new medication. Wishing you well. God Bless you.
March 22, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Thank you. I have just read so many horrible things about it I am scared. But glad it is working for you. I just want to feel better. I will let you know how I made out .
March 22, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Please do. It’s different for each person so I hope it works for you. Keep the faith. 😇
March 28, 2016 at 4:18 pm
I want to say I’m feeling a little better but I don’t want to jinx myself. I have been having a hard time sleeping my mind is wide awake but my body isn’t. Day 4 after rituxan I feel like I want to do something but I don’t know what. Praying that this medication will work for me. Almost feel like I’m dazed but it seems like the pain is a lot less. I know God’s got this.
March 28, 2016 at 4:42 pm
Well I’m glad that it appears to be working. What has you feeling wide away is the steroid medication they give you to assist with the Rituxan. I am the same way. Wide away and excited with excess energy. That will pass once the steroid medication has worked its way out of your system. We will pray that it will continue to bring you relief. Please keep me updated. I don’t mind at all. Bless you.
April 1, 2016 at 3:23 pm
Hi Corrie – Yep, some days I just don’t want to DEAL with the side effects of the very medications that are keeping my Rheumatoid Disease at bay. Some Mondays I cry before I get my Methotrexate injection. I cry not because it hurts but because I will be nauseated for 24 hours and have diar—a for 24 hours after that. The injection site will develop a large bruise that takes about 24 hours to be seen and hurts for 3 days. But all I have to do is remember my mother – her hands, her feet, her knees, her jaw, her eyes – blinded by Rheumatoid iritis and uveitis, her ears deafened by Rheumatoid Disease in her inner ear. Her shoulders collapsed because of Rheumatoid Disease destroying them. She died from Rheumatoid Disease after only 15 years. I was 37 years old, and trying to deal with a divorce, three young children, and having recently moved from a big house into an apartment. I was devastated. Rheumatoid Disease is a VILE disease. I am thankful for the advances made, but am very impatient for more advances that will finally CURE this scourge!
April 1, 2016 at 3:30 pm
I am sorry for what you’re going through. It is complicated for us but like you say the consequences of not taking the medicine is terrible. I pray that you are okay and I know medicine day is a dread. God Bless you and hang in there for yourself and your sweet children. Thank you for checking in on my blog, I do appreciate it.