RA & I

2019

“You will have this for the rest of your life”. “There is no cure”. “You will be on 2 life long medications – plaqnell and prednisone”. My husband sensed I was chocking back tears and jumped in with thought provoking questions like “what is the latest, cutting edge research?” and “are there any studies supporting alternative food choices for disease management?”. The answers we received were rather bare, candid responses for “no”.

Nine months prior, I woke up with a red, swollen knuckle in my left hand. The heat radiating from it could’ve lit a candle. I dismissed it as tendonitis from my keyboard or the ergonomics of my work desk. This quickly turned into lying on the floor every day after work in pain and skipping classes from the aches and fevers. Again, I chalked it up to stress from my thesis or a winter cold.

A couple months later, I finally went to see my PCP. She drew my rheumatoid factor, which came back slightly elevated, and referred me to Rheumatology. Having a medical background, I knew what this meant. Life-long immunosuppressant with nasty side effects. It may be my stubbornness or ‘can do’ attitude, but something inside me was uneasy with this idea.

I began researching and reading studies on food and environmental influences on RA. This opened up a world of healing that made sense to me. One that looked at root causes rather than blocking my cell’s communication with pharma drugs.

At the same time as meeting with Rheumatology, two friends recommended a local naturopath to me. During my first appointment, she spent 2 hours reviewing my entire health history. Everything from an infection I had as an 8 year old to the kind of deodorant I used. Given my health history, it seemed food and infection were major hitters for me. From there, we did various blood, food, and GI testing. Based on these results, we adjusted the foods I ate and added supplements, like a probiotic.

In addition, I started seeing an acupuncturist and chiropractor. My acupuncturist took a well-deserved vacation for a couple of weeks, and on my first appointment back, I realized how much it relieved my joint pain and helped my stress. Needless to say, I’m addicted. Chiropractor offers similar relief. I notice greater joint mobility and supplementation after every appointment.

Overall, I have seen dramatic improvements in my health. There are small changes, like the ridges in my nails are almost healed and my hair has started to grow back, and larger ones, like having days and weeks with little to no inflammation and pain. This is huge progress from 3 months ago.

I’d be lying if I said this was easy. Somedays I want to cry as I walk down the hallway at work and see the reflection of my crooked knees in the glass wall in front of me. Before this diagnosis, I never thought twice about going for a run on local trails or doing jumping jacks with my nephew. Now, I stop and ask myself, “can my body handle this?”. This has not only been a lifestyle change, but also a mindset change.

“Your illness is a gift…a wakeup call to a journey within”, as Dr. Naeem describes it. Arguably, I have not taken the best care of my body. I tend to push myself mentally, physically, and emotionally without much self-care. So... RA, I hear you. I’ve woken up. It's time to heal my gut, change my eating habits, and practice self love. I’m walking this journey, and I'm doing so naturally.