Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Remission Submission Mission

Remission? Is it Possible With Your Arthritis? What exactly is REMISSION?


In my searches for answers to my form of Arthritis, 
CPPD, I have read many articles from wonderfully normal people slammed with these debilitating diseases. I find comfort that there are as many people with more questions than there are answers.

Why is that?

For one, you are given a diagnosis and sent out the door with a prescription. I never took the methatrexate train, and I hope I never have too. I am fighting tooth and nail with exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy (everybody should have a therapist), and hopefully a positive attitude.

My doctor asked why I didn't take one of the latest pills... some huge sulfur pills. I debated and read and said no, at age 55 I am not ready to throwing more crap in my body than I have to. 

For some I know, that is not an option. My thoughts are with you.

This week there was big news in the arthritis world!
30 minutes of aerobics a day, 5 days a week can slow the progression of many forms of arthritis. 

That sounds a lot better than taking pills that can kill you later down the road. Something to think about.

But what about Remission?


If you look up the word in the dictionary, you will have to go all the way down to the 5th definition to find how it fits into the medical field...

5.Medicine/Medical .
a.
a temporary or permanent decrease or subsidence of manifestations of a disease.
b.
a period during which such a decrease or subsidence occurs: The patient's leukemia was in remission.

Aha. But how could a doctor or a patient know when a patient is in remission, except in the case of detectable diseases such as cancer in definition b. 

How can I go from pain to remission, from temporary to permanent decrease or subsidence of manifistations of the disease?

That my friend, is why we write these blogs. Because nobody knows. We have hopes, dreams and futures.
We want to be free of pain, stiffness, and know that in some way you could get better.

Summer sans bummer

Happy Birthday Wrigley Field!


Summer, my doctor says, is my friend. I will feel better and I do. I am off prednisone for a few months and feel better. Energy levels are more predictable, less emotional stress. Bright sunny days and bike rides. 

Is this a light at the end of the tunnel? Did my body just decide to give me a break for a couple of months? Am I going to start to feel "normal"?

Who knows.

But for now I am grateful and appreciate the days where I can and do say I feel better.

But summer is half over...

I will leave the worries of the winter and cold in a special place that I cannot find. 

I will continue to be active (30 mins/ 5 days a week!)
and I will just "be".

Mindfulness makes me more myself, not a prisoner of the what ifs.

The Romans had it right all along.

Carpe Diem.

Be yourself's best friend and as always

Keep up the Good Fight!


Bart Connors Szczarba

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