NoRheum4RApain

What Others Need to Know About the  Battle Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis May is Arthritis Awareness Month!   As a rheumatoid arthritis patient, I am using this month as an opportunity to promote education and awareness of this debilitating disease and provide some much-needed insight from a patient’s point of view. With RA, it’s not easy to live a “normal” life.   We must overcome a myriad of challenges every day.   In my case, I take a lot of medication just to be able to get up and move every day.   In fact, I typically wake up two hours early every morning just to allow enough time for my rheumatoid medication to “kick in.” And every day tools, such as a shower chair, cane, modified cooking utensils, brace or sling, are essential to get through the day and make daily life more manageable. Most RA patients learn to adapt and can rearrange their plans on a moment’s notice.   The reality is that it’s extremely difficult to make plans as the nature of the disease causes