Author Archives: MonicawithRA

August Blues

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Back in June, I quit my full-time job. I felt great within days. The absence of stress really affected how my body felt. For two months, the frequency and severity of my flares were less. I climbed more often and became more active.

Then, for no apparent reason, I flared up badly. I had trouble managing my daily routine. My activity level dropped significantly, and with it, so did my positive mentality. I became more depressed, lethargic, and anxious.

This all happened when I was on 8mg of prednisone. I was thrilled. This was the closest I had come to my life-time “maintenance” dose of 5mg since I was diagnosed.

I was allowed to increase the prednisone, as needed, so I decided to increase to 11mg. It didn’t do anything. Reluctantly, I increased to 12mg. For me, 12mg of prednisone brought insomnia, anxiety, and mood changes. Anything higher and I was a wreck, so I proceeded with caution.

I stayed on 12mg for a week and ,physically, I felt great. My energy level increased and I was more willing to stay active. My mood didn’t get any better. I figured it was because of the medication so I’ve started to decrease, in hopes that I would become more positive. I am at 10mg but I still feel lousy.

When I look back over the last year, I see that I felt the lowest in August. Why August? The weather is beautiful, there is a ton to do, it stays light out for longer, but I still feel depressed. I change my routine but I still feel restless. I don’t want to go out or hang out with friends. Before, I’d jump at the chance to make plans, but now I have to force myself to be social.

 

I’ve been in the same place for three years now and maybe I just need a change of scenery. Hopefully, I can manage a vacation weekend, just to clear my head. It’s possible I just feel stagnant.

 

I’m hoping, like last year, this is just a phase and soon I will feel better but I’m struggling to pin point why I feel this way.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Nail Art: Galaxy Accent

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Nail Art

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I’m going to try and climb tomorrow so I decided not to go hog-wild with my nail art today. Also, I went for a hike with my dog and I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I tried the galaxy nail art a few weeks ago and I really liked how it came out, so I decided to try it again to see if I could get the same results.

The polishes I used: CND – Stickey base coat, two coats of Essie – Power Clutch, SpaRitual – Running with Wolves, Zoya – Goldie, butter London – Knackered, Wet n Wild – Blue Moon, Revlon – 902 Celestial FX, and Seche Vite top coat.

Straight On

Once the base coat and base color dried I tore three small pieces from a foundation sponge and, with a pair of tweezers, sponged the SpaRitual, Zoya, and butter London polishes in diagonals across the nail.

I used a toothpick to splotch-dot Wet n Wild.

I used an eyeshadow sponge-tipped applicator to apply one star from the Revlon polish.

Topped all nails with Seche Vite which has a great shine!

Galaxy Accent

Unfortunately, today was one of those days when my fingers “stuck” in certain positions when I was removing the old enamel, and using the brushes to paint the polish. I am currently at 10mg of prednisone and while I feel like I am just getting by and I could feel a little better, I’d rather not increase the dosage.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

You’re Ill? Part One: Lotions

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Skincare

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The comment I hear the most after I tell someone I have RA is “You’re ill? But you look so healthy!”. I know. If you look at me, you would never think I am fighting an autoimmune disease. I spent a year hiding the fact I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. When I started telling people. It always came as a surprise. I loved that.

When I first started all my medications, I broke out, my skin paled, dried out, oiled out, my eyes burned, my hands cracked, my hair fell out and lost its shine. I was a mess. I looked ill. I hated it. I couldn’t keep it from work, as hard as I tried, but they could tell there was a change.

I’ve always prided myself on my health, except for the occasional flu or allergy I was always healthy. So, one day when I looked in the mirror and I saw that I looked sick I knew something had to change. I embarked on a mission to look healthy and I knew it started with my skincare.

I realized that the first thing I needed to do was start wearing sunscreen. I know, I know, I should have been wearing sunscreen already. It’s never too late to start. I don’t know if there is actual science behind this but I found that within weeks of wearing sunscreen on every exposed part of my body, my skin seemed to repair itself more quickly. I like to think that it’s because when I am not wearing protection my skin has to protect and repair. With the addition of sunscreen, my skin only needs to repair. With sunscreen alone, my skin already looked healthier.

My favorites: Neutrogena Ultimate Sport, La Roche-Posay Anthelios 50 Mineral Tinted Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid, La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Milk.

Neutrogena and La Roche-Posay

I use La Roche-Posay only on my face when I know I will be outside for a long period of time. It is expensive so I want it to last for the entire summer months. I love Neutrogena for my body and I am a huge fan of their spray sunscreens as well. I found that the Ultimate Sport brand has a better consistency and doesn’t leave a white cast like the Ultra Sheer does. As an daily facial moisturizer I use Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer SPF 15. I have darker skin and I found that the added soy complex has evened out any subtle hyperpigmentation I had from the years of not wearing sunscreen.

Aveeno, No7, St. Ives

Depending on my shower schedule, instead of re-applying the Aveeno lotion, I may use Boots UK brand “No7” – Protect & Perfect Day Cream SPF 15. I don’t use it every day because I find it a little greasy, but I only need a little bit to cover my entire face and neck.   During the day when I am inside or before bed I slather on non-SPF lotions like it’s my second job. My favorites: c.Booth Egyptian Argan Oil Body Butter, Organix hydrating Moroccan Argan Oil Lotion, and Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion.

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Before bed, after my nightly face-washing routine, I slather on a thin layer of Nivea Soft. I absolutely love the consistency of this. It warms right down to an oil in my hands and I can pat it onto my skin. This was my splurge of the year but I absolutely adore the La Mer The Eye Concentrate. I know I can’t see the anti-aging properties of the cream right now but it is the only cream that doesn’t break me out around the eyes. That’s right, my skin is so oily that I sometimes break out right under my eyes. I slather on Dior Crème de Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm with Aquaphor right on top. Aquaphor is one of those amazing miracle products that everyone talks about. I know why. It really works.

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I eliminate this one step during the summer because my skin is so oily, but during the colder months of the year I will gently apply Vaseline (after my nightly moisturizer) under my eyes, around the corners of my nose, across my forehead and on the smile lines around my lips.

Within weeks of starting this routine, which I have spent months perfecting, I noticed a huge change in the condition of my skin. Even when during a flare, I could hide it better because I looked healthy. My skin was glowing and had gotten most of its color and smoothness back. Nobody would guess that my immune system was trying to attack itself.

Hi, I’m Monica and I have RA.

Branching Out

10 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by in Just for Fun

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I guess I should explain a little why I am branching out into beauty blogging and nail art design. Well, first things first. I love this type of thing. I love testing new make up. I love painting my nails and trying new art designs. It’s become a huge hobby of mine. Really, ever since I was diagnosed I found that playing around with beauty was one of the few things that didn’t hurt.

With this recent flare, I rarely climb, I only work part-time and mentally, I’m exhausted. The physical strain of a flare is nothing compared to the mental taxation it brings. I’m depressed mostly because everything I’ve ever wanted to do with my life requires me to be able-bodied. When I’m flared up, I am so far from that. I try to deal with potentially finding something new to do or work towards.

Beauty, nails and skincare take my mind off those unhappy thoughts.

 

Until I can physically keep up with my normal life, I decided I am going to try my hand at blogging. I’ve toyed with the idea for some time now but it never hurts to take the plunge and start. Who knows. This may be a huge flop or it may be a huge success. One thing that the RA hasn’t changed: I always try no matter what.

 

I still want this blog to focus on my rheumatoid arthritis. After all, this is still my outlet for dealing with this disease, but I want to incorporate the beauty blogging. My interest in beauty really came about because of my RA as I will explain in further detail in my next post.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Nail Art: Rocky Horror Picture Show Theme

09 Friday Aug 2013

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Over the last two weeks I increased my prednisone dose from 8mg to 12mg because of a bad flare. The pain and fatigue just came on…no warning. I stopped climbing, I even found it difficult to brush my teeth, get out of bed and feed the dogs.

All the side-effects of the steroid came back like clockwork. I got insomnia and some anxiety. The sharp increase also came with the feeling of inflammation around my lungs and heart. So, after five days on 12mg I tapered back the dosage as much as I could.

I’m still not feeling great on that lower dose so I decided to have a relaxing Friday night stay-cation.

So, what does a 23-year-old with a RA flare do to keep herself busy on a Friday night? In preparation for my first live performance of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” I decided to design a nail art for the occasion.

I water-marbled most of my nails and left one accent with a red-lip stamp. I also did a red-drip on the tips.

The nail polishes I used: Essie’s “Blanc”, Butter London’s “Knees Up”, Wet n Wild’s “Black Crème”, and Zoya’s “Goldie”.

I apologize for the messy clean-up. I am still getting used to lighting and good angles but the colors are pretty accurate.

Left Thumb

Left Hand

Right Hand

Base: Essie Blanc (white “undies”), Wet n Wild Black Creme

Water-Marble: butter London “Knees Up” (red), Zoya Goldie (gold), Black Creme

Stamping: Knees Up, Bundle Monster plate BM 303

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Day to Day

10 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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I have been in a rock-climbing slump for the last two weeks. Every day I think “Monica, get in the car and drive to the gym”. The gym is not that far from my house. I drive there every weekend for work. For whatever reason, the idea of trying to climb just depresses me. It makes me want to dig myself deeper into the blankets.

I love rock-climbing so much. That has not and never will change. So, it makes me wonder why I seem to have such a strong aversion to it right now. Here are a couple of my theories:

 

1) I am afraid.

I know for a fact that my climbing skill is nowhere near as powerful as it was before my recent flare-up. Before December I was doing so well, I was pushing myself, I was strong and capable on the wall. I know that every time I flare up, I lose a lot of my strength. Maybe I am just afraid to try and fail until I am 100% sure I will come back at the same place.

Yes, I know that is a ridiculous thought. If I want to be as strong as I was, then I need to continue to work out and climb. I can’t expect to be the same strength if I just rest for two months.

 

2) The “Honey-Moon” period is over.

Let’s face it: until last July, I hadn’t been able to climb in over a year. When I started back up again, it was new and exciting. Sure, I climbed for 7 years before that, but the fact that I wasn’t physically able to do the sport made this time different. Now that I can climb every day it is not as exciting and it is part of my routine. It is just one more thing to tick of my to-do list.

 

Who the heck knows. I know it is my brain and my emotions but I have no idea why I am feeling this way. I started to climb again a little bit and even though it doesn’t feel all that great, I can feel myself getting back into it. So, at least there is that!

 

For those of you who read this blog: Do you ever feel this way about your sport? Maybe I am just reading way too much into this.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Feeling Swell! (without the Swelling)

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Three weeks after I started a new medication, for what felt like the one millionth time, I saw there was no improvement. In fact, my condition was probably getting worse. I was one of the lucky few that did not see a lot of visible signs of the RA but my range of motion (especially in my hips and knees) was getting worse. My doctor and I decided to switch back to the medication that made me feel the best (Orencia).

In early December, I slowly started to feel worse and worse, and even my weekly injections of Orencia and Methotrexate would not take the edge of the symptoms that I started to see. I was put on a two-week medical leave from work and from climbing.  You could say I was medically grounded. Upon speculation, it was unsure whether stress contributed to the flare or whether the medications had reached their limit of what they could do for me. Either way, we needed to get this flare down and fast. It was the worst flare up I ever had (this includes my first flare before I was even diagnosed). My father had to bring me my meals because I couldn’t get up the stairs and he almost had to feed me my Christmas dinner because I couldn’t grasp the fork, let alone bring it to my mouth. Talk about a depressing state of affairs.

All that aside, we decided to give the Orencia a try. Before this awful flare, I nearly forgot I had RA. I felt great on a day to day basis. I was not stiff in the mornings, I didn’t have to wake up an hour and a half before work to “loosen” my joints, and I was climbing well without strain or pain! I felt better than I ever had in the past two years!

So, the second week of January I sat for the IV infusion of the Orencia and commenced the weekly injection. Within two days of the infusion, I was bouncing out of bed and I was rock-climbing! It was absolutely amazing. I had started to feel like I permanently lost my ability to climb well.

If I remember correctly, it took a couple of months for the medication to build up in my system so that I felt the same every day of the week (versus feeling good the days after my injection and slowly feeling worse as the week drew on).

That’s ok. I have taken 4 weekly injections since the IV infusion and I am already feeling so much better. Functional would be a good word. Even the day before my injection, I may feel less able but I am still capable of doing everything normally with little pain or stiffness.

I can’t wait for the next few weeks! If the progression of this medication is the same as before I am going to feel great really soon! I am going to feel the way I did before!

Hi, I’m Monica and I have RA.