#inflammatory illness

[thatchronicfeeling]

Disability Pride shout out to everyone whose disability...

gets in the way of their sex life

gets in the way of expressing and/or understanding their sexuality

gets in the way of their romantic life

gets in the way of intimate relationships

gets in the way of exploring any/all of the above

#disability pride month #disability #chronic illness #me/cfs #myalgic encephalomyelitis #chronic fatigue syndrome #pots #Postural Tachycardia Syndrome #Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome #ulcerative colitis #ibd #Inflammatory Bowel Disease

[wheelie-sick]

So you just got diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis....

A guide to coping with inflammatory arthritis written by someone who has been living with it for years

1. Warmth helps with pain and stiffness

Take a hot bath or shower

Use a rice bag to heat your most stiff and painful joints - How to make a warm rice bag (no sew) How to make a warm rice bag (sew) Adorable heated stuffed animals

Heating pads can also be good for heating specific joints (I don't like either of the ones I've had so I'm not dropping a recommendation)

2. Compression helps with stiffness

Compression gloves work really well in particular - Really cool compression gloves

Compression for other joints works well too

3. NSAIDs help reduce inflammation in your joints

Topical diclofenac is my personal favorite, it works wonders

Meloxicam is only available by prescription but has fewer negative side effects than over the counter NSAIDs do

Ibuprofen and Aleve/Naproxen are both OTC NSAIDs

Here's a full list of NSAIDs

4. Steroids reduce inflammation but are usually only used for flares. If OTC remedies are not working for your arthritis it may be worth asking about steroids to manage flares

5. Use adaptive devices

Note that I haven't tried all of these!

In the kitchen - Jar opener, pull tab opener, arthritis friendly silverware, ergonomic knife, another ergonomic knife

In the bathroom - My favorite shower chair, long handle bath sponge, shower grab bar

Dressing - Many button and zipper aids, magnetic jewelry clasps, sock aid

Standing assists - Bed rail, couch stand assist, cane with stand assist

Office - Pencil grips, book stand, vertical mouse

Other - Arthritis friendly gardening tools, so many grips adapters and holders

.... and many many more

6. Use mobility aids - I'd strongly recommend talking to a doctor before deciding to use mobility aids. mobility aids cause damage to your body so it's important to weigh the pros and cons of using them. Anyways my personal recommendations:

Canes - NOVA T cane, Carex ergonomic offset cane

Crutches - Millennial In-Motion Forearm crutches

Other people with inflammatory arthritis are welcome to add on!

#inflammatory arthritis #rheumatoid arthritis #systemic lupus erythematosus #gout #ankylosing spondylitis #psoriatic arthritis #chronic illness #chronically ill #cripple punk #cripplepunk #physical disability #physically disabled

[schizoaffectively]

Anyone else younger with arthritis, of any kind?

I’m 24, gonna be 25 in two months, and have a kinda generic dx of inflammatory arthritis (not a specific kind like rheumatoid or psoriatic as of rn)

If any other fellow youngsters with arthritis wanna talk or share their experiences and talk about it feel free to message, comment, or send an ask!!!

#all blogging #arthritis #inflammatory arthritis #rheumatoid arthritis #psoriatic arthritis #osteoarthritis #chronically ill #chronic illness #spoonie #physically disabled #physical disability #actually disabled #cripplepunk #cripple punk #cpunk

[reasonsforhope]

"One in five Americans will experience major depressive disorder in their lifetime, and many will not find relief from current therapies. But now researchers have identified an unexpected source of the problem: inflammation.

Inflammation in the body may be triggering or exacerbating depression in the brains of some patients. And clinical trial data suggests that targeting and treating the inflammation may be a way to provide more-precise care.

The findings have the potential to revolutionize medical care for depression, an often intractable illness that doesn't always respond to conventional drug treatments. While current drug treatments target certain neurotransmitters, the new research suggests that in some patients, depressive behaviors may be fueled by the inflammatory process.

It appears that inflammatory agents in the blood can break down the barrier between the body and the brain [and specifically the blood-brain barrier], causing neuroinflammation and altering key neural circuits, researchers say. In people at risk for depression, inflammation may be a trigger for the disorder.

Research suggests that only a subset of depressed patients - roughly 30 percent - have elevated inflammation, which is also associated with poor responses to antidepressants. This inflammatory subgroup may be a key to parsing out differences in underlying mechanisms for depression and personalizing treatment...

The inflamed body and the depressed brain

...A number of studies show that depressed patients tend to have increased inflammation compared with non-depressed subjects, including more inflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein — which is produced by the liver in response to inflammation — circulating in the blood. Patients with autoimmune diseases have inordinately high rates of depression. And postmortem brain samples from people who died by suicide showed more activation of the brain’s immune cells, which release inflammatory agents.

Crucially, pro-inflammatory drugs can induce people to become depressed, which suggests a causative link. In one seminal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Miller and his colleagues conducted a double-blind study of 40 cancer patients undergoing treatment with interferon-alpha, an inflammatory cytokine.

Though none of the patients had depression to begin with, the inflammatory agent had a striking effect: Many became depressed, a finding that has been consistently replicated.

"The patients recognize pretty much immediately that, 'Hey, you gave me something, and now I feel this way. I don't know why I feel this way,'" Miller said.

Can treating inflammation treat depression?

If inflammation can induce or exacerbate depression and its symptoms, then reducing inflammation could provide relief.

Even if inflammation is a disease modifier rather than the cause of the problem, “you have to take care of it in order for you to be able to get your therapeutics working to restore your circuitry and what’s happening in the mind,” said Eleonore Beurel, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Anti-inflammatory drugs, used alone or in conjunction with a standard antidepressant, may help some depressed patients. A 2019 meta-analysis encompassing almost 10,000 patients from 36 randomized clinical trials found that different anti-inflammatory agents, including NSAIDs, cytokine inhibitors and statins, could improve depressive symptoms...

“We’ve come to the tipping point,” Miller said. “And we know enough at this point to begin to target the immune system and its downstream effects on the brain to treat depression. We are there.”

How to manage your own inflammation

Experts agreed that people should not take anti-inflammatories without talking with their health-care provider. Your doctor can order a C-reactive protein blood test to measure your level of inflammation.

“There are so many patients who do not respond to antidepressants,” said Ole Köhler-Forsberg, a physician and associate professor of psychiatry at Aarhus University who has given anti-inflammatory drugs to his patients in addition to antidepressants. “So there is the issue of how can we improve the individual outcomes.” Tailoring treatment for each individual on a holistic basis may add some benefit.

More clinical tests for inflammatory markers may be a way to differentiate the effectiveness of antidepressant treatment. If confirmed, it would “be the first actual biomarker in psychiatry,” Raison said. “I mean, we’ve been looking for biomarkers for 50 years and had zero luck. And it’s ironic that it’s not a brain chemical.”

In the meantime, “you get much more mileage out of the lifestyle changes than you would out of supplements or any other over-the-counter drugs at this point,” Miller said."

-via The Washington Post (via Yahoo News), February 24, 2023

#depression #cw sui mention #cw suicide mention #inflammation #autoimmune #cytokines #neuroscience #medical news #medical research #anti inflammatory #antidepressants #ssri #mental health #mental illness #good news #hope #way way more details at the source btw

[sleazyowl]

It's so funny when you're chronically ill and ppl tell you to "get well soon" and you're just like... Thanks, I won't.

#chronically ill #chronic illness #chronic pain #chronic fatigue #nausea #ibs #irritable bowel disease #inflammatory bowel disease #ibd #spoonie

[chronicsickness]

I don’t think people understand the grieving you go through when you become chronically ill. The realization that you’ll never feel healthy again. That you’ll have this struggle and this pain for the rest of your life. That your body won’t ever be or feel the same that it used to. Sometimes I just sit and I cry and I grieve because I miss healthy me. I miss her so much.

#chronic pain #chronically ill #autoimmune disease #systemic lupus erythematosus #lupus #lupus warrior #fibromyalgia #fibrostrong #ibs #inflammatory arthritis #endometriosis #bppv #invisible illness #illness and disability #postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #chronically sick #i'm sad #depression #grief #grieving

[the-swift-tricker]

well i actually went to the hospital earlier this week after dealing with chronic diarrhea and acute dizziness for the past couple of months and i ended up staying there for two and a half days! turns out i was borderline dangerously low on blood and had to have four blood transfusions! the reason being is there was microscopic bleeding coming through the diarrhea that i didn't know about! anyways after a chest x-ray, a ct scan, multiple tests, and a colonoscopy, i got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis! and while you'd think that would be something to get overwhelmed and feel downtrodden about, i just can't get over the elation of finally getting a diagnosis! cause it turns out that it's also probably the source of the inflammation that's been causing my chronic pain! not what i was expecting to come out of all this but i'm so fucking happy it's unreal

#ulcerative colitis #chronic pain #chronic fatigue #chronic illness #disabled #inflammatory bowel disease #swift-tricker's posts

[hussyknee]

I'm so fucking mad.

Yesterday I took 50mg of Atomoxetine (Strattera) out of sheer frustration instead of my prescribed 30mg which was doing nothing.

And then...I was like "get up" and I would get up. "Go find the electricity bill" and went and found the electricity bill. "Sort through all the mail and organise it" and just. Fucking. Did it. No getting stuck for half an hour and spiralling in anxiety because my executive commands weren't going through.

I went to the hospital and begged those fuckers to increase my dosage and spent half an hour trying to convince them that this is clearly my ADHD symptoms being exacerbated by anxiety that's fucking me up. They refused, said "Oh, but anyone would find it difficult to function in your situation", and increased my Venlafaxine (Effexor) instead, although that fuckin plateaus any further than the dosage I already take. My primary doc knows this, but I have better luck catching Bigfoot than her at NHSL anymore so I keep having to tussle with the junior dipshits.

Granted I seem to have overshot a bit, because I spent a while vibrating into the fifth dimension. Felt like I'd had six cups of coffee and needed to do three things at once. Perhaps I should have attempted 40mg first. But 50mg very much did catapult me out of this neverending rut.

WEEKS OF BEING TRAPPED BY THE STATIC IN MY BRAIN LIKE A ROOMBA ON A RUG. I couldn't get out of bed, eat on time, shower, make my bed, do my laundry, go to bed. The simplest fucking tasks like pushing a boulder uphill with a stick. Sitting on the bed doomscrolling and tearing the soles of my feet into strips so bloody that it hurt to walk. I don't pick at my feet anymore! Didn't even realize I hadn't until the end of yesterday. This is the first time I've stopped in months. I stock up on band-aids and keep them next to my bed because I usually bleed in about three places within a day. And I pick the scabs off the still-healing wounds. All stopped by 20mg more of Strattera!!!

In other medication fuckery, I stopped the anti-inflammatory meds I was taking for my back because 1) the total cost of my meds was getting insane and 2) I haven't been in pain the last two months. I looked up whether there were side effects for long-term use of NSAIDs and found that using any of them with Venlafaxine increases the chance of gastrointestinal bleeding?? The way I've been having all this time?? Was my rheumatologist ever gonna tell me?? I'm just so used to flares, so fogged in my head and so relatively pain-free that I didn't especially note it. Turns out– the only reason I haven't been in pain is because I was taking the fucking anti-inflammatories. Imagine that! So I can either take Venlafaxine (which I cherish like a child regardless of the wrath-of-God withdrawal any time I miss a single dose) or I can take NSAIDs??

*googles anti-inflammatory meds other than NSAIDs*

Internet: "eat pineapple idk. have you tried tumeric?"

I hate my life.

#medication woes #life update #cw skin picking #excoriation disorder #actually ADHD #ableism #medical gaslighting #adhd meds #atomoxetine #nsaids #ulcerative colitis #chronic illness #spoonie #disability #effexor #inflammatory bowel disease #knee of huss #fuck my life

[degenderates]

You know whats even worse than the pain and the grossness of having uc/ibd is the isolation. No one talks about this illness because it's "gross." Irl it's not polite conversation, and online the disability community only cares about chronic illness when it can be romanticized or quirk-ified. There's nothing to be romanticized about literally shitting your pants and feeling alone all the time because you can't eat things or do things. People pretend they can relate with their food poisoning or whatever. But no, it's always worse, and people just expect you to be okay. When you eat something you're not supposed to, people blame you, like they wouldn't do the same, just because you miss what feels like truly living. It's so fucking isolating and I can stand the pain but I can't stand that

#ulcerative colitis #ibd #inflammatory bowel disease #uc #spoonie #disabled #chronic illness #josiah speaks #disability #and of course no one will like/reblog this post bc ew poop gross

[crohnschronicals]

#ibd #crohn's #crohn's disease #inflammatory bowel disease #chronic illness #ulcerative colitis #autoimmune #invisible illness #autoimmune disease

[cljordan-imperium]

CJ is sick...my immune system has declared war...shots have been fired...steroids are being deployed... wie ein Modder- Igel fühlen

Ich fühl mich wie gematschte Bananen

Ich fühl mich scheiße

And gifts for my German besties for accurate descriptions of how I feel @saltysupercomputer @dreaminggoblin @writingmaidenwarrior

And I'm not contagious, so they're safe

#chronic condition #autoimmine disease #Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy #chronic pain #chronic illness #i hate my immune system #CJ is sickly #writeblr #writeblr community #writeblr connect

[thatchronicfeeling]

DISABLED PERSON: I was treated terribly by a medical professional today. OTHER PERSON: Oh. Doctors are under so much pressure, though. I feel sorry for them.

DISABLED PERSON (who has been traumatised multiple times by the medical system): ?!

#cw medical trauma #medical trauma #medical gaslighting #disability #chronic illness #ulcerative colitis #Inflammatory Bowel Disease #myalgic encephalomyelitis #chronic fatigue syndrome #me/cfs #pots #Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome #Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

[lost-spoons]

So, I've switched to this thing called the anti-inflammatory diet or the mediterranean diet. The hope is that I'll be less nausea with it and maybe get some other good effects cause it's called anti-inflammatory for a reason. But does anyone have any good recipes for it?

Specifically bready things and sweet things. I usually have a lot of those two, but it's not really recommended so alternative or approved versions would be appreciated!

#chronic illness #postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #disabled #ehlers danlos syndrome #chronic pain #hypermobile ehlers danlos #pots syndrome #chronically ill #disability #spoonie #chronic nausea #healthy eating #mediterranean diet #food recipes #anti inflammatory diet

[schizoaffectively]

I am cool, I make great points, I have arthritis in my joints

(Read this to the tune of “She is beauty, she is grace…”)

#freya blogging #disability #disabled #meme #disa #actually disabled #chronically ill #inflammatory arthritis #arthritis #polyarthritis #inflammatory polyarthritis #cripplepunk #cpunk #cripple punk

[newhologram]

Chronic illness has you celebrating being able to poop a normal poop.

#chronic illness #ulcerative colitis #endometriosis #inflammatory bowel disease #spoonie #teku

[mandana-the-service-pup]

I had my GI appointment today.

He doesn’t think the throbbing aching chest/upper abdominal pain that flares up with activity is GI related. Neither do I but doctors love to make gastroparesis the scapegoat.

He also doesn’t think my nausea is GI related which really surprised me. He said you would expect GI related nausea to be more episodic and flare up with food related events. Not the constant state of nausea that I’m in that flares up with even the slightest movement or activity. He wasn’t willing to say what could be causing it if not GI but there are plenty of things like severe pain, cardiac problems, dysautonomia, medication side effects etc that could cause nausea. So idk but it’s new info to work with so that’s good.

He thinks my handfuls of ibuprofen three times a day is probably causing my stomach aches. Which…like…duh. I already know that but that’s why we’re going the methotrexate route instead. I’m scheduled for an endoscopy to check for ulcers the day after I’m scheduled for my chest CT + calcium score. If there’s damage he’s going to give me a Rx that’s supposed to help protect against the damage associated with NSAIDs

TMI warning. He thinks my lack of appetite is being exacerbated by my chronic pain and constipation but he agrees that most laxatives would make me more sick. He wants me to try a specific OTC medication called Docusate.

He was kind and understanding. He accepted that I have bad brain fog and gave me as much time as I needed to work through the conversation. He acknowledged that I probably knew a lot of this stuff already and that my medical issues are complicated. He understood how frustrating it was that everyone keeps pushing the GI route when it’s so obviously not the cause. He answered all my questions, sometimes multiple times and never labeled me as an anxious patient for being concerned about my health. I really appreciated having a good experience with a doctor. It’s been a while.

#health update #doctors appointment #gastroenterology #disabled community #chronic illness community #health flare #bad health day #gastroparesis #hashimoto thyroiditis #fructose malabsorption #dysautonomia #postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome #ehlers danlos syndrome #inflammatory polyarthritis