Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holiday's everybody! I hope you all have a nice time with your family, and friends and are able to enjoy a flare and pain free holiday season!!! Remember to Follow!!!! Again Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sorry

Sorry I haven't been posting lately there was some confusion with a lawyer, involving personal issues. I will e starting to post daily.

400 Page Views!!

I'm so excited that I've made it this far, and while I wish for this blog to continue to grow and eventually turn into something bigger I am excited that I've been able to help and reach out to so many people thus far!!!

Taking Control of my Arthritis

Today was an especially rough day on me. My family wanted to go out and go walk around at this thing where I live called Dickens Christmas. Its where people dress up like the people from Dickens time and walk around and talk all old and stuff... you get the point. Well anyways what was supposed to be a hour long walk around later turned into 5 hours of walking around and standing... It was terrible, and my pain killers were at home.

When I got home I was just totally beat, I had absolutely no energy left in my system, so I went straight to be and laid down with the heated blanket on, and with my pain killers. Well finally I woke up and what did I realize... it was injection day... fun... so I had my dad take the shot out of the fridge to sit out because at this point I was still too sore and stiff to even, walk. Finally I had to take my shot after a half an hour of it sitting out, and of course I got the  jitters and was having trouble just taking it. Now when I was doing this and freaking out I realized that when I first got diagnosed with my Juvenile Arthritis, I went on vacation the next week and I had bought a sailors bracelet, and I made a vow that I wouldn't take it off until every thing was over, and as I sat there I realized that, that bracelet was a way for me to tell myself that there was nothing I could do about this and that I had to just sit there and wait it out. But that was wrong, I could do something about it, stop letting it take control of me and take control of it. So tonight not only did that give me the courage to take my shot, but I cut off my bracelet and threw it out because I realized this is over cause I AM TAKING CONTROL OF MY ARTHRITIS!

Juvenile Arthritis Vlog?

So recently I've been searching on YouTube for a vlog or a channel of somebody that keeps an up to date video blog about their life with Juvenile Arthritis and some other tips. I think what I was looking for something similar to the vlog that was of Talia Joy, and I realized that there wasn't any vlogs like this and that they were either one vlog, or they simply weren't there. So I was wondering what you guys would think of me starting a video blog???? Please comment with your replies!!!

Sorry I havent Posted in a couple days

Sorry, I've been busy with Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Comment things you guys would like for me to talk about and Ill address it. Also what would you guys think about me starting a vlog?

Keeping your head up while dealing with Auto-immune arthritis

I think one of the hardest thing to do while you are living with you arthritis heck and auto-immune disease or any type of other disease is trying to keep your head up.  When you are living with a disease I think the hardest thing is to keep on dealing with everything that is going on. Now when this immediately happens there will be the people all around you that care and are worried about you, but I'm sorry to say this but the truth is that when it comes down to it eventually people stop caring and this becomes your problem and you need to find the inner strength to be able to keep on moving on to keep your head up. I've

put some quotes below to try to lift your spirits enjoy!

Jingle Bell Run/Walk this morning!!!!!

My local jingle bell run/walk is this morning and I am so excited!!! I will be putting out another post today following the run/walk to tell you guys how it was! Are any of you guys doing your local jingle bell run/walk? If so how much have you raised!!!!?

Arthritis Foundation and the Jingle Bell Run

Now in case you guys don't know about the arthritis foundation go check them out, google them, they have really been able to provide me with answers toady of my questions and help me get through some things. What I'm here to talk about though is what I have been doing recently which is organizing a school team for my local Jingle Bell Run!!! The run/walk is tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward too it so much. I really have put a lot of work into trying to make this into a good thing and I'm really accided to see how it turns out tomorrow! I guess I will post again tomorrow and tell you about how it went! 

Physical Therpay and Arthritis

See before I got diagnosed with my arthritis I was going to Physical Therapy to treat my back which was fractured during a car accident that I was in with my mom in April of this year, but often when people are diagnosed with arthritis they are prescribed physical therapy. Well today I had a problem I had to visit somebody else at the office I go to because my Physical Therapist is on vacation, and it was terrible they didn't get me enough exercises they didn't know what to do and quite frequently they didn't really care. I guess what I am trying to say is find a physical therapist you like and stick with them because they learn how you act and can tell when you are in pain, plus there is nothing stronger than a pond between a physical therapist and a injured one... lol.

1st Christmas with Arthritis!

I was deciding that I was going to make my Christmas list tonight to give everybody an idea of what I wanted for Christmas so that they might have time to go out before hand and buy Christmas gifts, you know like on Black Friday. Well I sat down, and I realized how much I just anted things that would help me, I didn't want toys like I did when I was 8, as I am know 14 years old, but it wasn't that that got me tripped up cause when it came down to it I have just been wanting really nice clothes, and a couple of other things like electronics or movie passes not toys. What really got me going was the I realized that almost everything that I had on my Christmas list were things that in one way or another would help me feel less pain, or help me get my homework done quicker to minimize the pain I was feeling.

 I mean it was really consistent like I realized that I wanted to heat tech clothes or whatever they are called because when it comes down to it where I live up in New York it is cold 8 months out of the year and so far my joints have been hurting like you wouldn't believe. Is this the same for everybody? but anyways I figured those would help me stay warm.

Since we are talking about trying to stay warm in the cold weather to make ourselves feel less pain I also realized that I wanted one of those heated electric blankets for my bed again to help me stay warm. Now my parents have on of these on their beds, and I have to tell you IT IS AMAZING!!!!! I am constantly in their bed when they aren't sleeping with the heat on. In fact I am in their bed right now typing this, so I figured that as a must and put in on my list. I really hope that I get one of those because they honestly help me feel so much better if I were you I would ask for one for Christmas or get one for somebody else for Christmas, it doesn't even matter if they have arthritis really everybody will love one of these heated electric blankets I can promise you that.

Now the next two things that I realized I wanted wouldn't make me feel better directly, but they would make me feel better in the long run. The first think I wanted was a Microsoft Surface. Now I know you are probably wondering how this could make me feel better in the long run. Well right now the battery on our laptop is broken so it always has to be plugged in to work and I have to sit at this desk on a hard chair to use it so it makes me sore, so having this would allow me to move and type somewhere else so that I don't have to sit at that desk and get sore. Also this has feature that allow me to have a word document and Google open and the same time and type and read the document at the same time so I could lessen the amount of time that I spent working on research papers.

The last thing that I want for Christmas besides so nice new cloths and other silly little things is a software like Dragon so that I can do a speech to text process in order to type up my papers faster in again order to lessen the amount of time that I spend on assignment resulting in me being less sore.

Now I am not complaining about what I want for Christmas I just am trying to say how I find it funny how something that up until 3 months ago I didn't even know about is know such a big part of my day to day life!

Slight Change In Blog Topic to my Story with JRA as an daily journal!

So I have decided that I am going to start using my blog as a space to talk about my day to day life with arthritis and what I do, if I had a flare up that day, doctors appointments, etc. I will still be answering any questions that anybody might have about Juvenile Arthritis or Arthritis in general whether it be a person who was just diagnosed or a person who has had JA I will still be here to answer questions.

I want to hear your feed back and questions about Juvenile Arthritis!!!!

I want you guys who are reading my blog to realize that I want to hear what your going through and any questions or tips you have about Juvenile Arthritis and dealing with it, actually any questions you have about anything!! I will try to answer them if I get questions in a post later tonight or tomorrow! Feel free to ask me anything!!!

Raising Money For Arthritis (Jingle Bell Run/Walk)

I know right now there isn't a cute for arthritis and that might make it seem like there is no where for you to go and that there is nothing you can do for your arthritis, but you can do something, you can devote time and energy into raising money to donate to research into a cure for arthritis through the Arthritis Foundation.

One of the things that I think can help the most when your diagnosed with a disease as traumatic as arthritis is, is trying to turn something that may seem like a negative and a curse an turning it into a positive and a blessing! The way the I have been able to do this is finding ways to help others for example starting this blog was a way for my to trying to find a release and it turned into something that is a part of me. Also making a school team for your local Jingle Bell Run/Walk. This had really helped me in being able to accept what has happened I really suggest you try setting out to do something for the greater good! 

Donate to me to supper me in my local Jingle Bell Run/Walk at http://www.jbrsyracuse.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/mobileDonorPledge.asp?ievent=1112082&lis=0&kntae1112082=E2911AA83DE74201BF3D1FCB3A454208&supId=415145188&team=0&scWidth=320&extSiteType=

When Will The Next Post Come Out?

Just so everybody knows I will be typing and releasing a new post every night or at east every other night at approximately 6:00 P.M.

Hope your felling good!

Dealing with your Diagnosis of Juvenile Arthritis

Through out our lives we lose things that are close to us, getting diagnosed with any type of Juvenile Arthritis can have the exact same effects on the people that are diagnosed with it, those feeling sof grief and sadness are hard to ditch and leave behind but with some tips you can over come to emotions associated with JA. I think the thing to keep most in mind is how blessed you are that you disease is not terminal and to try to keep your head up and think on the positive side. Trust me I know that it is hard I've suffered with this and depression myself, and I'm sorry that I cant provide more help all I can tell you is that professional help to talk about your feelings and trying to keep your head up has really helped me and maybe it will help you too! Best of luck, Hang in there!

Comments with any questions.

Going to School with Juvenile Arthritis

           Juvenile Arthritis is very rough any anybody that has whiter it be Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) or if it is Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), going to school if often very tiring and hard to get through the  day when your dealing with this disease, but thankfully I have found some things that have been able to help me get through the school day and I'm excited to share them with you!
           For me when I first started going to school after getting my diagnosis of my arthritis I found that I often had a very hard time being comfortable in school and then completing my homework when I got home because I was so sore and tired. Now and first I didn't know what to do so I just kept my suffering to myself because I didn't want to be a pain, but eventually my mother noticed and she helped me set up a time where I could go to the nurse and just lay down for a couple of minutes whether it was 5 or 20 was up to me, but it is always available for me to go there. I highly recommend this it has helped me so much and it is crazy to believe what just ten minutes of rest can do!
   
          I think the thing that I found the most difficult next was the fact that since I was sore and I was so miserable before I started taking breaks I was often angry and grumpy at everybody. I realized that people stopped wanting to be around me, now I don't know if this is a problem for everybody but all I can suggest is to embrace the people around you and surround yourself with the people that you want to be around and the people that will support you and if you do that you will truly be happy.

Comment any questions! I will answer them in my next post!

Sorry... I know I havent been posting

Sorry I know I haven't been posting in a long time... I've been busy with school and with all of my recent doctors appointments but I am going to start posting everyday!

Your compramised auto-immune system and cold/flu season

Ok first thing first (Im the realist)
Ok just joking but all seriousness flu/cold season can be a scary thing when your on medicine that is compromising your immune system, ok remember as much as you think you are you are not going to die. However you could get more sicl than the other kids and we DO NOT want that to happen so here is your how to survive Flu season list


What you will need:

Hand Sanitizer

Water... lots of water

Soap

Sink

Steps:

1) Drink a bunch of water

2) Wash your hands

3) Use Hand Sanitizer

4) Drink a bunch more water

5) Repeat

But most importantly

“When living with a compromised immune system, during flu season stay five feet away from everybody and if they cough RUN!”

School and Juvenile Arhtiritis

At first school might seem as this big deal and that you are going to be scared and you will trust me I was. When you get to school don't worry about not being able to move as fast or do what the other kids can do worry about yourself make sure you are happy! If your surrounded by people that are negative get away from them and surround yourself with people that are there for you and support you! You are an amazing person and deserve it.

Sailing with Juvenile Arthritis! Something to do to get around the aches and pain of Juvenile Arthritis!

If you are looking for something that you can do with your juvenile arthritis without feeling sore or being in pain afterwards the something I would look into is sailing! It is a very great sport to play that is easy on the joints plus its really easy to learn! My brother bought a small sunfish sailboat to use for sailing and it only cost him 450 off of craigslist! Its a single sail and very easy to learn on and a great fun time, so if you or somebody else with juvenile arthritis or really and arthritis is looking for something to do look up sailing lessons! Who knows maybe you will become an Olympic sailor!

Sorry I haven't been posting

Sorry guys I've been really busy with family. I'll be back to refusal posting tomorrow

Tips for your injections/infusions for your JA

Ok so some of you guys might not have to take I injections/infusions for treatments but for the ones of you that do here are some tips to help you get through it!

 

1. Calm down a relax before you take the shot
2. have somebody give you the shot it helps calm you down'
3. take your time
4. make sure you are completely calm before you take it being stressed will just make it worse
5. Relax your muscle so that the needle doesn't hurt as much when it goes in
6. Ice the area before you take the shot cause it will make your injection site feel numb
7. Take deep breaths in order to calm your self and not freak out
8. Have something to squeeze or hold onto during the shot
9. Try not to look it might just make it worse
10. I recommend trying to get an auto injector it makes it a lot easier.

Medicines for your Juvenile Arthritis!

Personally I am currently on Enbrel on weekly doses. Although there are multiple medication that you can take that will reduce your inflammation and it is very possible to put your Juvenile Arthritis into remission! Unfortunately as of right now there is no cure for Junior Arthritis but these medicines will help. For some people your arthritis might be mild enough to only need ibuprofen to be able to calm your flare up but the more severe you JIA, JRA... etc. may be the stronger your medicine will need to be. For example you might be prescribed naproxen by your doctor to see if that will reduce the inflammation personally naproxen helped a little bit but it did not reduce my pain completely only by about 50% now you could be the same as me or maybe it will work it all depends on your body and how your arthritis reacts to the medicine. Typically if Naproxen doesn't work your doctor will but you on infusion treatment or injections. In my case my doctor put me on Enbrel for a weekly does and so far it has been working wonders for me I have had very little or no pain or discomfort after only 2 weeks of taking it! There are other types of injectable medicines that your doctor could prescribe to you for example my doctor was talking about putting me on Humira which would've been a bi-weekly medicine injectable but since the arthritis was effecting my eyes she determined it wouldn't be necessary. The important thing is that these injectable medicines do lower your immune system so you have to be careful when taking them because you can get sick very easily but the thing is that these medicines can help so ask you doctor about them maybe and if you have been prescribed I will add some links down below were you can read up on the medicines.



Naproxen:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a681029.html

Enbrel:

http://www.enbrel.com/index.jspx

Humira:

https://www.humira.com/


If there are any other medicine I didn't put in this post please comment and I will update this page!

You Just found out that you have Juvenile Arthritis (JA)...

Ok so the first thing to do is to not panic... you are going to be fine and they world isn't going to end you will be able to do this and everything is going to be ok. I know it sucks trust me I've been there people telling you that something is wrong but you are going to learn to embrace your (JA) not fear it. Calm don and think listen to what the doctor has to say maybe they want you to start taking pills or maybe you even need to start taking injections or infusions, yes granted it might seem scary at first but once you get used to it you will want your injections/infusions/pills because they will make you feel better. I know the feeling of thinking that your life is over or that it is ruined but, you do have one advantage your are a brave, strong, courageous person and you can battle through this sure it might occasionally be unfair cause you cant do what the other kids can, and they might not get it but I know that all of you have the courage to get through this and one day WE will find a cure because WE WILL NOT GIVE UP!


LIST OF THINGS NOT TO DO:

1) Think irrationally
2) Freak out
3) Be rude to other people because you are upset
4) Let yourself sink into depression
5) Tell yourself that you have a terrible life
LIST OF THINGS TO DO:

1) Calm down and think straight
2) Listen to what the doctor has to say
3) Remember that your family and friends are there for you
4) Wake up and think of the amazing things in your life
5) Stay positive as much as you can cause it will help

My Story page is now updated!!!!

My story page is now updated with my journey of my JA how I found out and up till where I am now I am going to keep it like a log and post there about weekly so go check the my story page once a week!

Ok, so this is just a post to let you know if you are another person visiting my blog with JA, or even a relative of somebody with JA, just know that even though I am going through this too I will be here to answer any questions you have about JA or anything I will answer those questions in another post but until then I will just continue by posting daily or bi-daily about my experiences any tips to help you get through this the best you can!

DON'T give up!!!!

First of all knowing how I reacted when I found out that I had Juvenile Arthritis you are probably here because you are scared and you want and you need some answers... will my life ever be the same?, What if I never get better?, I'm scared what do I do? Honestly I still ask myself some of those questions myself but the important thing is that this will get better and you will be okay this is just a bump in the road and honestly it is going to put you better off in the long run. Yeah maybe it sucks cause your on restrictions but you have learned something and have something that nobody else your age has, and that is the courage and strength to get through this. I am a firm believer that everything happens to a person for a reason and it happened to me, to you because we are the strongest people on Earth and we are the ones that are going to be able to get through this no matter how hard because we are all fighters, and we will win this fight be cause WE WILL NOT GIVE UP!