ManiMonday by LMA: I Wear blue for ME!

Hey dolls,

Today I am going to be getting very personal all in the name of awareness! May is rheumatoid arthritis awareness month and this is something near and dear to my heart.

I SUFFER FROM RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS.

I am the face of RA

Some of you may be thinking " what is rheumatoid arthritis?" RA is a chronic autoimmune disease that attacks joints, joint tissue, and organs in the body causing them to become inflamed, eroded, and painful. There is no cure for RA. This disease doesn't discriminate. It sucks the life out of young children, teens, people who are getting married, healthy people, older people, ect. The medication to help combat your own body from attacking itself is just as scary! Chemo therapy, injectable medication that "may cause cancer", steroids that make you gain tons and tons of weight..oh and lets not forget about the side effect called "moon face". Its hard to keep putting pills in your mouth that should be helping you but are slowly killing you.

I want to share with you a little of my story. Trust me, you don't have time for the entire story and I most likely cant remember it all. I have been a dancer since I was 3 years old. A very active young child that loved to be outside. Our neighborhood was filled with some of the best friends a family could ever have. All of the houses that surround mine had kids my age, a couple years older, as well as a couple years younger. We had a huge hill by our house that we climbed and run around on. Well, early on when I was a kid I started getting agonizing pains when I would lay down. I would scream BLOODY MURDER. My parents did everything they could to comfort me but nothing worked. All of the doctors that checked me out said I was fine. I was just going through growing pains they told us. My mother thought otherwise but trusted that the doctors knew what they were talking about. It was obvious early on in life that I was VERY flexible and double jointed. I mean I could put my hands behind my back and bring them forward without letting go. Creepy, I know.Once I demonstration this to my doctor. They doctors then diagnosed me with benign hypermobility joint syndrome. That basically means my joints are very loose. A simple rolled ankle turns into a disaster as my body cant just bounce back like a normal person. Once everything is stretched, its stretched and most likely torn. By this time I'm in high school and have chronic pain but just ignore it. I'm building up a really high pain tolerance that will be needed later on in life! So, one day I'm walking in the mall and my knee pops. That started the never ending surgeries. I've had 3 knee and one wrist all for dislocations of joint. By now, I'm in college and constant crying, screaming pain. I'm lost, I feel alone. Now I start seeking answers. The answers that I have as of right now are very complex. I was told by one doctor that she had never seen a young girl like me with such a complex case. She even wanted to write a book! ha! I know a lot of other people that have it way worse than I. I feel blessed that I can still walk most of the time, still talk, and enjoy things I want to do. Anyways, I have RA, fibromyalgia , ehlers-danlos syndrome , mitral valve prolapse , insomnia due to pain, along with countless joint dislocations. My doctor says I constantly get sports related injury's (from just doing everyday things that I need to do to live) that would take a athlete out of the game..and I don't even notice its happened. The mental, emotional, and physical strain this puts on a person is so heavy. The one thing I really hate the most about all of this is when I get emotional about something someone else says to me about my disease. I've had people say "well you look fine, you don't look sick." That's like me saying " your eyes look fine from where I'm standing, they don't look like they need glasses" ANNOYING!! I haven't even talked about the strain it takes on family members, husbands/wives, loves ones, friends! My husband is a saint and thank God a firefighter. I know its totally hard for the both of us. We fight because of my disease, we cry, he stays strong and I break down. He's my husband, my doctor, my nurse, my pharmacy, my driver, my chef, my guardian angle. He feeds me when I cant pick up a spoon or lift my head because I'm so tired due to fighting pain. Hes on call 24/7 with me and the fire house because he knows today could be a day that my wife dislocates her hip again and might need surgery. I'm so blessed that my husband has the help of my my entire family as well. They all take shifts "babysitting" me! My mom, my dad, my brother, my friends, my mother in law all do it. I am so blessed to have such a support group. I don't know how I would get through one day of my life without them...

Wow. That was a lot and its not even 1/2 of my

story! I hope you found this informational. I linked some websites if you want to look more into any of the diseases listed above. Please spread the word, raise awareness & wear blue! If you have any questions please leave a comment below!