I Have Learned That:

No matter how much it hurts, I still have to move.....and keep moving...

No one can experience your pain.No one can truly understand your disease. They can offer help and try to understand what you are going through but without living in your shoes or going through the same thing themselves they cannot truely understand. No one can experience your pain and you cannot experience anyone else's pain.

People will make comments like aren't you too young to have arthrititis or have you tried this home remedy? I have had this disease for almost 17 years and have tried almost everything.....but I am always up to try new ideas just to see!

When you are in a waiting room and you are so sore that you don't want to give your chair up for someone older than yourself, that it still feels good inside to do so.....

When you tell someone that you have chronic arthritis that you can expect to hear that they also experience it too or they know someone that has it. Funny thing is that they usually don't take medication for it...and my drug plan spends $30 K a year on me. If I felt like I didn't need to take medication I wouldn't be taking such potent drugs. I would love to not have to take anything.

When people ask me if I am getting better they don't fully understand that this is a lifetime disease with many challenges, and treatments may only work short term. There is no cure for arthritis or psoriasis.

You can try to be as positive about your illness as you like and picture yourself pain free with clear skin but when you hurt so bad and itch like hell you really can't concentrate about visualizing yourself laying on a beach and soaking up the sun.

Social gatherings are fun during the moment but hellish the next day or sometimes a few days. Sometimes it is worth it. Also there is a lot of preparation.