A Reoccurring Theme

A Reoccurring Theme

I've noticed something in the last few weeks that seems to be becoming a theme. Once I had received my Lupus diagnosis, I started crossing paths others with the same disease. Several of them had been recently diagnosed. After a coworkers grandson and a non-blood related family member were recently diagnosed within a week of each other, I started thinking.  Is this coincidence related to the increased ability to better diagnose Lupus?  Are more people acquiring Lupus at a higher rate? It sometimes feels like a "catch all" disease that when we have symptoms which are hard to explain, or difficult to pinpoint, that we are lumped together under the Lupus umbrella.  However, I know that just in the last few years, the understanding of autoimmune diseases seem to have achieved a better understanding.  Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto's Disease, Sjogren's Syndrome and Raynard's Syndrome,  just to name a few, seem to be more recognized and discussed than in the past. However, I was not in a place to know about these diseases until one of them landed on my door step. So perhaps it's just that I am more in tuned to the conversation now that I carry the Lupus label myself.  

At any rate, it is upsetting to hear of others who will have to adjust their lives to accommodate this disease, to change and perhaps loose things that matter deeply to them. I understand the denial,  anger, fear, and the sadness. However, I do know that with some changes, the help of medications, and some new habits and behaviors, they should be able to live a good life. There will be things that they will have to give up, and there is also the challenge to find a way to do the things you love in a different way that will not induce illness or flares, or at least not bad illness or bad flares. It can be hard but, it can be done.  

Many times I take part in an activity knowing that I will have to pay the price in discomfort or pain.  But I make that choice so I am not losing a part of me that I hold dear. I have learned to plan ahead. Often I'm saving my energy for days in advance, resting, eating right, avoiding triggers (sun, infection, trauma, stress), then going to an outdoor event or doing a physically exhaustive activity, knowing that I will be sick or in pain for several days after, as payment for that bit of joy. Sometimes it's worth it.

I'm learning how to live my life with the help of information, medication, self care, the help of others. It's a good life. So, I believe those newly diagnosed that I spoke of earlier, will learn, make changes, and also have a good life.