The sun has got its hat on hip, hip hip, hooray

[medway-lady]

First decent day and dusted off the sunbed but where did spring go ? Seriously though I went to a meeting of a local group and gosh it was noisy with laughter and chatter and an awful handbag in a raffle that one hoped they did'nt win.

I realised how lucky I am that RA has no impact really on my life now, the odd blip but nothing really awful. I know that medications do affect people so differently and we are so lucky in the UK to have the NHS which does provide some extremly expensive ones that do improve lives.

I recently saw a post that implied that RA was down to poor life style choices and was very upset by it. At that meeting were very young people who had had it for a long time, without doubt it could not be down to lifestyle choices. In my case I simply have Auto Immune Diseases but even if I had smoked 60 a day, washed chips down with champagne (I wish) I still did not deserve this disease. No one does, its just down to an unknown factor that one day I hope will be switched off. So in conclusion lets all hope that the real cause will in a few years be discovered, in my case its likely genetic and the one size fits all medication developed so everyone will be more able and without pain.

[Hidden]

Here, here! Enjoy that sunbed in days to come!

[Nuttyshirlz]

Glad you had a good day. No one deserves anything serious maybe now sun is out we will all not be in so much pain. Often makes me wonder what ppl did 50/60 years ago how they coped. 🙂

[Astral in reply to Nuttyshirlz]

I started nurse training almost 50 years ago and saw RA at it's worst, so now I am very thankful for the drugs ! Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

[Nuttyshirlz in reply to Astral]

I can just imagine how much it’s came on 🙂

[keeta]

I had a really poor hard life as a child and struggled as a young women bringing up 5 kids .but After 52 years married lovely kids grandkids and great grandkids they are all a credit to us .i have 4 auto immune problems. And its all a case of bad luck thats all not life style.thats knocking us all .

I think we are all really brave people. Who don.t deserve to be knocked .we all help each other and the people i have spoken to here over the past years are so lovely .

Bring on the sun.

Gentle hugs to you all .xx

[helixhelix]

Please do be careful about sun beds....depending on your meds you can have very sensitive skin.

Anyway, I don't want to cause conflict or argument but there is a serious and medically validated point about lifestyle. There is now a body of proper evidence that poor lifestyle choices can be one of the triggers for RA. It isn't a cause of RA as that remains unknown. But if you have the make-up to get RA then it can be a factor. And it is not absolute, so not everyone with poor lifestyle choices will get RA of course. But it has now been shown quite clearly that it will increase your risks of getting RA, and will increase the chances that your RA will be difficult to control. In particular smoking is closely related to RA, as the rate of RA is much, much higher in smokers and ex-smokers than non-smokers. But also other lifestyle factors.

Here's the NRAS page about smoking nras.org.uk/smoking-and-rhe...

Of course no-one deserves RA, and it is never a person's fault. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water, as some of these issues can be extremely helpful alongside conventional medicine.

There is a research report I read recently that showed that women with very early signs of RA who changed their lifestyle either stopped it developing into full blown RA, or went on to have an easily controllable RA many, many years later. So if you can't actually cure RA the at least a step in the right direction would be to identify it very early and stop it developing?

[medway-lady in reply to helixhelix]

Totally agree helhelix, smoking is a factor in so many illnesses. But Juvenile ? and two year olds with it. I have no doubt mine is auto immune as relatives had it, no amount of living well made any difference. I'm not against anything that helps but the mind is the most powerful tool so if you think it works it probably will. I've got no doubt yoga, swimming etc makes difference if a person can do it but if not then its not their fault. I've just begun to do aerobics again, the sweat ??? I needed a towel to mop me. But felt so good after being unable to do it for the past 4 years.

[tinlizzie]

It is true that sunshine makes us all feel better, RA or not and the vitamin d is most welcome and beneficial. A note of caution though, I have developed several skin cancers including malignant melanoma in the past few years and my oncology team say immunosuppressive drugs (which I have taken over nearly 30 years)increase our risk of these. Have never used sunbeds. So slap on factor 50 and make sure your skin doesn't burn, but still enjoy these wonderful blue skies while we have them🌞

[medway-lady in reply to tinlizzie]

Its a posh and comfy wooden sun lounger that is a bed with shades. I'm fair so don't want the wrinkles and my sister had skin cancer so I'm careful. Thank you I always am pale and interesting. lol xxx

[popsmith1874]

Great post and god knows where we would be without the drugs as it must've been hell years ago when they were not there to help us and your right the sun does brighten up our day ,enjoyxx