Rheumatoid Arthritis, Vitamin D, and Running

I have always been a summer girl.  I absolutely love summer and everything about it.  I have been enjoying this warmer weather that we are FINALLY beginning to have consistently and am feeling a lot better these days.  This winter and spring (because it never really warmed up during spring) have been kind of hard for me.  First of all, being stuck inside all day every day with no car is hard.  There were some very good things about this winter that made it better than others, like playgroups at the church and having more space to be stuck in at home (much better than our 2 bdrm apartment!)

But there were some things that made it harder too.  My wrists started hurting me near the beginning of the year.  I would wake up and they would be stiff and sore.  Getting Cooper out of his crib and changing his diaper would hurt them, and of course other things I had to do in my daily life.  They actually started feeling better after about a month, so I was pretty happy.  Then I got a bump on the side of my hand.  It was swollen and hurt really bad.  Some days it would hurt worse than others, but it was really weird.  While I still had the bump on my hand, my knuckles on my hands began hurting.  They always hurt the worst in the morning when I would wake up.  They would be stiff, swollen, and sore.  I would lay in bed in the morning just thinking how bad my hands hurt and how much I didn't want to get out of bed and do all the stuff I had to do.  Some nights I wouldn't even be able to sleep because my hands hurt. I noticed that the colder the day/night was, the worse my hands hurt.  I had no energy to do anything I needed to do.  Laundry and cleaning would get so backed up because I kept getting so tired throughout the day.  Even after I took a shower, I had no energy or desire to get ready.

As the weather warmed up and the sun started shining more, I thought I would start feeling better and have more energy.  But it didn't happen.  It was all I could do to make myself take the kids to the park, because it seemed like so much work.  Since my hands weren't getting better at all, I decided to go to the doctor.... (I know I should have gone earlier, but I always hate going and having them tell me that nothing is wrong!  I have a phobia from all those negative strep tests as a child.)  So I went to the doctor about 2 weeks ago and told him about my wrists and hands hurting.  He asked about fatigue and I told him that I have been having some.  It actually was weird because I hadn't thought too much about it until he asked me.  I just kind of thought it was the typical "winter blues."  But when he asked me, I realized how fatigued I really was every day.  He took x-rays and blood tests and we made a follow up appointment.  About a week after my appointment he called and told me that I had tested positive for Rheumatoid Arthritis and that I was very low on Vitamin D.  He started me on some Vitamin D supplements and Aleve.  

I had my follow up appointment yesterday and he told me about Rheumatoid Arthritis.  The reader's digest version is: It is an auto-immune disease and is not curable.  They can treat symptoms, but treatments have a lot of side effects because they attack your immune system and weaken it.  They can also use steroids to help with flare ups.  We took another blood test and a urine test to make sure nothing else was going on and discussed my Vitamin D levels.  I should be at least at 50 and was at 28.  So he said that taking Vitamin D should help me feel a lot better and energetic.  We decided that I should not do any treatments for the R.A. at this time because it isn't very bad yet.  So for now I am just taking Aleve twice a day along with my Vitamin D.  I will have to go in every 6 months and have levels taken to see how it is doing, and then we will decide what to do each time.  

My hands have been feeling a bit better with the warmer weather.  My knuckles are still a bit swollen and don't feel right, but I can do pretty much everything without having too much pain.  The Vitamin D has been helping me feel a lot better.  I have felt my energy level increase, which is making me happy (and the sunshine really helps a lot too!)  

For a while I was really scared about what this would mean in my life.  I didn't want my kids to think of me as a mom who was sick but did the best that she could.  I want them to think of me as a mom who played with them and did fun things with them.  I want to be able to physically do all the things I need to do to be a good wife and mother.  It scares me to be diagnosed with arthritis at 26 years old.  I wonder what things will be like for me when I am 50, or 60, or 80 when people typically get arthritis.  I really don't know how it will effect my life or how I will handle it.  But I am feeling a little better about it and will just take it one day at a time.  I am glad to know what was wrong, and to be doing some things to make it better.

I have also started running in the mornings these past couple weeks.  Matt is so sweet and bought me some new running shoes (mine were probably 10 years old and too big) and a jogging stroller/bike trailer.  I make it out at least every other day, sometimes more, and I can run a mile without stopping and usually I stay out for 2-3 miles with some walking mixed in.  The other day my brother watched my kids so I could go without a stroller and it was SO MUCH EASIER!  I ran almost 2 miles without walking that day and improved time on my mile.  So at least pushing an extra 60+ pounds is improving my endurance!  It feels so good to get out and do something that is good for me and it makes me feel better throughout the day.  Between that and the Vitamin D, I am feeling like a whole new person during the day, but by bedtime I fall asleep so fast, usually on the couch.  

Overall, I am feeling much better about myself.  I am trying to learn to not stress about having a spotlessly clean house, or about where we are going to live in the fall, or about other things that I really don't have much control over. (Yes, I am a control freak).  I don't want to be someone who is always stressed.  I want to enjoy life, and I want my kids to enjoy me.  My kids are growing up so fast, and I want to be able to look back and think about fun things I did with them, and not remember my clean house.  So, I guess if I can't do it all... and I can't... then I need to pick which is the most important.  Someday my kids will be in school, and I will have more time to clean.  But until then, I will just apologize to you, because if you ever come over unannounced, there will probably be toys all over, and laundry and other things, and it won't necessarily be clean.  I just need to be ok with it, otherwise I won't be a happy person, and I want to be.  

Anyway, sorry for the longest post ever that was purely about myself.  I just thought there might be a few people who would want to know what was going on with me.