Out of Control

[Guest guest]

--- Gillian Rowe <roweg@...> wrote:

> Hi All I agree with all of the postings on this

> subject to date. We now have almost 400 members

Right -- can't say I disagree substantially with

Gillian, and I am proud of the way we have all worked

to make this list what it is. I am just reiterating

what list editors have said for as long as their have

been lists to edit: think before you write!

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Gillian, I agree with you. I seldom make entries but do read all those made

by members, and learn so much about PA that I don't get knowledge from

elsewhere. I am a RN now retired, but active. This mail is important to me.

Support is given to those that need it and to those that vent, they can.

Roles switch back and forth. All of you have helped me tremendously and I

thank you. Gillian, you add a smile to us in your stories. God bless you

for your good humor, great medicine. This group is not out of control. We

are caring family members fighting or living the best we can with PA. Let's

forget about this " out of control. " Good health and God Bless Betty in VA

[Guest guest]

My 2 cents' worth on the " out of control " subject is that this list, far from

having too many

messages, has the fewest of any e-mail list I've ever been on, and I've been on

a bunch. I

suppose " too many " might be subjective, but all I have to compare to are the

numerous other

e-lists out there; fair enough? (And if you want to see _lots_ of messages, not

to mention lack

of Netiquette -- to put it mildly -- and loads of one-liners, messages copied

whole, plus

jokes, recipes, insults, sarcasm, arguments -- you name it! -- just try any of

the Usenet

newsgroups, including the one on arthritis. It's a great newsgroup but you gotta

wanna work

hard at separating the wheat from the chaff.)

The secret to handling e-mail lists is, as someone who posted about this last

week noted but I

think it bears serious repeating, is that you need to set up your e-mail to

automatically sort

list messages into various folders. That way you can automatically download

messages from this

list into one folder, messages from a flyfishing list into another, messages

from a cooking

tips list into a third, etc. And the only messages that will appear in your

Inbox demanding

your immediate attention are messages that you don't specify to go into a

folder. What this

does is free you up; you can look at list messages in your folders whenever

_you_ have time --

next month, maybe -- and _not_ whenever you download e-mail.

By the way, before I learned about this folder trick, I too tried receiving

lists as a digest.

The downside to that is that you are then forced to scroll through the entire

digest to see if

there any messages you want to read. That's hard on the eyes and it's truly much

faster to deal

with messages individually; you just see subject titles you know you aren't

interested in and

delete them. You can also sort your incoming messages by subject and delete

whole threads at

once that way.

Hope this helps. And kudos to and and the moderators for running

a tight ship.

This really is an excellent list!

--Louise

[Guest guest]

I know you may not want to hear this but, here goes

prayer and a total dependance on God are all that can

help with incurable stuff like this and the stuff that

we all have to go through every day. and then even

more prayers. I'm far from being perfect but, as a

christian , I know this to be true.

in N.C.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/29/02 3:41:29 PM US Eastern Standard Time,

Amy742@... writes:

<< Most of the time I’m fine, but when I’m in a flare the least little thing

can set me off especially health care issues.

>>

Amy - make sure you discuss that with your PCP. Mine switch offices and the

new staff wants to do everything by the book - they have rules posted

everywhere! What I do when I have trouble is call and ask to have the doctor

call me. If they ask what it's regarding, I just tell them it's some

problems with my medication or something like that - then my doctor calls and

will usually find a way to bend the rules for me. Of course, I do have a

very compassionate doctor who I get along with well. You shouldn't have to

be brought to tears by them - it's not right. Please tell the doctor how

much they upset you. Even if he/she can't bend the rules for you, at least

maybe they will see that their staff could use a lecture on how to treat the

customer - you!

[Guest guest]

That's so stupid! They should never have done that to you. Sometimes it is

heartbreaking how stupid, unthinking and uncaring the " professionals " can be.

Hope you feel better tomorrow. -- Jan O', Alaska

Amy742@... wrote:

> I have found that when I am in a flare that my emotions go out of control.

This morning the nurse at my rhuemy’s office called to tell me that I need a new

referral or else I wouldn’t be able to keep my appointment for this afternoon.

I was a little panicked since my appointment was fast approaching, but more than

anything I was furious that she hadn’t told me this three weeks ago when I made

the appointment. I couldn’t believe how angry I was and I must admit it scared

me a little. I called my PCP to get the referral and was told that the soonest

it could happen would be tomorrow because my doctor works nights and the

referral nurse only works days. After pleading my case to see if there was any

way to work around the system and telling them just how much pain I was in, I

still got nowhere. When I hung up the phone I burst into tears. After three

weeks of some of the worst pain yet and not being able to walk, they were

telling me I was going to have to wait even longer. I

> know my tears were born of

> well-deserved frustration, but I never knew that the emotional roller coaster

of PA would amplify my emotional responses to such a degree.

>

> Does anyone have any coping strategies, besides antidepressants, they would

like to share? Most of the time I’m fine, but when I’m in a flare the least

little thing can set me off especially health care issues.

>

> Amy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

--- I would recommend any type of relaxation, massage, bath, prayer,

meditation, aromatherapy. There are many ways to calm your nerves

temporarily, even chocolate when your seritonin level is low can help

just one or two bites, don't go crazy with it:) A

[Guest guest]

I agree with these techniques... Very good advice here..... It just

puzzles me why all of a sudden when I developed psoriatic arthritis , How

come mental anxiety seemed to be triggered automatically with it... I mean I

remember when I was like this too several years ago .....And I could be home

sleeping all day but my mind was so stessed like I needed to meditate 24

hours a day or something.. What is it in psoriatic arthritis that triggers

all of these mental factors?

I could undertstand if I felt depressed, or anxious because of KNOWING i had

the disease...But that was not it... It seemed to be automatically triggered

with it... Like a special bonus..

mike

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm not on anti-depressants because I don't like the thought of more

medication, and I've found some of the following helpful:

*meditation - extremely helpful, especially a technique called

insight meditation. Some books even

have meditations to do when your in extreme pain.

*gentle yoga is helpful to me - especially yoga which focuses on the

mind-body connection (I mentioned that book by Rodney Yee already -

but I'll mention it again: " Yoga " by Rodney Yee - he also discusses

meditation.

*writing in my journal every morning before work - reading over past

entries has made me see that worrying about the future is usually a

complete waste of time and energy - things almost never turns out as

bad as I imagine.

*affirmations - I know affirmations are corny to many - they are to

me! But they help diffuse the constant negative chattering I can

easily get into when I'm not conscious about it. I try to choose one

that feels authentic to me, and one which counteracts the negative

thoughts I have (a good one is simply - " no matter what happens, you

are going to be all right " - that works when I start to go into

worry-mode about the arthritis.)

*a good counselor is always nice

*Doing activities I enjoy, where I can get completely immersed in

what I'm doing (painting, yoga, scrap-booking - whatever turns you

on....

I hope you find something that works for you. When you do - let us know!

Thanks,

--

Boice

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[Guest guest]

On Wed, 30 Jan 2002 Newjersey23 wrote:

> It just puzzles me why all of a sudden when I developed psoriatic

>arthritis , How

>come mental anxiety seemed to be triggered automatically with it..

Yes - I know what you mean. I'm not sure if, for me, anxiety

contributes to the worsening of PA, or the PA causes the anxiety.

I'm also not sure whether I feel irritable and depressed because I

feel pain, or because of some chemical imbalance.... It's very

complicated!

When I came down with my worst PA flare and was finally diagnosed, it

was during a very stressful time in my life, when I hated my job, and

was going to night school. I had to quit night school, because my

body could not take sitting in front of a computer 12 hrs a day. I

also found another job - thank God...

I've always tended to be slightly more perfectionistic and anxious

than other people in my life - so in a way, this disease has forced

me pay attention to my stress response - because when I get stressed,

my body does not feel good - it's like it's screaming at me to relax,

calm down, and listen to myself.

It's really a daily, conscious effort to change the way I'm used to

responding to things. I'll probably never figure out exactly why I

sometimes feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, so I just do what I

know helps.

Take care,

--

Boice