Vote For ArthritisFriend.com In Wellsphere’s Health Blogger Awards

Help Sheryl Win PHBA!

Click Here To Vote!

Hi Friends,
I am writing to ask you to please take some time between now and the end of the day (January 31st) to vote for me in Wellsphere.com’s Health Blogger Awards. I don’t expect to win, but I would love to make it into the top 100 list that they will be publishing. This will help me work towards my goal of reaching as many people as possible with arthritis and offering you a place to vent, while also providing you with gathering tools for coping.

If you are not a member of Wellsphere, they will ask you to register on their site in order to vote. It is a bit of a hassle, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. And the time you take to vote for me will be much appreciated. 🙂 Thank you to all who take the time to vote for this site. And thank you to all who have become loyal readers and inspired me to keep searching for interesting stories to blog about.

Click here to vote now!

Stay tuned for some great upcoming posts:

  • Do You SureClick? Should I SureClick?
  • Rum, Religion and Arthritis

2009 Arthritis Walk: Let’s Move Together

Arthritis Walk Shoes

Grab your sneakers! It's time to sign up for the Arthritis Walk.

I love the arthritis walks for two simple reasons. The walks raise money for the Arthritis Foundation and awareness for arthritis-related diseases — two very important things.

It’s time to start building teams and raising money for your city’s arthritis walk! Start early and stay dedicated to your cause. Your local Arthritis Foundation branch will appreciate your efforts!

Local Plug: If you live in Los Angeles, like me, there is a good possibility that you could hit two walks. There will be one on May 3 at Magic Mountain and one on June 7 in Santa Monica Beach. If you live in LA, join our Facebook Group for the Magic Mountain walk in Valencia, CA. Start a team and we’ll see you at the theme park on May 3!

So … what are you waiting for. Here’s your chance to get involved and make an impact!

Three Easy Steps to Get Started

  1. Find a walk in your area by going to letsmovetogether.org.
  2. Start a team and invite your friends to join you.
  3. Raise money.

Over the course of the next few months, I’ll be offering fundraising tips and ideas, so check back often. If you have tips of your own to offer, leave them in the comments or email me.

Shameless Plug: Buy one of our fun, ArthritisFriend.com tees and wear it proudly at your local walk!

Let’s get moving!

Great News! Arthritis Act to be Introduced Again

American FlagUpdate from Arthritis.org:

The 111th Congress began on January 6, 2009, and all legislation not signed into law before that date must be introduced again.  The Arthritis Foundation is very pleased to announce that Representatives Anna Eshoo of California and Fred Upton of Michigan plan to introduce the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act in the coming weeks.  They will introduce the same legislation that unanimously passed the House of Representatives in September 2008.  Since it is a new Congress, there will be a new bill number once it is introduced. 

Before it is even introduced on the House floor, YOUR Representative has an opportunity to indicate their support of this critical legislation by joining Reps. Eshoo and Upton as an original cosponsor.  Please contact your House of Representative member and ask him/her to be an original cosponsor of the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act of 2009.

Find out how you can take action, by clicking here.

The Mental and Physical Frustrations of Arthritis

Jason Crigler AlbumDuring the holidays, I read about musician named Jason Crigler who suffered a brain hemorrhage that left him temporarily unable to speak or walk. He also had to teach himself how to play guitar again.

Don’t worry, I’m definitely not trying to compare arthritis to a brain hemorrhage, but there is something about this quote from Crigler that I think rings true for a lot of us arthritis warriors.

“I knew what to do; I just couldn’t physically do it,” he says. “It was painful, because my hands were so tensed up, like claws almost. I’m still working to get that open all the way. But I knew mentally what to do, and I could hear what to do. Physically doing it was the issue.”

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to do something as simple as say, open a can of soup, only to discover that either you simply can’t do it, or you can do it, but with great difficulty. If you haven’t had arthritis all your life, you can remember when opening a can of soup was not hard. But now it is, along with a lot of other things. We adapt and we get through it, but it still sucks. For me, the momentary frustration of not being able to do something that I believe I should be able to do with ease, does not go away. It’s always there. Sometimes I get teary. Sometimes I’m angry. Sometimes I just roll my eyes, as if to say to my arthritis, “I know what you are up to, but can you cut me some slack today?”

But I keep moving forward, and I remind myself that there are good days and bad days. Here’s to a year where we all strive to “keep moving forward.”

Read More on Jason Crigler [via NPR.com]

There was a documentary made about about Crigler’s miraculous recovery, which looks to be very inspiring. Check it out here.

9 Arthritis-Friendly Things I’d Like to See in 2009

I think we’d all like the world to become a more arthritis-friendly place. To that end, I came up with a list of nine things that could set that idea in motion this year.

  1. Our own reserved parking spot in front of our Rheumatologist’s office.
  2. Prizes hidden in prescription pill bottles. If Cracker Jack could do it with popcorn, why can’t Pfizer do it with Celebrex?
  3. Seats on rides at theme parks should have more cushion. Most notably, the Matterhorn at Disneyland.
  4. A rewards program for Enbrel patients. Buy 11 months of Enbrel, get one month free. After all, at $350(ish) a month on COBRA, the makers of Enbrel are doing better than most drug lords in Columbia.
  5. To be able to earn points for each prescription ordered through the local pharmacy — points that could be used to purchase an Amgen beach towel or an Arthritis Foundation wind breaker.
  6. I’d like better food at the Dining Hall at Camp Esperanza , a camp in Big Bear, CA for kids who have arthritis. Plus, I’d like to witness better pranks. Shaving cream is so five years ago and I know the kids can be cleverer.
  7. I know all women agree with this, but especially those of you with arthritis — I want more women’s shoes that look cute, are uber-comfy and not frumpy.
  8. Don’t you hate it when people give us dirty looks after we park in a handicap space with our placards? I want a special badge that says: “I have arthritis, you bastard, so piss off!”
  9. On more serious note, I’d like to see more arthritis awareness raised and hear fewer people saying, “But you don’t look sick.”

Okay, now it is your turn. Add your wish list via the comments!

Here’s to a happy and healthy new year for all!

Be well,

Sheryl