Tips
Every day tips and tricks for living with arthritis!
Enbrel Mini review: Easy, customizable injections
Pros: Easy to use, adjustable injection speeds, optional sounds, one-handed injectionsCons: It’s still an injection After months of fighting with my insurance company, I finally got my medicine and was able to try Enbrel Mini! It’s a bit like something out of a sci-fi movie—maybe one day all injections will be as easy as this. (The biomedical engineer in me is already thinking about what to design to make that happen. Hmm…) Humira helped me a lot for a while, but last fall I started having a lot more pain and fatigue, and my doctor suggested moving to Enbrel. Even though I’d had a bad experience with the Humira Pen…
Info checklist for flying with Humira or Enbrel
How to fly with Humira and Enbrel is my most popular post, but I know it can be a little long. Here are the most important points, summarized in a list. Packing info Humira, Enbrel, and x-ray scanners Going through security Documentation Safe travels! -Bri I love creating resources like this, but each one takes a lot of time and research. If this post helped you, consider supporting the site with a coffee! Thanks! <3
A quick guide to medical terminology
All the medical words that I throw around here can get confusing when it’s the first time you’re hearing them, but I find it a lot easier to understand and remember what words mean when I understand where the words come from. If that’s a method that works for you, then this post will be super helpful. Prefixes you might see arthr- : joint bursa : small fluid-filled sacs that cushion joints cyst- : bladder enthes- : enthesis (where tendons and ligaments attach to bone) my- : muscle spondyl- : vertebra, the bones in the spine Suffixes you might see -algia : pain -itis : inflammation -osis : a disease -pathy : a disease Some…
Arthritic gaming
I looked up “video game arthritis” recently (or something similar). I’m not completely sure what I was looking for. Advice for how to keep gaming when it makes it hard to use your hands? Other people going through the same thing, so I don’t feel like the only one? Motivation to work through it? Gaming can be a hobby, a competition, a social space, and even a livelihood. What about when your body makes it hard to keep going? Unfortunately, when you run a search like that, all you get are articles warning that gamers are in for arthritic futures. I don’t care about that. I have arthritis now. If…
Kinesiology tape for arthritis
Kinesiology tape (also kinesio tape or KT) was first was first suggested to me a few years ago by a friend who thought it might help my recalcitrant shoulder. The box of KT Tape she handed me claimed it could fix everything. Bad knee? Injured ankle? Sore shoulder? Back? Neck? Hands? Kinesiology tape can help! Of course, the asterisk warns you that only some of these uses have been found effective in studies. Which ones? Who knows. I used it on my shoulder for awhile because I was out of other options. I’d experienced physical therapy, braces, medicines, x-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds – nothing helped and doctors couldn’t tell me why.…
Biologics: Autoinjector or syringe?
When I started Humira, my doctor automatically put it in as an autoinjector prescription. That was a mistake. The first time I did the injection, it was okay. No big deal. Sure, it hurt, and it took awhile to get myself to press the button, but I could deal with it. The second time, though, it took a little longer, and definitely felt more painful. The third time took a little longer to do, and the fourth time… Well, I couldn’t do it. Each shot was like injecting burning venom into my body. It was so painful, I just couldn’t bring myself to press the button. It led to a breakdown… or…
Air travel with Humira or Enbrel
I’ll be visiting Arizona next week during the time when I’ll need to take Humira, so, of course, one of the first things I’ll have to think about when packing is how I’m transporting it. This will be the second time I’m taking Humira or Enbrel on a plane, so it doesn’t feel like that big of a deal (no bigger than the whole TSA fiasco normally is). The first time, though, I was very confused about what I would have to do bring my Humira through the airport (or my sister her Enbrel). This post contains everything you might want to know about flying with Humira or Enbrel. To find the key…
