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Education the Key to Coping With RA
By Dianna Borsi O’Brien
Rosalind French was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was 24.
By the time she was 40, the disease had taken its toll and she took an early retirement with a disability.
But today, she is back in the swing of things, full of plans for the future.
So what helped her turn her life around?
French credits an arthritis self-help course she took where she learned how to live with arthritis.
"Education is the key," says French. Every day, French uses what she learned in the Self-Help class. For example, when exercising, she has learned to do what she can.
"Don’t be embarrassed if you have to exercise from a chair, French says. You don’t have to stop. Improvise. Do something you can do."
Making Changes
For example, because mornings can be difficult, she recommends setting clothing and breakfast items out the night before. She also suggests using assistive devices such as a button hook and a reacher to keep life more manageable.
Today, French keeps a bar stool in her kitchen so she can sit while she prepares food and a long-handled dust pan within reach to make sweeping up easier on her.
Mainly, French has learned how to take things easy. She used to iron even her T-shirts but not any more. And when she does iron, French uses a lightweight model.
Most importantly, she has learned to stop worrying about wrinkles.
I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff, says French.
A Long Road
French believes she has had rheumatoid arthritis since 1981 but it took 16 years for a blood test to confirm it.
But after 16 years, the illness had forced her to give up exercising altogether and in 1997 she retired from her job as a senior medical technologist. Surgery on her foot followed leaving her confined to bed.
She was practically housebound until a friend convinced her to volunteer at the St. Louis African Chorus.
"That really got me going 100 percent," French says. "It triggered me to get up and not just to vegetate in the house. It motivated me."
Once on her feet, French signed up for the Arthritis Self-Help Course and an exercise class through her local state arthritis center, the St. Louis Regional Arthritis Center.
Today, she continues her volunteer work and even works part time. French also makes sure others know what helps her. She is a member of a support group and has been asked to be a peer counselor.
In that role, French will be able to tell them what she knows today:
You just keep on going. Don’t let it get you down.
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