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“You’re an inspiration to many.” I get it all the time. Do you want to know a secret? I never wanted to be an inspiration — not like this. The cost of being “inspirational” is going to bed every night knowing that no matter how many or how few hours…

I cannot deny it: I love bread. Toast with peanut butter has been my go-to breakfast for a long time. But as I am now learning, both of these foods can cause inflammation in my body.  So what’s a bread-loving girl to do? Look for substitutes that taste…

Recently, I was having a discussion about lupus. Because I’m a self-proclaimed joy junkie, I was asked why I say I am battling lupus instead of living with it. The word battle seems negative. I look at living with something as being accepting of the behavior that is exhibited…

Whenever I write about lupus, I refer to it as a separate entity. In my mind, my journey with lupus is a battle; it’s always been a “me versus the enemy” situation. However, the significance of mentally detaching myself from the disease didn’t occur to me until recently. I…

What is an anti-inflammatory diet? An anti-inflammatory diet is designed to reduce the inflammation in your body. Certain foods are known to contribute to inflammation, but it can also develop as a result of too much stress and too little exercise. It also leads to conditions such as arthritis, depression,…

Lupus is not a happy disease, yet I have always been a joy junkie who looks for anything positive in my challenges. In my prior life, I was always physically active. Given what my body now endures with lupus, I have difficulty moving at my former hurricane pace.

Many things about my relationship with my partner, Jordan, are unique. As two 20-somethings, each living with our own chronic illness, our experiences are a world away from those of our peers. In most “normal” relationships that involve chronic illness, there is a caregiver and a care receiver. In…

I used to be a neat, organized person. Being diagnosed with lupus, however, turned my world upside down. I was bombarded with new words, new medications, and new doctors. Suddenly, I had to have a dozen different tests for things I had never heard of before. And somehow, the…

My rheumatologist’s office is almost two hours away from my home. He is highly regarded in his field, so I make the trip to see him every three months. I trust him to give me good advice. Starting at my first appointment, he has asked many questions and listened carefully…

Living with lupus makes me feel a little precarious. I can’t fully enjoy the little victories in my health due to the fear that they’ll immediately be followed by a downhill slide. Last year was a doozy: For most of the year, I seemed to move endlessly from one…