Columns

Veganism is a popular topic of late and, while I have opinions, its nutritional merits are not what I want to write about. Rather, as someone who lives on a medical – read: necessary and involuntary – elimination diet, I wish to kindly ask the vegan community not…

I am on day 3 of recovery from a 5-day vacation. No, it was not a rave-filled party or an alcohol-induced retreat. In fact, as far as vacations go, it began quite mildly. I packed up the SUV with our two little dogs and my teenage boys, then we pulled…

When I started feeling bad and had no idea what was wrong with me, I thought I could go to the doctor and they would figure it out. There would be a shot or a pill and all would be fine. Life would return to normal. Fast-forward months later…

I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos. Why people get them, what each piece of art on their skin means to them, or if it’s important at all. It’s hard to choose something to emblazon on you skin for the rest of your days and I had yet to…

While my disease is doing better each day and I am feeling better with every treatment, there are some things that will never go away. I will never be “cured” in the traditional sense. I’ve tried so many things and so many doctors, and have been poked and…

Being diagnosed, I felt like the weight of the world got lifted off me. But slowly, as I began to understand more and more, I started to feel something else. I felt heavy and hopeless with my new lack of possibilities in life. Over the last month or…

There are plenty of things I dislike about lupus, and a few I’d go as far to say I hate. But the thing I hate most? It is how lupus is the only thing in my whole life that has made me feel truly uncomfortable in my own…

I recall a time where there were only two types of days: Good ones and bad ones. Of late, there are all kinds of days broken down into little categories. While overall a day can be considered “good,” that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been like that on every…

It seems to be a growing trend that doctors have a lot less time to spend with their patients. Many make you sit in a room all alone long after your vitals have been taken, with old magazines full of old news.  While you’re sitting there, all of the…

It doesn’t matter when or where I tell someone I have lupus, the reaction is always the same. The person’s face will drop as they realize I’ve just shared with them that I have a illness I’ll live with forever. Cue the onset of sympathetic and pitied glances.