Learning to Live with Lupus — Darla Gay

My lower legs currently are covered with red spots. It has been so hot that I’ve been wearing capri pants every day. The result is that my legs have gotten more sun exposure than usual. But instead of a…

I’ve been collecting kitchen gadgets for the past few years: The largest food processor available. A heavy-duty stand mixer. Pampered Chef’s Rockcrok slow cooker. So you know I jumped on the pressure cooker craze, even before the Instant…

I woke up this morning with a lot of things that needed to be done. By 2 p.m., only one thing had been checked off the list and I was sound asleep. The old me — the one before…

Sometimes when people learn that I have lupus, they tell me about someone they know who was cured by taking a “magic potion.” Multilevel marketing companies are the worst — whatever disease you happen to have, their…

I’m going to see a new doctor in a few days. This time, it’s for my eyes. I wasn’t born with good eyes, and it’s just gotten worse over the years. I got my first pair of glasses when…

My insurance company changed my Benlysta (belimumab) prescription to a new pharmacy this week. So, I had to answer all of their new patient questions. First, we worked through the important stuff such as my name, address,…

I am not a natural-born exerciser. No one in my family is athletic. There were no evening walks and no one played sports. We didn’t run unless we were being chased. When I was first diagnosed with lupus,…

People who have dealt with lupus for any length of time know that it is an autoimmune disease. This means that your immune system can’t tell the difference between good and bad cells, so it attacks everything…

When you have lupus, every single day brings on more stress. There are endless doctor visits and blood tests. You have to deal with brain fog. You have to remember to take your medicine at the right…

Readers who are familiar with William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” will know that belladonna is a poison. So what does that have to do with potatoes? Everything — and nothing. Both white potatoes and belladonna are from the…

Following your lupus diagnosis, visits to doctor’s offices begin to multiply. Sometimes I’ll have consultations with three different doctors in the same week. If they order tests, it means even more appointments.  Having spent all of this…