Have A "Game" Plan?!! IFAA Does! Rocking Autoimmune Illinesses Right Out of the Stadium!!!!

IFAA ready to kick Autoimmune Arthritic Illnesses right out of the door!

International Foundation For Autoimmune Arthritis - Standing On Your Side of the Field!

This is one of the most incredible non-profits I've ever seen! Although "small" right now, they can just about outdo any of your larger non-profits in the way they gets things going! Another HUGE plus, EVERYONE in the entire non-profit HAS ONE OF THESE AUTOIMMUNE ARTHRITIC ILLNESS OR MORE! So as you ask yourself about things such as earlier detection, earlier doctors, labs, tests, medications and even almost more than that, EARLY EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION can and will lead to an earlier remission, or even possible a chance of not even having anyone to deal with these illnesses again!!! From their "showing" at the White House, making a huge impact on Congress, to being able to have the ability to find other ways they can change the face of AAI's forever, this group refuses to take "no" for an answer! Please visit the link above and see just how the IFAA has already changed and will continue to change many lives!

Thanks for, A Few Thoughts, & To Your and Yours....

I'm just "stringing" a couple of posts together from FB right now. As you shall see below fingers crossed my new computer is coming today. But, as you know that is an ALL DAY affair setting it up, getting my desk back in order, transferring my files onto it from the external drive and hoping I have not lost anything.... So, I shall post a couple of things I wrote in FB the past two days, and in the morning I hope to be ready to "shine" and "scream"... well my computer to "scream" with speed, LOL, not me!!!!

So here are the posts, and I wish you a wondrous holiday... be safe and hopefully as I said in one of these "flare and as pain-free" as possible... Rhia


I just thought of one thing that I was reminded of with it being Thanksgiving Week! Some of us will be with family, friends, some home with our pets. Some of us will be right here with out online friends and family. I am Thankful for the fact that I am so far NOT lying in the hospital as I was when I was 15. I spend 7 days during Thanksgiving holidays in High School having my right knee completely cut open and the meniscus taken out. I was in traction with my leg in a huge heavy cast that was from my bed as far as it could come up in my leg to my toes. I was in that thing 3 MONTHS! Then spend a very long time getting my muscles back to where they did not look like toothpicks. So, that day, my Dad, bless his soul, came to Dallas, and forgo his turkey dinner with Mom and all the family so I wouldn't be alone while I ate mine from that hospital bed. Right now as that memory floods over me, that was THE BEST Thanksgiving of my life! And right now I miss my Dad more than anyone could ever know. He would be 91 if he were still here with us.... May all of you find that one thing you are so Thankful for.... Be Blessed, Be Safe, and Know you are LOVED! 

I've had a couple of really BUMMED days! My computer that was supposed to be here yesterday didn't make it. FEDX had not updated anything on their site until later yesterday evening. So, all day I had no clue even where it was in the delivery. It left Sacramento on Friday, and after that all it said was it was to be delivered on the 26th. I am already SO aggravated with this old laptop. I just can't do much of anything on it. It is SO SLOW, it is worse that "dial up" days I think! So, that had really thrown my schedule off. I wanted to get Thanksgiving "Cards" online out, but I have all of my cards for Xmas to make out. Plus I have NOT even BEGAN my annual Christmas Letter. I have been sending a letter in with out Xmas cards now for years. I made it a tradition a long time ago. I don't believe I've missed very many.  But I don't really even have any "software" on this old thing to do it on. We wiped this drive fairly clean and began using this computer for our music. We had Garage Band on it, and did our clips, and all of our recording and so forth on here. Then Jim can bring it in and send it to his computer where he can actually put it all together for a song. So, things like "pages"(which is like Word) and so on have been off of here for a long time. And the music files have made it very slow, but we don't want to lose any of those. Thus, we cleaned everything off we could, and set this one up temporarily for me until mine can get here. FINALLY fairly late in the evening, yesterday, FEDEX, updated their website. My computer is in HUTCHINS!!!! (YEAH!!!) So, that means it is just down the "street" from me well almost, but it has arrived at the local hub and should be out for delivery TODAY!!!! Thank Goodness! I got up yesterday and was just not about to sit at this thing and be able to not do a thing productive! So, I made my "annual" fruitcake, did some cleaning, and watched some Xmas movies last night with my two puppies... Now if the computer gets here today, then that means all day getting it set up, my desk back in order and things have way back to whatever normal is around here. My thoughts and prayers are with ALL of YOU! 
 Please be safe! I realize many may be traveling or have family traveling and weather is very bad in many places around the nation. Enjoy family and friends, have a very warm, loving and hopefully flare and pain free as much as possible holiday! And Eat a little bit of everything!!!!! We are taking Mom over to Waxahachie tomorrow to a huge buffet over there for dinner (more like brunch).  So we don't have far to travel and right now our weather as far as traveling right here is good. May all of you be blessed and overflowing with all of the things we should be thankful of. Later in the day, whenever FEDEX delivers my new computer, (I think I am still in shock) LOL!!! I'll probably be away for a bit while we set it up. But I will be "screaming" with speed when the new one is here and ready!!! WOOOOHOOOO!! I can finally catch up hopefully! 

AAI(Autoimmune Arthritic Illnesses & Our sense of smell (Odd or Phantom Smells), Sight, Hearing, Tasting, & Feeling?

I've noticed that often my sense of smell is either "off", strange, or my home, along with the outside around my home smells putrid!

I can walk around my home, as I did just this morning, and everything smells horrible! I was thinking to myself and mumbling that I really needed to "clean" because my house plain STINKS like my dogs left a "puddle" in every room! Now I know that sounds funny, and it is kind of funny, BUT in all honesty, I can walk into a room, or walk outside on my front porch and feel like my entire world is smelly. I smell smoke often outside. Which at times there are those that are grilling, or it is the emissions from vehicles. At this time of the year, people also are beginning to burn their fireplaces also. So, the smell of smoke can be truly justifiable at times in those instances. Yet, I can walk out the door, and smell everything from something "dead" like a mouse, to a "moldy" smell, to the smell of what I consider "bug spray" and the list goes on.

I have also smelled many perfumes that absolutely smell like "Raid" when I just smell them out of the bottle. Yet, they may smell wonderful once they are on someone. Now, I have this crazy smelling as I said as if my entire home smells like "the dog pee". I am a bit paranoid because I have two full grown "puppies", dogs, yet they will always seem like puppy's to me. They are totally house broken, but as they have grown a little older they tend to decide to get mad when we go out and leave them. I at times come in to a puddle of pee on my hardwood floor, which does NOT make me a happy camper. They both have anxiety separation issues, always have. Even if one of us is at home with them, they get upset because we are not both here.

Anyway, I began to do a little bit of research to see if those of us with these various form of Autoimmune Illnesses have issues with their sense of smell. And by "gosh" I am correct! There is definitely many of us that do suffer from various type of "smell" disorders. We do either have a "lack" of the ability to smell (Sjogren's is certainly one that can cause that), or you have a phantom smell disorder where it is not there but we smell it.

I've also seen people say that there sense of smell is actually "more keen" with some of this AAI's. They can smell things that are much further off than other people.

When it comes to all of our senses, smell, taste, feel, vision, hearing… they can all be effected in one way or the other by the diseases, syndromes and illnesses. I have double vision that came up almost a year ago. I've been through 3 eye specialists. Two of them highly specialized, being "Neuro -Opthamologists". After months and months of tests, lab work, and a temporal artery biopsy, they NEVER did truly FIND THE REASON for my DOUBLE VISION!! Thus they blame it on the Lupus!

I developed "Tinnitus"… of which the ENT doctor said " you'll get used to it"… there is really nothing they can do for it… you learn to "drown out" the ringing, whirling, buzzing noises…

Of course then there is the "Vertigo" - that also is not just my mind thinking I am spinning and moving… I DO spin, move and gyrate, at times without the medication, Meclazine… now I just learned a very interesting fact! There is a newer medication that came out called "VertiCalm". I saw it was for "dizziness" motion sickness etc… so I was of course once again "My wondering and wandering mind wanted to know what it was?" I look it up and it is exactly what I take that does not require a script BUT you have to ask them for it at the pharmacy, Meclazine. I've been using it for a very long time… for the vertigo, dizziness, and movement disorder. I take two every morning of my life, and sometimes when I have a bout with it, I have to take a couple more during the day. Now here it is over the counter, out from the back of the counter, and I bet it's going to be MORE EXPENSIVE, than the one I buy from behind the counter. I get like 90 or 100 tablets for usually between 4 to 6 dollars. Since I happen to find this due to a coupon for it, I will bet it is much higher than that for a lot less tablets. It will be interesting to see next time I'm out what the difference is.

So, I've touched on hearing, smelling, and tasting somewhat; along with vision.

The sense of touch I am not so sure about. I don't know that our sense of touching is really effected by any of these illnesses. I have problems with extremely "tender" skin. Sun is a huge "no-no". It can bring on a flare, or certainly make your "wolves mask" much worse, or both. Predisone, along with the other corticosteroids also makes my skin very thin. I bruise extremely easy, or just a small "knock" again furniture when I vacuum leaves terrible bruises. Some of those take months to fade. I have some that are just a "permanent" part of me.

Just to add a bit of humor to this really terrible issue as times with the senses. As far as "touch or feel" I know I have this "urge" when I go anywhere to look at new clothes, that I have to "feel" the material of everything. I am sure as a whole women do that when they shop. But, texture in fabric is a big thing when I am shopping for clothing. I believe that is just one factor of being the "female" gender.


I would love to hear from all of you in regards to these 5 senses. How if you are effected with your particular illness(es)?