Fun Ways to Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis

Tickles, Trunks, and Nutrition

How do you make an elephant float?

Two scoops of ice cream, root beer, and an elephant.

Sorry, I know it’s corny. I’ve been telling that joke for almost 40 years and I still laugh. I’m incorrigible.

Well, if you’ve ever looked up Rheumatoid Arthritis on Google, you know there are lots of ridiculous recipes for a cure. There are foods to eat and foods to avoid. There are gloves and creams and sprays. Funny, fake, and preposterous cures abound – anything to get you to CLICK HERE NOW.

Once, we were visiting NASA on a “free entry for locals” day. A woman who saw me struggling to walk approached me with her cure: “I was like you just last month - until I drank acai juice.” She meant well, so I didn’t laugh in her face. But, I think my kids gave her a look.

A friend of mine did give me a large bottle of the juice. I was glad to give it a try. I’m not a cynic. I’m even willing to inject myself at home with chemo drugs and new-fangled manmade biologics – Hey, I’m willing to try anything within reason.

That brings us to my internist. He is a good doctor. And I know he cares because when he got a look at my numerous abnormal lab results, he had the vitamin talk with me. He gave me list of supplements he wants me to use. It’s not one more absurd attempt at a cure. He just knows that Rheumatoid Arthritis is out to destroy my entire body and he wants me to put every good weapon in my arsenal.

When I looked at the list of the supplements, I did the math. “That’s a lot of pills,” I thought. Then I started collecting the various bottles on the counter. “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE,” I said. (It really is a huge number of pills because of the amount of each supplement that I need.)

You may know this one already: How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time, right?

So, I devised a plan for the vitamins and supplements. It has really helped. I got one of those large divided pill boxes people use for weekly pills. But, I don’t label it with the days of the week. I open the bottles and fill up the compartments. One is for fish oil, one is for calcium, one is for vitamin D, one for iron and so on. I can’t fit enough in there to get through a whole week, but you probably could.

Here is the rest of my method: I keep the box nearby and every time I eat a meal, I swallow some pills. If I eat a brownie at night with the kids, I swallow some pills. That takes care of about half of the pills for a day.

The other half of the pills, I take this way: chill some healthy juices that are considered a special treat. A couple of times a day, I pour out a big shot (six ounces or so) and swallow some pills. These have to be the ones that don’t cause much stomach upset, like Vitamin C or flax oil. Since the juice is a treat, the pills go down easier. Sometimes, I add healthy nuts or something like that. (As for juices, I recommend the V-8 fusion flavors or Welch’s purple.)

It’s not cheesecake, but it’s still a good thing.
How about one laugh for the road?
Why are elephants trumpeters?
Because it’s too hard to learn to play the piano.