Overdue...

Changes are coming. I'm not sure how it will all work out in the end. We may be relocating, or maybe not. I'm never one who is good with indecision.
I finally settled my car accident claim from November 2011. It went well. This is most likely because he was nice and I was not out to get every single penny I could. An ironic or maybe fitting part of it was he was so nice because I have rheumatoid arthritis. I had a documented illness that was made worse by another soft tissue injury. I did not expect that. I'm grateful. It seems sometimes, not always, you get a slight edge because someone understands that a chronic illness is impacted by everything in your life and not just another line on a form to ignore.
My best friend and her little family came and visited me for a few days. They were precious and worth more than I can say right now. It seems both of us are going to have possible big changes on the way.

Baking Frenzy

I went through a baking phase. It is mostly over from what I can tell. I made pumpkin-peanut butter dog biscuits, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and a chocolate cake for my boss in the space of a few days. There is something very fulfilling about baking. It's like making a soup....all the effort is at the beginning and then you wait long enough and magic!
I ended up with an A- in my neuro course. Much better than I deserved. This semester was hell, and class never got to come first. Work has calmed down a lot. Part of this is just the simple acknowledgment that I have to juggle many tasks at once and not let any of them get so far behind that I screw myself. So far so good. My gum infection is gone and I finally finished my penicillin regime. (40 pills takes a while! especially when you suck at taking your morning pills, 4 a day makes for a long few weeks...mainly because you must finish antibiotics no matter what, you skip a dose doesn't matter; take them until they are done.) I lost a bit of weight with this whole fiasco, so I'm trying to use it as a jump start to get back into the gym. I'm actually doing really well.

Why do people view the gym as a club? They stare at you and hit on you, all while supposedly working out. I am not at the gym to get laid...really. I am there because it makes me feel better, helps my depression, my arthritis, and helps my pants fit. I don't mean to be one of those people, I'm not hot shit...I just don't want to be bothered at the gym because I'm doing pull-ups at the bar next to you. Granted they are assisted pull-ups. Wonky fingers with no strength are not made for pull-ups. :D But they do give me a nice bit of a workout and help me define my arms much faster than the Lifecycle machines on the top floor of the gym. Arthritis means no real barbell workouts; too much pressure on your already damaged joints is not helpful.

Lynx trying to partake of a turkey Reuben.

All I know is, working out makes me the person I want to be...happier, more productive, and more willing to go the extra mile for things. It suddenly all becomes worth it. I'm willing to waste a night making Reubens and the dog treats rather than waste it on the couch watching bad movies. Working out makes me be that much better at everything. I'm terrible at sticking with it, but I'm hoping one day it will just become a habit and I won't even think about it anymore.

Nerdy and armed with a Waterpik

Okay, so after all the gum trouble, I was finally talked into getting a WaterPik. Yes, I squirt water everywhere! If I were using red cleanser, it would like someone was stabbed to death against my bathroom mirror, as is, it's only salt water mix. But, so far so good! I'm off my pain meds and not nearly as cranky! If fact I had an awesome morning!
 One of my favorite moments, is driving to work with Isa-Bee in the backseat, her head out the window so far I can see her snout through the drivers side window. She is a happy morning person! She was super excited to go to Doggie Camp today, so that felt good. I stopped off and got myself a yogurt parfait with oats and jelly and a green genmaicha tea. Of course I have to wait two hours before I could eat it though, stoopid penicillin.
 I'm not sure whether to be relieved I only had a gum infection, or pissed because the pain levels were insane and at life disrupting levels. However, it could have been another stressed induced lump found randomly in my body. (Two years ago my right breast and last year a lymph node on my neck). It's also probably very good that I finally got the WaterPik, I hate flossing and having RA defiantly means you need to pay attention to your mouth as you are more prone to needing dental work than the average bear. 

 Here is a picture of my delicious lunch! Not being able to chew completely yet and having my eating restricted by penicillin limits anything going into my body. >.< But this juice with chia seeds is amazing! I love the cranberry mixes, but decided to branch out a bit today and was rewarded! Super tasty and full of Omega 3's and antioxidants. Both of which are very important with RA or in my case JRA. Or maybe not as I am now 26? Does that mean I graduated to regular RA? Hmm. I'll chin scratch that one at a later date.

I got the boy Diablo III for his birthday. It comes out tomorrow, but Game Stop is having their usually midnight release parties, so this will be nerdy fun. The boy is currently working like a mad man, so there is a mild chance I will end up alone at the Rio Rancho Gamestop. So if you see me, wave!  

Super pain and the cranky that comes with it

Ugh. My my body has found a new way to destroy me from the inside. I have an infection in my gums around a perfectly healthy tooth. After being in unreal amounts of pain for days not to mention killing my liver with tylonel and advil every four hours to avoid the 8-9 levels of pain that happened when I though I could brave though it.

Haha...my body and infected gums laugh evilly at that. No..No..you cannot manage this pain without drugs. 

I finally called into my dentist for an urgent appointment. I was given a good cleaning and some Rx's to help me along. Hydrocodone is nice, but also contains acetaminophen (tylonel) so liver damage is still ongoing. The interesting thing about vicodin/hydrocodone is that you need less of that actual drug when paired with acetaminophen, to get the same effect. Interesting pharma knowledge but crappy for me. Also penicillin has a major drug interaction with methotrxate, so I have to not take it for a few weeks. I realy wish doctors/dentist/pharmacists would give you more of a heads up on this kind of stuff. Surprises are not fun when you are in pain and already balancing a lot of meds for chronic conditions.

Boy am I cranky today. I got one day off of work. I needed three or maybe just two, but here I am being a mean as possible because the pain and general side effects of all my drugs. I belong in bed...can we just all agree on this???

I'm also having to pick up missing pieces from our former/maybe not employee. I hope they are gone...being a terrible employee on top up fraud and embezzling does not make me or anyone who works really hard like you. Just and FYI...

I should probably just keep my cranky to myself now...Only 5 mores hours left at work and two meetings..yay >.<


-A very cranky and in pain Sara the Beara


PS I managed to crank out my final during this period...not sure how well that turned out. I will worry about this at a later date.

Conference and the End of the Semester

La Jolla

The funny part about going to conferences at the beginning of your career/job is that you are at least 2 decades younger than anyone there. I'm not sure how long I will be doing the job I am doing, but for the moment I am content. I struggle with wanting to advance up the ladder because I'm already good at and familiar with my job, and leaving for greener grass as a neuroscience grad student and being the professor I've always dreamed of. Where will I end up? Ehh. Your guess is as good as mine.

All I know is, I'm a oddity at these things, but I managed to get as much out of it as I could. It was nice to escape the ABQ area for a while, and all the trouble of work and chaos of home. I didn't not wake up to dog kisses urging me to release them for potties, but to a cell phone alarm. Hmm. Not as nice or gentle a wake up. I did get my own hotel room and bad cable TV. I stocked up at Ralph's on munches and Sofia Coppola mini cans of champagne. I only buy the cans of champagne, as they are tasty and do not require working fingers/hands to pop a cork. I have always and will always be terrified of opening a bottle of champagne. I can only imagine the damage I would inflict on my 'weenie' hand should it all go awry. Yes, I am a coward.

Every night after the conference was over,  I would get to venture out into the area. The second night we went to La Jolla, the third Balboa Island, and the last was a special dinner aboard the USS Midway. I had never been aboard a aircraft carrier before. In fact I have never really done anything vaguely military related other than Arlington National cemetery. Growing up, my family was not militarily inclined. My father while 6'4 and imposing, is a pacifist. I can never imagine him striking anyone or thing. My mother's older brother Philip died when he was 18 in Vietnam. My house did not make for a pro-military house. In fact I was the black sheep when I decided I wanted to join the army/some branch at 17. It did not occur to me that having had arthritis since I was 11, they would not want me. I didn't actually make it that far, but I did see a recruiter and ponder it a bit. It's funny the things that you can never do don't really occur to you until much later.

I had a dream of being a bad-ass FBI agent. I really, really wanted to be a bad-ass FBI agent. Now, I know this would never happen. I cannot load a clip. I can fire with difficulty and enjoy target practice, but I cannot load a clip. There are a host of other things as well; I could not do the training required at Quantico; Hell the stress of taking the entrance exam would probably give me a flare-up. Ugh. I will never be a bad-ass.

Work overload/overtime and birthdays

Actual pile on my desk...

So far this week I am work an average of 4 overtime hours per night. I = mostly dead. I'm not really a fan of overtime, sure it's time & half for every hour worked, but I really prefer to keep work at work and only work 40 hour weeks. This is however the busiest time of year for us and I have been charged with processing every credentialing packet. This is a nice statement as to my skill level, but also a life drainer.

I leave for San Diego this Sunday for a conference. I'm a bit excited to get the hell out of dodge. I can bring my laptop and work on my neuro final. I can watch bad tv and go sit in a room where all I am required to do is look professional and see if I can take away anything. No expectations. If I really lucky, I may even try to sneak out to the beach one night. There is nothing I love more than the ocean...well maybe the ocean with mountains in the background. It's kinda of funny that location of my first flare up and sign of my disease is still one of my favorites. I lost the ability to walk on a beach at eleven. My family and I were camping near Carpinteria, CA one summer, and suddenly my legs no longer worked. My ankles would fail me when trying to walk. I was too young to really get what was happening or be more than amused that I got piggyback rides everywhere, but my Mom was very frightened. I did get that way until we got back home and the tests started and they discussed giving me gold shots in all of my joints. I cried at that doctors appointment. My doctor was unsympathetic and I never had to see here again. It's funny when I think back to all the doctors, appointments, residents, a doctors offices; only a few moments really stick out to me. Most of them are the bad, horrifying, & "I'm not normal and never will be" moments.

We had a birthday party for my Handsome this past weekend. I drank too much and ate too much, but it was loads of fun. I made him a six layer caramel and chocolate cake. It was almost too sweet to eat. And making caramel from scratch is scary!

Ugh. Must get back to piles on my desk and craziness of my life. I'm hoping I don't crash, but I can kind of feel it coming. Like the auras I get with migraines, just a feeling of impending doom that you can only barely make out.

Birthday cake of pure butter & sugar

The Margot...helping me sleep in.

Ugh Super Not Feeling Good & The healing power of Thai food

I hate being sick. This is however the homeostasis level for anyone on immunosuppressants.My go to is Tom Ka soup and mass amounts of tea, Emergen-C packets, and watered down juice. For those of you who do not know, Tom Ka Gai is a Thai green curry soup. Its full of galangal, garlic, and spice. It can cure any and all ills!

My quick recipe:
1/2 cashews
tofu/chicken/shrimp/protein
1/2 a can coconut milk (I use Mae Ploy)
1 Tsp toasted seame oil
1 Tbs coriander seeds 
2-3 Tbs Green Curry paste  (I use Mae Ploy)
2 Tbs Galangal grated fine (Thai ginger) 
1 Tbs of lemongrass grated fine
4 cloves of garlic crushed
 Small bunch Thai Basil
Small bunch Cilantro 
1 cup mushrooms quartered (I use baby bellas, which I usually have on hand). 
4 red potatoes diced
1 bunch of green onion sliced (I use all but the tips and bottoms)
1/2 white onion sliced in thin half moon shaped


Heat the toasted sesame oil in a pan with the coriander seeds. (Med-High Heat) After 2-3 mins add cashews and onion until the nuts start to brown a bit but the onions turn translucent. Then added green curry paste and saute for 4-5 mins. The spice of the paste may knock you back a bit, but you should always cook your curry pastes. Then add in coconut milk and a large amount of water. (Med Heat) I sometimes add chicken broth, but its really a taste preference. Once the base is simmering, add the potatoes, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, green onion, basil and cilantro. (Med-Low Heat) I usually let them cook together for about 20mins or so. (If you are doing chicken, I would also add it at this step.) At this point add the mushrooms and tofu or shrimp. After about five mins or so it will be ready! For the shrimp make sure they turn a nice pink, but don't get too tough. I usually steam them on the side, because I am terrible at shrimp! I usually make sweet rice to go with the soup but rice noodles also work well. 

 I have horrid piles on my desk as it is that season again. Credentialing season...ugh. So far I'm refusing to take a sick day, but it may come to that soon. >.< I am also on a path to try and be as nice as possible. I'm grumpy 99% of the time at work, no ever works a full 8 hours which leaves me trying to answer emails, answer calls, and process packets all at the same time. I don't even want to know my error rate right now. However, I have realize that while some people are beyond my ability to be nice to, most are not and I should not take out the bad ones on the good ones. Plus I always feel much better when I'm trying to get something done and the person on the phone is nice, helpful, and competent. So, for the moment I'm trying to let go off the work bullshit and the fact that I have a horrid cold and just be a person who knows the answers and is not afraid to use them on the phone and via email.

Cotted cream and Midterm revisions

Yum. For breakfast this morning, I made fresh cream scones topped with lemon curd and cotted cream. I'm drinking Assam tea with cream and brown sugar, this is heaven. Yesterday did eventually get much better. I'm happy that while I bitched and moaned, I still held on to the fact that it had so much potential to be a good day. Tea with Kyle was lovely. We manly complained about work with our other loyalist and decided that if we were all to survive, we should probably do tea once a month.
Last night I worked on my midterm revision until I was a bit blind and thoroughly exasperated and then I worked on it some more! Then I did the unthinkable, I got dressed and went to see Cabin in The Woods by myself at 10:50 at night. I really liked it, it was clever and very knowledgeable about its own cleverness. It had a great Sigorney Weaver cameo, and it was something different. The ending was only okay, but ending are usually really never any good.
Today I am planning on hitting Costco for the essentials and taking it as easy as possible. This week was a large work disappointment and I woke up to a migraine all but bleeding out my eyes on Thursday morning. I will however keep hanging in. I'm sure all this stress is going to bring on a brutal flare up, but for the moment I'm taking care of myself and I seem to be doing mostly just fine.  

Joss Whedon and normal Friday the 13th misery

Super excited to see Cabin in The Woods! This may be because I used to love slasher movies in high school. I also have a deep love for Joss Whedon. Loved Firefly but really only saw it really about a year ago. I was never into Buffy. I was more of a Xena girl. Although for all intensive purposes they are basically the same, unabashedly cheesy and fun.

Today had started off horribly and I'm sure will only get worse. Yes, I'm a bit of a Debby Downer today. Ugh. Sigh. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. Possibly because of this mind set I'm having the normal girl in her twenties crisis. Just about every single person I know is married, married with kids, or has a kid. I'm not in a hurry for any of the above, however because the are basic accomplishments by which people grade their success at life, I seem to be failing. Now granted anyone can get married, oh wait no, no they can't. If you are gay you cannot or maybe  you can but in what, like five states? Ugh. People bother me. If two people willingly want to tie themselves to another person financially and for life, presumably, they should have all the support they can handle.
The piles on my desk are just plain scary. They would of course be going down if I were working on them. :P But then I could not complain and add them to the reasons why today is horrid. Today should be great...I'm taking my dear friend for a belated (by a month) birthday tea at St. James Tea Room. I got paid, and it's Friday! Ehh. I guess we will have to wait and see.
I really need to pay my Rx bill so that I can once again get on Enbrel. It's been almost a year, and I'm sure I would be doing much, much better with it. I dropped an espresso plate yesterday. This could of course be do to any number of reasons:
tired
cold (having just taken the Isa dog for a 3 mile walk at which somewhere in the middle it got frightfully cold)
my hands barely work under the best of circumstances
or the migraine pills I was popping

Who knows? Probably a mix of all of the above. I do however need to get over all of the catastrophes that are making me tired, mean, and cranky, and just keep trying to have a good day. Maybe it will happen? Please. Please. Let it happen!!!!

Sugar cookies for Breakfast

Cannot refuse!

The day Isa discovered the wonders of sticking her head out the car window.

So today might not have gotten off to the best start. Although I did wake up having slept really well, I was just not getting things done and everything took way to long. I took my little Isa-Bee into Doggie Day Camp. When I got home last night, late after working later than I wanted, I could tell she needed play time. Margot is a sweet dog, but she was raised by cats and would prefer to spend her day sleeping. So almost 45 mins late I finally made it into work, with a Mucho grande cup of Earl Gray with cream and sugar and a three pack of sugar cookies from the Flying Star Humane Society drive. I'm a sucker for animals, I love them all. When we went to the pound and humane societies looking for another dog before we found Isa, I would have to stop and say hello and rub every dog in the entire place. Then I had to visit the cat house. Animals are my kryptonite. Animal abuse it the one thing that make me VIOLENT. And I do mean violent. So when you have a charity drive selling cookies for animals, its a win win and I will take a pack. I was kind enough to share cookies with my boss and coworkers.
I'm way overwhelmed at work, and the piles keep growing. This is going to be a rough couple of months. I think there will have to be a designated cookie and tea breakfast once a week to perk me up.

Tea, Margaret Atwood, and Downton Abbey

I'm addicted to tea. I think my pity party/ review the midterm that I did not fail, but did less well that I wanted (81) at St. James Tea has made me a convert. I still drink my morning americanos, but that is more or less out of necessity rather than enjoyment. I have also started to cream and bits of brown sugar to my black teas, which stills feels a bit blasphemous, but damn is it good. I'm also way hooked on genmaicha tea during the day. Green tea is a very good anti-inflammatory and the roasted rice bit make it more substantial than just plain green tea.
 Last night, I overdid it just a bit. Way too much Malbec and Downton Abbey. I'm finally seeing season two. I did however make a very good and healthy baked tofu vegetable noodle soup for dinner. I like to flavor and bake my own tofu for later uses, it allows you to make it spicy or just really covered in toasted sesame seeds. It was fun buying the veggies, I got purple cabbage, and baby bok choy. I got bright orange carrots and prepped them so they were almost like delicate thin stars. The trick is to have a serrated peeler! It was a very bright and colorful soup especially when I added Siracha, or 'cock sauce' as it is more informally known.
With all that is going on at work and my mini life crisis over my midterm, I have been spending a lot of free hours in bed reading "Alias Grace," by Margaret Atwood. It is one of my favorite books. Although it is a bit melancholy and so I have to be careful not to let it add to my mess of worries, but to let me escape them into fake other peoples worries.

Pre-crashing...and a New Heath Kick

I always skip ahead. Well to go back in time just a bit...before the crashing and the anger....
Last week my midterm was due and my Mom, sister, and my Mom's oldest friend were in town for a ladies weekend. Work stuff was just hitting new levels of stress, and I was already exhausted. When you have a chronic condition as in my case with arthritis, your body cannot handle stress. Really, and truly cannot handle stress. I am wonderful in stressful situations, like emergencies; I don't freak out when my car slides and sends me into oncoming traffic during a snow storm. I can handle all most anything with grace and dignity, but then I go home and it's all over. My body is done. It wants to sleep for a week and it wants really healthy good food or booze and ice cream, depending.
I had been handling the stress mostly well at work. I avoided it. I am not involved and I didn't let myself become entangled in anything, I maintained my normal work ethic and just showed up everyday like normal. I had just returned from an amazing trip and was feeling really and truly more like myself. I used to travel, to be more fearless. Nothing was keeping me in any particular place. Now I have two dogs and two cats. I have a car, a job, and utilities to pay. I also have a house and an amazing boyfriend. These things all mean more responsibility and so I am now firmly in one place.
I'm concerned about my midterm. It wasn't my best work. It was the start of something good, but by the time it was due, my house was filled with guests and I was just tired. So, very tired. I just hit submit five minutes before it was due and let it all go. I'll get to see the results of it very shortly and then I may have to make some very real decisions about my future. Can I manage grad school? Can I manage now?
For the moment, I am on a health kick. I am working out (which also meant I pulled my neck out and was in considerable pain for days but I digress...). I am for the moment doing everything I have a choice in. I am taking care of myself and am looking pretty damn good. My hair is long, my body is getting toned, and for the most part I'm hanging in there with the occasional pity party.
Pity parties are actually necessary, but they have a time and a place and a definitive end date. No one can/should live in pity party mode. Boy world everything suck then.

My favorite pity party past times include:
           Going to see a movie by myself.
           Drinking champagne on a weeknight night while watching a good movie
           Drinking beer and eating crackers for dinner while reading a good book
           Going to tea.... St. James Tea (My personal favorite of the moment.)
           Getting a nice treatment or just sitting in the hot tub at a spa.... Betty's or 10,000 Waves (My nearest   and dearest)

Bottom line: Sanity in stress in a hard won battle. Go into it rested and taking care of yourself.
      

Crashing...like a wave into shore

I can feel my body crashing. It's like being a small child and not knowing what part hurts, or why you feel bad, only that you just do and it all hurts.
I'm fairly certain I am crashing because work is hell. Not the job part or the boss part, but the other people and working for a large bureaucracy part.
We have an employee who stole money, is addicted to the most pathetic thing heard of and has barely shown up to work in months. The bureaucracy part means we will have to keep them until the day they die, because god forbid we do something which might in a very small and particular light seem unfair.
I don't want this to seem mean or unfeeling, but this means my job now sucks and is now largely composed of fixing all of their dropped pieces, my normal job, the busiest time of year(which is from mid-March until August) normal chaos, my student, and going to school at the same time. it's no wonder my body wants out...my brain sure as hell does too.
I'm not sure there are actually options at this point; other than show up and survive. If I'm lucky my body will just stick it out with me and while not feeling good or even very capable, we will both make it out alive and hopefully still attached. :)

Unauthorized advice:  Treat yourself. No, a Cadbury egg is not good for you, it was not designed to be. However, for a few moments you are less concerned about the crap around you and more about not getting the fake egg goop everywhere.

Drink lots-o water. Have treats but do not let yourself slip into a crap diet of just beer and cadbury eggs. That will only make things much, much worse. Try to eat sensibly; leafy greens, blueberries, salmon. All good for RA/JRA. Also find good books, movies or PS3 games and remember you will survive.

Side note:  Addiction does change who a person is and functions on a neural level. Your nervous system is now fundamentally changed; this is how a person develops tolerance to a drug their body adapts. I do not mean to belittle addiction, but only to express my own anger at this situation.

Homunculus and Me

Know what this is? (Aside from a bit scary?)

This is a sensory & motor homunculus. This is a representation of motor and sensory information and the connection to your body parts with scale showing use. You may notice the large hands, well that and the lips, tongue, and ears.
The hands are the part I want to talk (write) about. I'm completing my Midterm for Biological Basis of Behavior (BBoB) and I of course run into this image. I realize I obsess about my hands; what they can do, what they can't. It could be because almost every action involves them. Drinking my quad americano, typing now, basically everything. It's hard to come to grips with your limits on a daily basis and then go on to find new ones.
I don't remember what is was like to have hands that worked.
<--- I want to understand this terrifying picture. I know hands, my hands, are consistently moving and doing all the things I require of them(well mostly).

I can even analyze it and say that my hands are like a damaged brain, the underlying structures are all still there working as before but the movements are now choppy and less sophisticated. Like I'm working with out of date software or the evolutionary older parts of the brain. I'm still capable of most, if not all actions, but they will be done with pain, awkwardness, and or great trouble.

My hands, my greatest weakness and strength. Allow me introduce my 'wienie hand'...

Notice the background of my lecture notes on neural networks/systems :)

Anti-Inflammatory Diets, Blood Type Based diets, and How to Eat with Arthritis

Diets. The word diet is never fun. However paying attention with to what you eat/ choose to fuel your body with is actually important. Take is from me; I've been all over the board.
I've been:
Anorexic
Vegan
Vegetarian
On a Blood Type based diet "Eat Right For Your Type" FYI-I'm a AB+
On an Anti-inflammatory diet
and one a combo of any of the above.

Most of the above are good when practiced as a real way of living. Anorexia-not so much. I would like to think people with chronic illness/diseases are more prone to control related disorders based on the lack of control we generally get in our lives, but I may be full of it. Moving on...

Vegan is fine but not for me or for anyone who doesn't have the time or money to make it livable. I did not survive long, but was also not really trying to make it a part of my life. I will admit as much as I like dairy and cheese in general, probably really not a great way to get protein. My skin did look wonderful for that week!

Vegetarian, I really liked. I still eat vegetarian mostly because its how I learned to cook and you have to pay attention to spices and textures more than usual. Vegetarian meals are also more likely to include things on whole wheat bread, things that have been steamed rather than fried, and a better quality vegetables than meat meals. It is also cheaper. I can make amazing veggie meals at home, because produce is not that expensive even the good stuff.

The blood type diet was actually pretty effective. The diet is based upon the idea that different blood types need to eat in different ways in order to help our bodies function at their best. Tomatoes, Potatoes, and White bread do actually make my joints much more swollen than usual. I also have an aunt who lives by the diet and is Celiac. It seems to work wonders for her and so has my vote for that.

Anti-inflammatory diets are really just about eating foods and spices that are naturally anti-inflammatory. Green tea, turmeric, ginger, pineapple, sweet potatoes, etc. This is the best way to eat hands down. Indian food, Asian foods, and Nordic foods are really the trick. In fact when I'm living off Indian food as I'm know to do occasionally, my hands look amazing!

Eating well is really very important for Arthritis, especially Rheumatoid Arthritis. You can make your condition manageable without drugs, but it requires dedication to seeing what foods cause flares and trying spices you may have never considered. It would be an uphill battle until you found exactly what works for you and in what combinations. Exercise is also a key for this type of treatment. I'll have to get to that next.

Currently my diet is based on as many vegetables as possible, lean proteins like chicken and fish, fruits, and spices! I am also a diet coke junkie and I have a killer sweet tooth. However, I try to keep things in balance as best I can. After all Balance is really the key; have what you want but in a portion equal to how good it actually is for you. :)