Dancing with My Disabilities!

Title: Dancing with My Disabilities! I had my shoulder and both hips replaced, and I am changing things up a bit on this blog! I began belly dancing in 2010! Yes, you read that correctly!! I am going to be blogging about my experience as a woman with several joint diseases and conditions who had her shoulder and both hips replaced who now belly dances, dances hip hop, performs, teaches dance to children of all ages and abilities, teaches belly dance fitness classes to adult women, teaches chair belly dance movement classes to people with mobility issues and disabilities, and takes a Pure Barre class as well! I still have pain, but I want to blog about how I have fun too! Please read Chronically Mommy (chronicallymommy.blogspot.com) for info on health/pain and being a mom to a 13-year-old son. I have avascular necrosis in my shoulders, hips, and knees, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondylitis, Sjogren's, fibromyalgia, hEDS, POTS, MCAS, vascular/ocular/hemiplegic migraines, pseudotumor cerebri, trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, endometriosis, and chronic shingles. I found out that I have autoimmune arthritis in my cervical spine and a bulging disk in my lumbar spine. Fourteen years ago, my spine orthopedic surgeon told me I had a small amount of inflammatory arthritis in my SI joint. The question was if the spinal involvement was due to Psoriatic Spondylitis, which is a more severe form of Psoriatic Arthritis or is it a new diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis? Now, they have an updated term, Axial Spondylitis, which fits my symptoms and diagnostic proof. Whatever the diagnosis, the treatment will remain the same. I had my left hip replaced in 2003; my right shoulder replaced in March of 2010. I gave my right arm to be ambidextrous! LOL! Lastly, I had my right hip replaced on May 10th, 2012, and I began belly dancing two years prior to my right hip replacement surgery. Yes that's correct! I began belly dancing in 2010, just after my shoulder replacement, before my son was born. I performed for the first time in 2012, five days prior to my right hip replacement surgery. Pain is still another part of my life. It is just a question of when, where, and how much, but I would like to use this blog to write about my experience as a woman with several joint diseases and conditions who had both hips and a shoulder replaced and now spends her free time dancing, teaching, and performing! I began dancing with a troupe in February of 2014, Seshambeh Dance Company. I now take a Pure Barre class on Monday mornings, teach ballet, tap, and creative movement on Monday evenings to children of all ages and abilities, take a hip hop class with all adult women on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, teach a belly dance fitness class on Thursdays to all adult women, and teach a chair belly dance movement class to people with mobility issues and disabilities as often as I possibly can. Join me in my journey! At times, I take 16 to 20 pills a day. I give myself an injection each week on Fridays for my autoimmune/autoinflammatory arthritis diseases. Just when one thing is doing better, something else goes downhill! My attitude, however, is always going uphill! I am 49 years old, have been married for 24 years, and my husband and I adopted Mick in Dec. of 2010! I have a lot on my plate right now, but I take it one moment at a time. I believe that God will never give me more than I can handle. However, I do need to learn to ask for help sometimes instead of always doing it by myself!

Blog Title: Dancing with My Disablities!

Formerly Now Read My HIPS, and before that, I Already Gave My Right Arm to Be Ambidextrous.
Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

Dancing with My Disabilities

Dancing with My Disabilities
Asmara "Beautiful Butterfly"

Blog with Integrity

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

World Arthritis Day! My numbers 85-18-36!

I'm kicking off World Arthritis Day with a look back at when I really began having symptoms that made me ask questions and seek advice from my doctor. I began to put things together and wonder if different symptoms and things that I had in my childhood that were showing up again were chronic conditions. I wanted to put a name to the way I was feeling. I knew there was no way I was wearing myself out with just my normal day-to-day activities and a lifestyle of no smoking and no drugs (I'd love to say no drinking, but I was in college at the time and was experimenting with drinking beer at parties and then going to class at 8 a.m. the next morning). So If you asked me when my onset of my autoimmune arthritis symptoms were, I would have to say that when I began college is when my body really started going crazy! I remember that during this time, I had several severe kidney infections. I had a staph infection that somehow decided to land in my outer ear and earlobe. My ear became double its size and filled with fluid. It was like all the poison was waiting to take over my body! I began having severe stomach problems. I always had problems with my skin. The next year, I had mononucleosis and missed an entire semester of school. I never got out of bed. I basically slept through a semester of my Sophomore year.

Then, my Junior year, I was hospitalized for unexplained fever, joint pain, and abdominal pain. Of course they found nothing. Figures.

Although I had been dealing with symptoms and vague chronic pain issues since I was a young child, my general health began to go down hill when I started college. I went to four years of college, and with each year that passed, my health became more challenging. I went to college from 1993 to 1997, and I sadly have to admit that during that time, no doctor was able to pinpoint what was wrong with me. Each doctor just thought there were many small things happening in clusters at the same time, which made it seem a lot worse than what it actually was. I began college when I was turning 18. I was still just a child! I didn't realize the importance of knowing my childhood medical history. It would have helped with a much quicker diagnosis. I wasn't diagnosed with my autoimmune arthritis until later as an adult because I didn't know all the details of my childhood medical history. It turned out that I had Psoriatic Arthritis, which led to a later diagnosis of Psoriatic Spondylitis or Ankylosing Spondylitis. It depends if it is in addition to the PsA or a part of the PsA. I was also diagnosed with Sjogren's and EDS.  My diagnoses were not made until between 2002 and 2004.  If I had known that I had Psoriasis as a child, that my mother also has Psoriasis as well as my brother, the diagnosis may have been made when I was a young child. Instead, I didn't seek a doctor to give me a diagnosis until the 90's, and it took nearly a decade to diagnose me.

There is a huge debate right now over whether or not being over weight can lead to autoimmune arthritis. No, it can't! It is that simple. There is plenty of information out there people. Read it! Osteoarthritis is different from autoimmune arthritis. Osteo is caused by the overuse or wearing down of the joint/connective tissue. Autoimmune arthritis is when something in the body causes the body to attack itself! It depends on what type of autoimmune arthritis it is to know what part of the body will be damaged.

I get very upset when people talk about moving your joints to keep them in shape or from getting arthritis. Don't be overweight and you will avoid autoimmune arthritis. These are terrible ways to educate the public about autoimmune arthritis. Moving the joints to keep them from being stiff can be helpful even for those with autoimmune arthritis, but it will not prevent autoimmune arthritis from forming. If it is in your body's make-up to have the autoimmune disease, then it will be done. Period.  There are some myths floating around out there about weight and autoimmune arthritis. I just want to set the record straight so that all know; being over weight cannot cause you to get autoimmune arthritis!

My numbers: 85-18-36!

Please post your story of your onset of autoimmune arthritis in the comment part of this blog. Stress how you feel about weight and its affect on autoimmune arthritis. Also, post your numbers if you know what they are. And since we are on the subject of our numbers, if you know what I am talking about, please post your numbers as your facebook status, on twitter, and ask others to do the same.

Thank you all so much and enjoy World Arthritis Day!

Here are some links with information you may be interested in:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20812050
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7986867
http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/3/450.abstract


This should be an exciting day for Autoimmune Arthritis…thank you in advance for your participation!

Link to website www.IAAMovement.org .
Link to Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalAutoimmuneArthritisMovement .
Twitter: @IAAMovement

2012

2012
Performance 5 days before my Hip Replacement Surgery!

2012

2012
Performance 5 Days Prior to my Hip Replacement Surgery.

Belly Dance

Belly Dance
Before the Performance 5/6/12
Watch live streaming video from arthritisfoundation at livestream.com