{"id":1213,"date":"2014-06-12T18:51:15","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T18:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2014-06-06T19:10:40","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T19:10:40","slug":"lupus-one-thing-after-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/lupus-one-thing-after-another.html","title":{"rendered":"Lupus: One thing after another"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of porbital\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s hard for many people to understand the “whack-a-mole”-like life that is life with lupus. There are some lupies among us with relatively mild disease and for whom some treatment provides longer-term relief. But there are some of us…Well, it’s another thing altogether.<\/p>\n

Most recently for me, for example, the medication I took for years to “control” (I use that term loosely, because my lupus was far from controlled) lupus caused toxicity in my retinas. Off of that med I went, and onto another, which has not staved off lupus activity and, in fact, has stirred up yet more antibodies to yet another organ that had been, apparently, unaffected until now. Sigh. The situation is serious, and I have to go off the second med and onto a very powerful third one, with the anticipation of side effects and a curtailment of many activities.<\/p>\n

And does all of this mean that my lupus will, once and for all, be quiet?<\/p>\n

Oh, probably not.<\/p>\n

Because, as I’ve said before, there is no cure for lupus and it can flare up anywhere in the body seemingly at any time. \u00a0Yes, we lupies are all different, with a different set of symptoms and disease course. But for me, it seems like lupus is just one thing after another…As long as the researchers still aren’t sure what causes lupus, I expect that potential cures are still a long while away.<\/p>\n

For many reasons, I believe that faith is essential to coping with chronic pain and illness. But there’s nothing like the mysterious, unpredictable disease of lupus to make me\u00a0know<\/em> that faith is a must. I can’t control the disease. My doctors don’t have all the answers. Researchers are still…researching. The all-powerful one in this picture is God, and He is my rock of support and safety, not a rock to avoid!<\/p>\n

I’ll have to be on the new med for at least a year. It’s going to be a whole new chapter in my fight. But, fight I will, and moreso.<\/p>\n

We have to stay strong and stay faithful, my fellow lupies and all who have chronic health conditions. We cannot let “one thing after another” get us down!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s hard for many people to understand the “whack-a-mole”-like life that is life with lupus. There are some lupies among us with relatively mild disease and for whom some treatment provides longer-term relief. But there are some of us…Well, it’s another thing altogether. Most recently for me, for example, the medication I took for years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,379],"tags":[45,46,502,18,1079],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-lupus-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-living-with-lupus","tag-lupus","tag-medications-for-lupus"],"yoast_head":"\nLupus: One thing after another - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/lupus-one-thing-after-another.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lupus: One thing after another - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s hard for many people to understand the “whack-a-mole”-like life that is life with lupus. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1218,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}