writing and research

I am a freelance writer and I love what I do, but I happen to have Rheumatoid Arthritis, which means that sometimes I cannot write because of the pain and stiffness in my fingers and wrists. Much of the time I manage to work around the pain and the fatigue but occasionally I can’t.  My illness may come as a surprise to those who know me, because I don’t write about it as a general rule, but the last week or two it has interfered with my work.

When you write for a living then a few off days don’t just annoy the hell out of impatient clients (most of my regular clients are very good, even though they don’t know I have RA) but it also means that during those periods my income dips accordingly. One of the side effects of RA and the drugs that I take to alleviate the pain and slow down the progress of the disease, is that I get chronically tired sometimes. There is quite a lot of talk about chronic fatigue syndrome, but not many non-sufferers realise it is also an effect of RA. I’ve been suffering from this for about seven years now but only got a proper diagnosis two and a half years ago.

I suppose that I’m writing this post because somewhere in the back of mind is the question of how long I will be able to write like this without voice recognition software. The methatrixate that I take, along with codeine and tramadol for the pain, is supposed to slow down the progress of agressive rheumatoid arthritis but it doesn’t seem to be doing that so far.

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