Parenting, Faith and Respecting Different Treatment Choices: Conversation with The Rheumatoid Arthritis Mama Renee Anderson

Episode at a glance:

• Renee’s diagnosis journey after a decade of mystery symptoms
• How rheumatoid arthritis has affected Renee’s parenting and homeschooling
• Renee’s Christian faith helps her cope with challenging times
• Cheryl and Renee share their different treatment choices (western medicine and natural only approaches) and how important it is to respect each other despite different choices
• How Renee adopts an anti-inflammatory lifestyle
• The dark side of focusing on wellness and diet: Renee shares about orthorexia, an unhealthy obsession with healthy food
• Why Renee started her Rheumatoid Arthritis Mamas Sisterhood Facebook group

Speaker Bios:

Renee is a former middle school teacher turned homeschooling mom of three. She’s been married for 17 years and lives in West Michigan. She started The Rheumatoid Arthritis Mama after her RA diagnosis in late 2017 when she began sharing her journey, faith, and experiences with RA openly and authentically on Instagram and Facebook.

Since then, Renee has been interviewed by and featured in media outlets such as Healthline, Health Central, CreakyJoints, WEGO Health, Self Magazine, and more. Her Facebook support group, The Rheumatoid Arthritis Mamas Sisterhood, has nearly 2,000 members and she uses the group as a space for all women to come together regardless of their treatment choices to support one another, share their experiences, and connect with other autoimmune disease warriors.

Renee has a passion to support and encourage other women (especially moms) who are battling autoimmune diseases. Her goal is to provide others with encouragement and hope, feel less alone, and inspire them to live their best lives despite battling autoimmune disease. Her newest endeavor, a podcast called Every Day with Autoimmune, is set to launch during the summer of 2021!

Cheryl Crow is an occupational therapist who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis for eighteen years. Her life passion is helping others with rheumatoid arthritis figure out how to live a full life despite arthritis, by developing tools to navigate physical, emotional and social challenges. She formed the educational company Arthritis Life in 2019 after seeing a huge need for more engaging, accessible, and (dare I say) FUN patient education and self-management resources.

This episode is brought to you by the Rheumatoid Arthritis Roadmap, an self-paced online course Cheryl created that teaches people with RA how to confidently manage their physical, social and emotional life with this condition.

Episode links:

• Things discussed in episode
  • https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/orthorexia
  • ACR guidelines
  • “Food freedom” Elizabeth Dahl - woman of wellness -
• Renee links
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_rheumatoid_arthritis_mama/
  • FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheRheumatoidArthritisMama/
  • FB Support Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheRheumatoidArthritisMamasSisterhood
  • 
    
• Arthritis Life Podcast, Practical Tips and Positive, Realistic Support - Facebook group
• Cheryl’s Arthritis Life freebies:
  • Free Handout: Cheryl’s Master Checklist for Managing RA
  • Free Training: Arthritis Life Hack Crash Course
• Arthritis Life Program Links
  • Join the waitlist for Rheum to THRIVE, a membership community Cheryl created to help people with rheumatic disease go from overwhelmed, confused and alone to confident, supported and connected.
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis Roadmap, an self-paced online course Cheryl created that teaches people with RA how to confidently manage their physical, social and emotional life with this condition.
• Cheryl’s Arthritis Life social media pages:
  • Cheryl & Arthritis Life on Instagram
  • Cheryl’s website: Arthritis Life
  • Arthritis Life Tiktok: @ArthritisLife
  • Arthritis Life Facebook Page
  • Cheryl’s Twitter: @realcc
  • Arthritis Life Youtube channel

Medical disclaimer: All content found on Arthritis Life public channels was created for generalized informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Here's the detailed show breakdown:

2:14 - Renee’s journey getting her RA diagnosis after a decade of mystery symptoms.

5:23 - Renee has mixed emotions after her diagnosis: fear and confusion, mixed with relief that she finally had a definitive answer.

6:45: Discussion about how common it is for people with autoimmune symptoms to be dismissed by medical professionals.

8:30 - How Renee’s three children have become more compassionate and sensitive as a result of mommy’s rheumatoid arthritis. How she initially tried to hide her diagnosis from them, and how she then realized she needed to be open with her children and husband.

13:15 - Renee opens up about her infertility journey and what she learned about communication, stress management and how to relinquish control.

15:40 - How Renee structures her daily routine to suit her RA needs and her family’s needs.

18:10 - How Renee’s Christian faith and eternal perspective helps her cope with RA.

20:00 - Cheryl reflects on how, despite being an agnostic / atheist now, she carries forward lessons she learned as a child about the importance of unconditional love and the idea that everyone is worthy even if they have a health challenge.

21:55 - Cheryl & Renee discuss how different people have different treatment paths and the divides within the RA community at times between a “natural” and a “western medication” approach. How Renee explored lifestyle and diet and worked with a functional medicine doctor.

26:35 - While Renee is able to control her RA with lifestyle and diet, she will never fault or judge anyone for taking medication.

27:35 - Cheryl’s perspective as someone on three RA medications. The importance of differentiating as patients between sharing our experiences and then making the leap that *because* it worked for me, it 100% will work for you. Important to remember the current scientific evidence at the population level favors an early aggressive medication approach.

29:20 - How Renee’ focuses on an overall anti inflammatory lifestyle; an integrative approach - not “either/or” but “both.”

30:00 - How Renee’s experience with unkindness and negativity in Facebook groups inspired her to start her own group: the Rheumatoid Arthritis Mamas Sisterhood.

34:05 - The dark side to obsessing over “healthy food,” you can become orthorexic - obsessive with eating only healthy or “clean” foods.

36:35 - Patients are the expert on our own patient journeys but that doesn’t mean that we know what will work for another patient.

37:10 Renee shares the foods that trigger *her* inflammation.

38:45 - How Renee healed herself from her negative emotions around food and has built a healthy relationship with food through Elizabeth Dahl, a food coach. How to learn food is not the enemy. Learning to be careful about what she eats without being militant has helped her.

43:35 - Discussion of disease-specific Facebook groups, how it’s important to have a place to vent sometimes but it’s also important to find groups that suit your needs, and if you’d like a more supportive and positive place there are groups for that too.

47:25 - Concluding thoughts.

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