MAC Region: JN FCSO
Tell us a little bit about who you are apart from your illness. My name is Kristen Towery and I live in Tampa, FL with my husband of 18 years and our two crazy Chihuahuas. I sell residential real estate and am an avid reader and art lover. I also like to spend as much time as possible with my family and close friends.
What is your diagnosis and when were you diagnosed? I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in June of 2015. In addition, I have Raynaud’s and fibromyalgia.
Can you talk a little bit about your experience with diagnosis? My experience with diagnosis was long, complicated, and agonizing. Living with vague symptoms, I doctor-hopped for over twenty years begging for answers to the debilitating fatigue and other strange issues. I was mostly told that it was depression and that I needed to exercise more. When my hands finally starting hurting in my early thirties, I was told that I was too young to have arthritis. 10 long years and many symptoms later, I was finally diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.
What is your greatest challenge in living with a rheumatic disease? For me, the greatest challenge of living with RA is probably the unpredictability. How I feel can literally change from moment to moment with no warning, and that makes it difficult make and keep plans. It puts stress on relationships, impacts my ability to work, and sometimes keeps me from doing things I want to do.
Describe something that keeps you hopeful in the day-to-day struggles with your illness. Ironically, finally having a diagnosis has given me great hope. Now that I know why I feel the way I do, I am developing coping techniques and learning to manage the disease.
Why is advocacy important to you? Participating in advocacy efforts is important to me because I truly do not want another generation of young women (and men, but autoimmune disease is more common among women) to go through what I have. It should be avoidable. With greater awareness amongst physicians and the general public, prompt diagnosis should become more common. With timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment, most patients should be able to lively fulfilling and productive lives.
