Seems to me lately that RA is surprisingly parallel to games of chance. As all of us who deal with it know only too well, RA seems to run in "streaks" muck like luck does for a gambler.
If you are fortunate enough to not be flaring you are on a bit of a hot streak of luck and hope it keeps on for as long as your luck holds out! The real irony of this is that just as games of chance rely on luck there are times when RA seems just as fickle. The single most disruptive aspect of managing a chronic disease like RA.
Despite the many options of treatment available to treat RA (or perhaps because there are so many) finding the perfect combination AND having it last the test of time has been elusive for me and for many others who suffer with RA. I puzzle over this often and still have no answer.
What I do know is that any chance of success seems far to random for my liking and continues to be the most frustrating part of this disease. Thus the comparison to games of chance.
Just as you rely on the throw of the dice to win, I often feel like I could just throw dice with the names of all the treatment options on them and the ones that turned up would be the ones I would go with and my chances would be just as good as if I took time to decide, contemplate, etc. to make the same decision!
So my reality proves (to me at any rate) that the chaotic and uncertain nature of RA is identical to the chances gamblers take when they play their games of chance and hope to win but know full well that luck better be their friend or they are going home empty handed and waking up with no money or in the case of RA waking up to a flare and uncontrollable symptoms that may linger till the next "'lucky streak" comes along....
Nan
