I ended up doing better on my steps yesterday and got in 12,014. I have more and more coming up eating away at my work out time but the goal is to keep moving and try to counter balance my raging appetite.
Speaking of food and appetite we had Tapas Tuesday at work yesterday. Not that anyone I work with needs a reason to eat since we have parties, luncheons and pot lucks a lot for no reason at all. I usually do not participate in the eating at work since I’m pretty particular about what I will eat and pack my cooler everyday with all the foods I intend to eat that day. However, there was mention that at this Tapas party there were going to be many gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free options. I hadn’t realized that so many of my co-workers were on special diets these days. I’m not talking about the weight watchers, low carb; need to lose weight diets but actually diet changes that their doctors are recommending. It used to be unheard of for doctors to even mention diet but I guess that is changing.
After I heard this I decided to really think about who I worked with and has it turns out I’m in an office of 34 people, 11 men and 23 women. Of that total 4 of us have autoimmune diseases and all of which are women. That is 11.7% of the office suffers with disease of which there is no cure. 2 of them have Type 1 diabetes, 1 with Crones and myself with MCTD. Autoimmune diseases are rare on an individual level but as a collective group the word rare is hard to swallow since there are so many forms. Each challenging in its own way. None of us would claim our disease is worse than the other 3 they are just different.
Me vs Mixed Connective Tissue Disease 
Hey you made an interesting point in your article today…Actually I have two of the three autoimmune diseases you talked about with your co-workers. I have Diabetes and MCTD and I would have to say that MCTD is much worse than Diabetes. It takes on a mind of its own and Diabetes is much more manageable. Not that you need or want to know that, but I thought you might find it interesting as I think your very knowledgeable about your disease and your daily blogging is very interesting to me who shares this disease.
Melanie
Having one autoimmune disease is enough for most people never mind taking on the likes of 2 of them. Are they connected in some way for you or are they considered completely separate? I only ask because with MCTD our disease can take on many forms and new names depending on what our system attacks and I know day to day my disease could change or progress into something different. I didn’t know if you started with one and the other one came because it is somehow related.
Since you have 2 diseases to deal with I’m glad you find 1 a bit easier to manage. I don’t have anything to focus on other then MCTD and honestly that is enough for me. With that said if my MCTD overlaps to something else than I’ll be ready to deal with that as well. It is unpredictable and at times unsettling but I have a lot of time on my side and with time I can find the right balance.
Thank you for sharing your story. I have to believe if you are living with 2 autoimmune disease many people are living with multi-forms and dealing with the challenges that come from that.