Recovery from Rheumatoid Arthritis
Robyn has been a happiness seeker for as long as she can remember and the glass was always been overflowing. In 1993, when her youngest son was 11 months old, the glass shattered when her doctors thought the pain she was experiencing was early signs of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In many cases, the factor in the blood that identifies rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t show up at first, but her physicians told her it looked like RA and that's what they treated her for.
At the time her other sons were six and three. Not only did she have her “hands full”, she had her “life full”—and was in pain for most of it. The disease affected most all her joints, moving in symmetrical patterns. It might flare up in one hand first, stay there for a couple weeks, and then move to the next. Then it would move to one elbow, followed by the other and then move to the right foot, then left, etc. Sometimes she was in a sling or even on crutches. She was under massive amounts of stress trying to care for three children and be a good wife. A cocktail of 3 pharmaceuticals occasionally kept the pain at bay, but the pain would always return. It was a cycle that she thought could not be broken.
Having seen the ravages of RA: disfigured limbs and destroyed joints, Robyn was—at age 32—a young woman afraid for her future. PLUS, this debilitating disease simply didn’t fit into her happiness plan. When the pain was present, it ran her life. When the drugs kept the symptoms at bay, she pretended it was not a part of her life. Regardless of her pain level she religiously went to the gym. She was not going down without a fight. Feeling her heart beat and sweat drip was certain proof she was vital…alive!
Fast forward to the fall of 2000. She and her family moved to the small, ocean bluff community of Lunada Bay on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County. For Robyn, moving to the beach was a dream come true. A gym rat no more, she decided to spend as much time outdoors as possible. She walked, ran or biked near the ocean everyday, preferring life experiences that also qualified as exercise. Then the rain came and a friend suggested she give yoga a try. Convinced that yoga was just a big yawn, she gracefully declined. But her friend was adamant that “this” yoga was different, so she gave it a try.
Long story, not so short: Robyn started practicing yoga in 2001. Today, she lives a full life–free from rheumatoid arthritis and pharmaceutical cocktails.
Throughout many years of suffering, she tried numerous prescriptions, acupuncture, herbal remedies and diets to remove the arthritis from her life. Then she found yoga. “I kept going back to class because every time I stepped onto the mat it took me back to that happy feeling of being a kid rolling around on the grass, going upside down, hanging from the trees, carefree from the grip of the adult world where stress can eat you alive. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, if someone had told me I could rid myself of rheumatoid arthritis with yoga, I wouldn’t have had many nice words for them” says Robyn.
Robyn continued doing more and more yoga, feeling better and better. Happier and happier. With her doctor’s supervision, she weaned herself off of all drugs over the course of about a year. She honestly didn’t make the connection at the time. She didn’t credit yoga with making her feel better. She simply knew she felt better. It was after the fact that she realized yoga was the only thing in her life that she had changed.
“Everyone has a path for dealing with the stresses of the human condition. Everyone knows that stress can make you sick, and I think it made me sick. I may be free from pain, but just like everyone I still deal with with stress. Fortunately, I now have the tools to manage it. Yoga is my daily dose now…the proof is the practice.”
To learn more or talk with Robyn about her recovery email her at: robynmarin@mac.com
Robyn Marin RYT
Registered Teacher with
Yoga Alliance
Certified in Vinyasa Krama Yoga
Yogafit trained
Certified Group Exercise Instructor through AFAA; Aerobics & Fitness Assoc. of America