¶ Living With Rheumatoid Arthritis and Stills
Hi , my Spoonie sisters , I am your host , Gracefully , Jen , and I am so thrilled . She's pretty new to me . I don't know if she's new to you , but this is just Jacinda , otherwise known as Virgo Beauty . Hi , how are you today ?
Hi , beautiful , I'm doing good . How are you ?
I'm so excited that you reached out to me . I'm so thrilled to have you on here . I love watching all your dance videos and it's just so much fun and encouraging .
Thank you so much for sharing that . Definitely , I love your content as well , thank you , thank you . Thank you so much for having me . This is something that I've been wanting to do for a while , and I'm excited , I'm excited .
Well , thank you so much . Do you mind sharing just a little bit of your diagnosis story , so we can kind of get people to get to know you a little better ?
Of course , sure . When I was five years old . That's when I got diagnosed with JRA juvenile rheumatoid arthritis . For years , I believed that I went into remission . I was in dancing school . That's the love of my life and it's been with me since forever . The only thing that I had was anemia problems .
When the weather would change , my knees would get a little bit swelled up , but it wasn't as bad as what happened in October 2016 . Like I said , years went by . Maybe it was because I was active , I don't know . Maybe it was remission , but in October 2016 , I was 22 years old and this is when my life changed , literally .
I had a really , really bad flare-up . This consisted of everything my throat was swollen , I couldn't really talk , I was nauseous , I had heart palpitations , I had joint pain , I had the rash . It was just literally everything to where it was so bad . I became bedridden and I couldn't move , couldn't take care of myself , nothing . It was so bad .
Then , two years later after that , after going through the whole journey , being on different medications and fusions and just trying to really figure out what's going on 2018 , two years later after that , I officially got diagnosed with RA and Stills disease .
Oh wow , how did you even begin to wrap your head around that ?
It was a lot . It was literally a lot . I don't know if you can hear my voice . This is a very emotional topic for me . I think when everybody goes through something like that , to where you get to be bedridden , it's very overwhelming . This journey is still going . It's a lot .
At the moment when I was going through it , I really thought I was just allergic . I thought it was allergic reaction to something . I thought it was something that's going to just okay , I'm very sick , but it's going to go away .
I think this was going to end up being a lifelong chronic condition , even with me knowing that my mom she educated me about the five years old situation where I was diagnosed with JR RA . I guess , since years went by , we haven't really jumped back on the topic or anything like that , because I was fine . I guess .
She left it alone and was like you know what I'm not going to bring it up again because she's been fine . When that flare-up in 2016 happened that's when it was like everything was just revisiting she was like yeah , well , when you was five years old , I told you .
Then , when I started researching , I was just like okay , this actually makes a little bit more sense .
Yeah , absolutely Okay . You had the original diagnosis at five , but a lot of parents left it alone . You seemed like you were doing fine at the time when you had the big flare-up . How old did you say you were again ?
I was 22 , and now I'm 28 years old .
Oh my gosh , Okay , To be barely out of high school ? I mean your whole future ahead of you , that's just got to be so . Oh my gosh , my mind just went blank . I have a word there , oh my gosh . The opposite of encouraging . Oh my goodness , hello . Sorry about my brain today . No , it's okay . How about discouraging is the word ?
That had to be so discouraging at the age of 22 .
Your life is just getting going .
Yeah , definitely , definitely .
Yeah , I don't know about you , but I think a lot of us growing up . When we hear arthritis , it doesn't even matter what kind of arthritis , we just hear that word and we automatically just think , oh , they're a little stiff and sore and that's about it .
You don't think about the other things that are going to come along with it or the fact that it's going to be this lifelong , never ending battle . Your life is forever changed .
Correct . Yeah , you're definitely right . This is why I was so shocked . But then I really wasn't , because I knew of the past . But then , as I started researching , I was like , wow , I literally changed my life . I really give it to those who have any chronic condition . It is a struggle . It is a struggle .
We are so strong , going through this every single day .
Absolutely Okay . You mentioned Stills disease . I don't really personally know much about it , but how did that come about ? What did you start noticing ?
Stills disease is another form of arthritis . From what I've researched and what I've known , it's a rare condition . To what I found out , yeah , basically , ra is the arthritis form and Stills is the whole autoimmune , anti-inflammatory situation that's going on .
I feel like that's the rash and everything that I go through , like the fever and the rash and everything else , with the joint pain and the whole . That's the arthritis situation with the RA . Yeah , basically , stills is basically the same thing but it's different . That makes sense . It's very confusing because even me still looking and still learning it's rare .
I'm still learning too , about it as well right now .
I'm not going to lie . I'm asking Dr Google right now . Yes , okay , let's see . Here I'll tell you what Dr Google has for me . Yes , adult onset Stills disease , also known as systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis , is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder characterized by inflammatory polyarthritis , daily fever and a transient salmon pink macular rash .
That's a mouthful , then a bunch of weird words . I don't understand . I'm not even going to try to say those two words . It's asking like is it kind of like lupus ? Let's see . Systemic lupus and Stills disease are chronic autoimmune disorders of unknown etiology . Okay , well , that was not helpful .
Yes , it's crazy because I have not really met , really interacted with anybody who has Stills . I always come across people who have lupus or something with the chronic illness community , but I have not yet really became friends with someone who has Stills .
I'm still yearning for that because you know , I'm so not going to lie with you right now . I'm sitting here going , well , I've got this and I've got this and I've got this . And I'm like , why , why has my doctor not mentioned this ?
Right , listen , girl . It took two years . Two years and I'm still a little bit puzzled about it . I'm still kind of pushing to get like another opinion , because listen , it's always good , I mean , I know with a lot of these autoinflammatory diseases we do get low-grade fevers .
Honestly , when I get a low-grade fever , I know a flare is coming . Yes , me too . Yes , I mean swollen lymph nodes that it's talking about . Oh my gosh , don't even get me started on that one . I always have a sore throat . I'm always getting sinus infections . They want to take my tonsils out . Painful , stiff joints will duh . I mean .
You have RA also Muscle pain duh . Yeah , that's there . But what tell me about the salmon-colored rash that it's describing ?
Yeah , so it's basically a rash that happens to appear all over my body and it's a little bit raised , it's hot and it's extremely itchy , so uncomfortable . When I was admitted in the hospital like the three times I was , or maybe even more I had I was covered in it and I had to put Calamine Lotion . That did not even work . Nothing really worked .
The thing that I would say had an effect on easing the pain was the steroids which I was on prednisone . I was on a very high dosage of it and basically we all know that that suppresses the immune system . So that helped
¶ Navigating the Journey of Chronic Illness
me . But this usually happens right before I'm going to have a bad flera . But also , this journey is very confusing because I do see myself having it now as well , on just normal days , throughout the night or sometimes throughout the day . I'll have it , but it's very minimal now and maybe it's because of the medication that I'm on and going through that .
So , but yeah , it goes on my face very little bit now sometimes and it'll go on my legs sometimes , my hip , my chest , my arms very little bit now , but I still get it , Not as bad as what I used to get before , which is good , because before it was really . It was horrible , horrible .
Or is it a little bit like psoriasis kind of ?
It's not like scaly or like dry skin , it's just like a pink . It's like , you know , you get a bit by a mosquito , okay okay , and it gets a little bit raised and like you start to itch it and it's like pink and stuff . It's like that .
But there's like no Dry skin like to itch because my mom , she , has psoriasis and and to make you up , so I am definitely oh yeah , we're how it appears .
That honestly sounds a lot like more like what my daughter gets , because they've been not sure about diagnosing her with with Psoriasis , because there's so many different versions of psoriasis and eczema and all the different skin things I mean there's so many .
But that sounds more like what she gets because like , but sometimes it's not itchy , she'll get covered in it and she's like it's just annoying and I hate it . Right , not itchy right now , but sometimes it is so , oh my gosh , like all these these illnesses , they just .
I Wish we had more answers and I'm sure the brometologist and and all the other specialists do too . I just it sucks .
Yeah , it could be very difficult , especially , you know you want to be sure , so you know I can definitely imagine how the doctors are feeling when they're trying to diagnose somebody and it could be difficult . And then you know , it takes two years and or maybe longer . I can feel both of the you know , the patient and the doctor's stress of that .
It's yeah .
Well , yeah , and looking at what it's saying for the symptoms of stills , I mean it's overlapping with so many other auto inflammatory Conditions that you know you could have all of them but not have the salmon colored rash . So they might , they might not be sure . Right , I could see that . Oh yeah , I would not want their job .
Yeah , that's definitely . Um , I think that's the reason why they took so long to diagnose me too , even before , like they just didn't really know .
They kept saying , well , well , you might have this , you might have this , you might have lupus , you might have , you know , all these other things that they thought I had because of the fact that I was having one symptom and but I wasn't having the other , so , you know , they were trying to rule it out . That was like that journey .
It was great , it was so crazy .
But did you feel like they communicated pretty well with you ?
Yeah , I feel like they did . I'm happy with my rheumatologist now , um , before I was not happy with , you know , my doctors and everybody has their opinion , so I'm glad that I pushed forward to Continue to look for the right all communication amongst a doctor , especially your rheumatologist .
You know they have to be like your best friend because that's the one that you're Constantly seeing , you know , monthly or every two months or whatever , because I go to my rheumatologist a lot and At this moment now I'm grateful to have her .
She , she's great , um , but before , yeah , it was a struggle Um , I I didn't really take a liking to my previous rheumatologist or doctor , so I hear that I echo that I .
You know my first one . Oh my goodness , I could have done without him . But the second one , she's amazing . I have moved . I lived four hours away from her and I was still driving the four hours to go see her .
Yes , that's what we do .
We have to because , yeah , everybody's the same you know , yeah , and you find someone that you know really is compassionate and wants to help you , you obviously don't want to leave that person .
I mean , I guess , like , if it got expensive , like too expensive to drive , you know , I'm sure there's people that wouldn't want to do that , but I have family over there and I only have to see mine a few times a year and so to me it's like , well , you know , I can make a week out of it , go visit , you know , my , my sister-in-law and my niece and
everything and and have , you know , have a week trip and yeah , do all the things , yeah . So what is your treatment ? Treatment slash care plan . Look like right now .
Right now I am on medrawl Daily every day . I am on methotrexate once a week and I'm also on hydrochloroquine Okay , yeah , and I was on other ones on which Works for some time and then didn't . But uh , I feel , as of right now I am I guess I would not say okay but I am better , much , much better , right , because before I was hospitalized .
So you know , now it's better , but I do still feel that I am still on this journey of figuring out what is better for me and what will work for me . You know I still get we all , you know I , I can definitely know that .
You know everybody can relate with this where you're on something but you still are feeling sick and you're still going through the stuff .
You know , and I'm not , it's not gonna be perfect , but I do feel that there should I have hope , I guess , and faith that there's gonna be something else , probably , uh , another infusion that I can take or something that will just make me feel a little bit more better , because I do go through the joint pain still .
I still go through the rash is still , I still go through . You know the , the symptoms and of course , you know we're taking medication . We also do experience the side effects of that too .
But , um , my markers have been good , which is a good sign , but what with what I've been experiencing , um Before with all the other previous medication , I just feel personally that I Am not done yet . If that makes sense .
Yeah , it definitely does . And I think you know , like you said , we we're constantly on the lookout for that , that magic combination , right , and uh , it's also a kind of a . We're working with our doctor to figure out what they think would work best for us .
But we're also advocating for ourselves as well , and you know , progress is great , uh , but I'll you know , like my rheumatologist said , she's like , uh , you know you're , you're having some improvement , but I want to see better .
I think you can do better and you deserve better , and so I think a lot of us are always looking for that better , and we we realize there's not going to be . This magic Pilled is going to happen overnight . Bye , you know . At the same time , medical remission would be great , right , right yes , I totally agree , yeah .
Okay , so besides the medications , is there anything else that you do ?
Um , I like as in like For your care plan Okay um . I mean , I dance , so that helps in the physical active . You know , because they say , with us going through this , we do have to still be active . Um , you know , of course I don't diet but I do try to eat as best as I can , other fruits and vegetables , water , meditation , that helps as well .
You know , stretching here and there , and just I continue to push myself for the best . You know , I research and I'm just like you know what I have to try things you can't be scared . So I try my best to really figure out what is suitable for me , because everyone's different too 100% .
So , looking back , do you wish that there was something you would have known at the beginning ?
I would . I , in the beginning , I wish I knew to be patient , to have more faith . You know that everybody's story is totally different , that this does not define me , that I don't have to , like you know , hate myself , that there is a community out there and support out there .
You know like the help app and you know Facebook that have all these group pages . You know that there are people and I wish I knew that in the beginning . I'm not gonna lie , I really really really want to . In the beginning it was very emotionally draining and exhausting and this is like something I feel that really really changed my life .
And you know they always say the what I say with pain comes strength and I feel like you know , with me going through that , it made me stronger and sometimes we don't realize like the most emotional or traumatizing , the worst thing in life , or like the worst situation you ever go through .
You're like looking at it at the point like damn , oh my God , why is this happening to me ? Or like you're so pissed off or you're so emotionally drained . But you know afterwards you tend to realize that this really makes you strong and this makes you into who you are , but as a better person . I think it's a wonderful look out .
I look I can't even talk today . Oh my goodness , I'm so glad you're a patient person . That's a wonderful outlook . Is what I was trying to say .
Oh my goodness , All right , I'm leaving it in there because you know what people need to know that sometimes we're just a hot mess and I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a hot mess sometimes , so here we go .
Right , you're human okay , Exactly , but I love your outlook and I think it's really crucial that you know we're going to have our days right and it's okay if we mourn the life that we had . It's okay if we're angry , if we're sad , but at the same time , don't sit in it too long . I think that's my biggest worry for people is sitting in it too long .
Because I think I'm sitting in it too long , because that's my biggest regret is that I did . I had outlook that my life was over and that I was like a nine year old lady , and that's that's what I'm just not in my head .
I'm just not in , because I can definitely relate and you were . You were totally right . I , when I , when I communicate with other people and like they tell me how they feel , I just want to give them a hug because I can definitely understand and relate .
This is why I try my best , my absolute best , to be , you know , not a perfect dancer , but you know I want to be a public figure . I want to be an advocate . I want to do so much more and , like , even with going through this , I know for sure that I could share my story and I know it's .
It's going to touch so many people and that's all I want to do . I just want to , you know , that's , that's the main goal that we're trying to do . We want others to to relate , but also , like you know , we are there , we know we understand what you're going through and it's okay . It's definitely okay , you know .
This is why I provide the outlet that I do with , with dance . You know I don't want to be perfect . I don't want to be . You know , I want to be that person within , doing what I love , but , you know , showing them that you can do it , you know , and I definitely can relate , you know .
Definitely . And look at you . You're doing it , you're doing it . And people like me can log in one day and I'm having a rough day and all I have to do is see your smiling face doing one of your awesome videos and right there we're giggling and we're encouraged and we're lifted , and that's what I love about this community .
That is what we're here for , and I wish , I wish I would have had this 10 years ago .
Yeah , yeah , it was . It was a journey for me to gain the courage to actually do what I'm doing now . And even now it's I get nervous , you know , but I'm like you know what you're saying to know you have to do it .
You know , virgo , beauty is like my alter ego , just a strong aspect of me , not that just in the isn't , but I definitely we all have to push ourselves , not even just me . We all , if we , you know , believe in something . We have that vision . That vision is there for a reason .
We have this all for a reason and we can really definitely fulfill our purpose .
Absolutely , and that's actually you said the word I was going to say . You have a purpose . Each one of us have a purpose and I really strongly believe that you know we can share what it is we're passionate about and our purpose will shine .
And our purpose will be there to support others with what we're doing , and I think that's so important for all of us to just to jump in , stop being afraid and just jump in and do what you're passionate about . And stop being afraid , because we're going to encourage somebody else and somebody needs you right now and you might not know it .
So , listeners out there , listen right now , because just send an I or I'm sure you're on the same page as me . We want you to realize you can do this . Yes , definitely , because someone needs to hear your story . So , okay , I'm off my rant now .
¶ Spoonie Toolkit and Journey Advice
What is your Spoonie toolkit ? Look like .
I guess hand sanitizer definitely , because you know the germs got to go away .
Oh my meds , how does that affect your skin , though ? That's my question .
Um affect my skin . No-transcript .
So , like with the rashes and stuff , does it cause any problems or pain ?
No it hasn't Okay , good as of yet . Yeah , as of yet . No , it has not . So I haven't experienced that . But yeah , that's actually interesting . I never thought about that . I was like , huh , I had to stop .
I was like , wait , what ? Oh my gosh ? And see , the reason I'm asking is because when I first so I'm allergic to TNF inhibitors and it caused me to get postural psoriasis . And so whenever I'm super stressed or wash my hands too much or anything like , or even anything on my hands that aggravates them , they'll break out .
And so , like when the whole COVID thing happened and everyone's using sanitizer , I was all freaked out because sanitizer literally makes me feel like my skin is burning , like it's going to melt . So that's why I was asking , because I am , oh my gosh . So I have this stuff that I get from DoTERRA .
It's an essential oil company and it has some kind of essential oil combination . That is like using sanitizer , but I could use it on my skin without making it feel like it was going to melt .
Okay , wow , this is good to know . Wow , see , look example right here .
Everybody has a different story with things , see , Exactly , and there's going to be someone that's freaked out about sanitizer . Okay , enough about me , we're back to you . So , okay , I'm asking for five things , if you can think of five . So your first one is hand sanitizer .
I would say the next one will be Vaseline , because my skin is dry and I see that that just works the best . Like that or like Blistex , something that has to do with like a lotion but like no perfume and it's just like a regular kind of like coconut oil . Yeah , definitely carry my meds .
Vitamins I get nauseous a lot , so I always need like Toms or like a mint or like some type of minty gum . I cannot stay in the bus or car service or anything so long . That's been a thing when we since young I always get nauseous . I don't know if that like can relate to anybody else , like with going through chronic .
I don't know if that has to do with that , but that is definitely . And also Tylenol . It's bad , I know , but when I'm in like really bad pain I need Tylenol .
But yeah , I absolutely get that , so okay . So back to the nausea thing . So I totally silly you on that one . So I'm going to actually tell you about the thing I use . Have you ever tried ginger juice ?
No , but I actually saw them when I went food shopping .
Other than I was really contemplating on picking them up and you know what , now that you said that I'm going to get them because I saw them and I was like this is pretty interesting and I know ginger and like that that's really good for the inflammation and stomach and I actually have ginger tea too , that I drink a lot .
But , girl , definitely , yes , tell me .
Okay . So I know it's not for everyone , but I love them . I love them because , like you , I get car sick and I just get all gross and everything , but I carry them in the car .
And we actually , back in March , we went to Hawaii and while I was there , at the ABC store for anyone who's ever been is like the most amazing store , everything's cheap I saw all kinds of fun flavors I'd never tried before , and so I came home with like a mango one and some other fun flavors . But , oh my gosh , get the flavors .
I mean , unless you like regular ginger by itself , which is fine , but the flavors are fun . So if you can find like an orange or a mango I think there's even apple or something definitely go with that , okay .
Yeah , I'm definitely going to get that , because I saw and they did have other flavors they had like ginger , lemon , and then they had like ginger , something else , and I was like , oh , this is interesting . I was there looking and I was like , hmm , but what if I don't like it ? I was like , all right , next time .
But definitely you said that yeah , I'm going to pick it up and I'll let you know how it tastes .
And usually they're really cheap . So you know , I don't know what kind of grocery store you have nearby , but usually a regular grocery store you can find them super cheap . Yeah , it's maybe three or four bucks for a bag and honestly I don't have to use them too often , so I think a bag lasts me a few months .
Oh yeah , yeah , so , and I like to suck on them . I mean , I know the people who want them , but I've put their hands suck on them because if I'm going to car or something . It makes me think too , when I start feeling gross .
Yeah , I really don't like it . For some reason , I don't know why , but when I go on a bus or car service or even the train , sometimes , if I'm on it like for a very long time , more than like 30 minutes I start to like I have to fall asleep in the car or the bus or something in order for me to like , just ignore it .
It's probably like the motion sickness . I'm probably just extremely sensitive to it .
Dang , now you're in New York , right . Yeah , oh yeah , so you probably have some quite lengthy travel , right .
Yeah , sometimes , yeah , it could be an hour , depending on where you're going , you know , and yeah , I feel like too . It happens when the train is very wobbly and if it's going really like fast . Sometimes that happens . Mostly I just like to take the train , even , you know , I know some people may know like , oh , in New York train , yeah , I'd love to .
I feel like when you live somewhere you're annoyed , but then when you move somewhere else and then like it's , it's a total different atmosphere , it's different .
Yeah , and you see , you know , I live on the west coast so I've never experienced anything like that , but when we move we live over near the ocean .
Now I'm kind of in between Seattle and Portland and I found out that there's a train where you can get it for like I don't know 40 bucks and take take a trip up to Seattle if I want to and I mean I haven't been there forever and I don't know if I really want to , but I used to love to go with the kids , because we have three kids and and so
whenever little we love to do that . And so my husband , I was like no , that would be kind of fun , maybe we need to take a train ride .
Well then my son , who lives over in Oregon a couple hours south of us , he was like oh yeah , I found I can take a train and go back to the other side of the state for to visit the rest of the family and it's super cheap . And he's like I kind of want to do that .
It's cheaper than gas and I want to try the train and it's a good experience too .
Listen to the open to that .
But , girl , that sounds beautiful that you live next to the water yeah , I'm actually only an hour from Astoria , nice , so Goonies vibes over there . All right , I feel like I could go down all these rabbit trails so easy .
You've got to keep me like on on top of things , because I think I've only made it through four questions .
All right . So tips and encouragement what kind of advice , or even mindset tips , would you want to share about your journey and what you recommend to people ?
I would say definitely keep those who are going to support you and show you love in your life . You know , sometimes friends become family and you know , you know I feel like being empathetic to people is really , it's really uh , it's , it's crucial and I feel like once you have that in your life and definitely on a journey like this , you need that .
You know , definitely , be yourself , be true to yourself . Um , be very patient . You have to always
¶ Mental Health and Overcoming Challenges
remind yourself . You know mental health is important and I think sometimes we all get lost in the , you know , aspect of like worrying about . You know , comparison comparison is is the worst thing you can ever do .
Um , just know that you are strong , you are beautiful , just the way you are , and you can definitely overcome the hurdles that are coming into your life . You know , in life you have the bad and the good . We cannot just have good .
You know we're gonna have both and I think sometimes we have to learn to just , you know , tell , tell ourselves that everything's gonna be okay . Sometimes , you know , things happen for a reason . Everything happens for a reason and it's not because you're a bad person or you know you deserve to go through something that's going on right now or went on before .
That you know you did not like , you know , and I tend , listen , I , I had to learn that for myself too .
You know this is I give advice based on my experience that I went through too , so I can definitely relate that I've been there where , you know , I was so down the thumb's , like but , and then I ended up like , listen , why am I doing this to myself ? It's only making things worse .
You tend to realize , you know , but I like to definitely give people that advice now so they don't even have to like get to that point , because it can be definitely , you know , exhausting a dream . So , but yeah , always be yourself be true to yourself .
You've got this and you know , with , with strength , you know , I mean with pain comes strength , and I think we all have to just remind ourselves here and there definitely .
I think that's something really important for everyone to remember and you know , as much as what we're going through sucks , it's making us who we are and I think , as much as I hate it , I wouldn't change the thing . I wouldn't change anything because it's made me the more compassionate person that I am and I love myself better for it yes , I can't .
I can't agree anymore like yes , girl , it's , it's . It's crazy how life works , isn't it ?
it is crazy because don't get me wrong , I don't know about you , but on a really bad like pity party day , I'm like , why me ? Yeah , but the rest of time I'm like , no , it's me who I am and I'm better for others . I'm better for serving others because of what I've gone through right , right .
Yes , I totally a thousand percent agree so okay .
So staying positive . How do you maintain a positive outlook despite your challenges ?
so I , you know , have the people who support me , you know who are friends and who became family , which I . I love you guys so much . Um , you know how my fiance he's been there to support me since the beginning of this , like you know . And affirmations , meditation , positive energy , just constant reminder .
I noticed for me that that's what helps me , you know , and reminding yourself you're why , you know , I like to write down why I do things and why I mean so much to me , and a lot of books that come around the whole mental health aspect too , that will help , and I feel like once you uh tend to see what's bothering you and like reflect on everything , you
will tend to be like , okay , this is what I have to go towards to help me . You know , I feel like you only know yourself and I know myself . So this is why I'm speaking upon , like I know me .
I need to do affirmations , I need to remind myself , I need to like go back um through my old videos and be like , just so that this is why you do what you do , look , look what you have achieved . So if that's gonna help someone else to do that , you know , in May , in May , but everyone is different and everybody's story is different .
So I would say like if affirmations gonna help , it's gonna help , if working out is gonna help , you know , a lot of things can be very therapeutic and that is definitely a part of your healing process absolutely .
Oh my gosh , I feel like I've known you forever . Same , same , some people I don't know what it is , but you just meet those people and it's like , oh , wow , it's like you're reading my brain . How do you , um , how do you strive to live your best life ?
I mean , I feel like you're telling us , but I mean , besides what you told us , I feel like I feel like , since I was young , I already knew , um , even before .
Like going through the health situation , like when it got worse in 2016 , I feel like when I was young , I knew I was gonna be something . I knew I had a story to tell , I was very determined and , uh , and I just knew and I feel like I guess now , going through this , it's clear and I feel like that's why I fight for it even more .
And you know how do I strive and keep going . I have to just be consistent . It's a fight , but I try my best to do that for myself , because I know what makes me happy and what fulfills my soul and you know , sometimes you got to do what's right for yourself .
It's , you know , it's your healing process and you have to learn what works good for you and I feel like that's what . That's the thing that helps me and keep going Seeing other people , too , like you and Danny , make it count for Danny and chronic for you , and another day we're RA and , you know , move to live and another girl that I know , rika .
They all go through the same thing and to see them . You know when you see other people go through the same thing and they're pushing and they're happy and they're healing on their journey , like it definitely inspires you too as well . So I feel like it's it's an aspect of many things that helps me continue to strive and to do what I want to do .
And you know , thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak and to give you know the world a piece of jisinda , a piece of Virgo beauty , because this has been something that I've been wanting to do forever , but I just haven't had the strength to do it . And you know , everything happens for a reason . Everything happens for a reason .
Well , I feel so honored that you wanted to be part of this , and I am just thankful that you wanted to share your voice , very thankful . So who or what lifts your spirits on your most difficult days ?
I would say my fiance and definitely my community , with my friends and people who come to my , the dance community that I provided . You know , definitely everyone who shows me love on you know , my TikTok , my Facebook , my Instagram , and it's really amazing because a lot of these people are my friends and they truly showed out .
And when I started this journey of you know the Virgo beauty , when I started taking it seriously and doing classes , they literally they've been there and it helps me a lot because of the fact that I want this so bad , you know , and when you're so passionate about something , the universe serves you with what you deserve .
And since the universe has been so , so good to me and you know everyone who is in that community , you know giving me all this love , like I just want to thank them , but also like that really helps me . It really does help you with , you know , a lot of support and that positive energy .
You just feed off of it and I feel like you know , without them , I wouldn't be who I am , I wouldn't be doing Virgo beauty , I wouldn't be the person who I'm . You know who I am every day to be doing this and just getting better and better . It's because of them .
I agree with you so much . You know we all go through a hard , hard day and I love that . On a hard , hard day , all we have to do is turn on one of our social media platforms and there's a whole community there to make us laugh , to talk with us .
You know we've I've had voice memos back and forth with people , video chats , text messages and the encouragement that everyone is willing to share . It's amazing and it is truly what helps so many of us keep going .
Yeah , and you'll be surprised too , with what people have to say to you . You know same thing with what you're saying , that you , you know , have these relationships with people like it happens , you know , like with me doing this as like a business , yeah , but I love that .
I get to actually have relationships and friendships with these people and actually communicate and relate , and you know it's amazing what you can do for an individual . You know who's going through the same thing as you or who not . You know I feel like love and spreading that and spreading that positive energy can help someone in a million of ways .
Definitely , definitely . And I think you know , yeah , even if someone has a business or a podcast or whatever it is , a foundation , those come second to the relationships right . Relationships come first because , for one thing , you can have a business without relationships right .
Because eventually people are like , well , you're not paying , you know , you don't pay attention , you don't listen to what we're saying . Eventually people kind of walk away , right right .
And I mean , unless you're like some like I feel like I'm butchering how I'm describing this but unless , like you're a famous clothing brand or makeup or something you know , if I was just a podcast , if I was not communicating with people , eventually they'd be like , yeah , you don't care about us , you say you're serving . I figure not .
¶ Being True to Yourself
Right . So this is why I definitely say , like , be true to you , you know , you , I mean , this is how I am . I'm very empathetic , like , I love to sit with people , I love to relate and I love to understand them and help them out through that journey . People , people need that , you know .
Like , you can't just like , do what you do and then be like all right , goodbye , like , and that's it . Like you know , sometimes we bring out the best in those when we relate with them , when we show that vulnerable side of us . You know what I mean and this is why I love to share my story now .
Maybe not before , but I'm learning , you know , and before I was so scared , but now it's like it's such a blessing . It was a blessing in disguise , for real . You know , sometimes we get too much in our head and we have to just be true to ourselves .
And once I learned that I was like you know what this is going to happen and I need to do this in order to help other people and it's going to help me in the long run as well .
Oh yeah , 100% . You never know how much is going to fill your own cup . Serving others will fill your cup more than doing anything else . Really , you totally agree , yes , okay . So my next question for you is can you recommend apps and it could be three , it could be however many you want , but I wrote three .
So can you recommend three accounts , articles , blogs , websites , anything like just resources that you love , that you want to share with people ?
Sure . So on Facebook there's a lot of like group pages so I type to those for my stills disease condition and for RA . So if you guys are interested , you know you can go to that . All you have to do is go on Facebook and I you go to the groups or like the search bar and you can type in any type of group that you would like to join .
There's like a whole community of people in there that you can communicate with Instagram . I talked to Danny , which is make account for Danny . She , oh my God , she's a wonderful person . God bless her beautiful soul .
She has literally helped me so much I cannot express like , and she was actually the start of the beginning of me to have confidence in myself and to speak out . She's a huge inspiration for me . So shout out to make account for Danny . She's on Instagram .
She could find her at make account , the number four , danny , and then obviously you , grace , grace Booth , dan . Thank you , I've been watching you for a minute . You know and you are . I love your soul . God bless you as well . Like what you're doing for real . You are amazing and keep doing it because you really don't know .
Listen , everybody's watching and you really don't know how many people are watching and how many people are not going to comment , but it's you know . It's worth doing what you're doing with your content because it's going to help them anyway regardless . So really keep doing what you're doing . You really don't know who you're touching . I have another person .
Her name is Allie and her Instagram is another day with RA . She's amazing as well . Yes , I speak to her two times at a time . She's amazing . I love her content . She's so freaking funny . I'm like , yes , girl , you like , oh , my God , it helps . Like , if I need to laugh , I definitely go straight to her page .
I'm like , listen , I got to have a laugh .
Oh yeah , I mean , if you want someone to inspire , you go to Danny . If you want someone to make you , laugh go to Allie . I mean in a heartbeat .
Definitely yeah . And then , lastly , there's one more Move to Live . I love her content as well , yes .
She's amazing .
Oh my gosh .
Yeah , you named all my favorites , by the way . I mean , if our listeners haven't checked them out , I will be shocked , but I'm pretty sure I follow every single one of them on TikTok as well . I'm like TikTok stupid or something . I don't enjoy it . I'm not good at it . I'm better on Instagram .
Yeah , same , I'm just getting the gist of it .
Now , like recently , yeah , I even started a MySpoonySisters TikTok and , like I said , I'm TikTok stupid , so I actually have . I don't know if you are familiar with Linnea , but she's been a guest on here before too and she's one of our Spoonie sisters . She is helping me with the Spoonie sister TikTok because she's good .
She's good . Good that you have that support . Yeah absolutely .
I mean , it's so much fun and I love pulling people in and sharing their talents , because I mean , myspoonysisters is not about me , it's about our entire community , and so if anyone ever wants to have a written something on the blog , let me know . If you want to be a guest , reach out to me .
If you would like to participate in it , one of our Spoon Tosses do that too , because , like , this is not about just me , it's about all of us . Yes , girl , good , everybody get in on it Listen yes , yeah , and I'm telling you right now , just in that I'm getting you in on a Spoon Toss like ASAP .
Yeah , I saw it when , right before I got on this , I saw that you posted .
What .
Yeah , there's you . Hello you there . Oh , I'm so sorry , I don't even know what happened with my head . I'm like , what's going on ? Um , I'm just going to continue talking . Okay , I can hear you . Um , so , yeah , right before I joined this like coming into the talk I was I saw that you posted something about spoon .
I was like , oh , let me save it because I'm going to look at what this is later on . I'm interested . But definitely , yeah , listen , if you need me for anything , let me know . Oh , yeah , definitely I'm here to you know , support , I'll be more than happy girl . I love what you do . I definitely support it and everyone guys who are listening , follow her .
Get into her . She's amazing , amazing . Comment show love . We need to all show love . That is what we need to do . We need more of that .
Absolutely 100% . I definitely agree . I mean not about me , but I mean about the support About each other . Yes , but I mean . Yeah , I mean , if people want to join into my goofy stuff , reach out to me . If you want some happy mail or some stickers , reach out to me . Um , I got some freebies plus .
I also have an SC where I sell some of the stickers too .
Yes , I saw .
Yeah , yeah , okay . Enough about me . We keep going back to that . We are not talking about me , we are talking about you , okay . So is there any last bit of advice that you would like to give to your fellow family sisters ? They're going through something similar .
I would say be patient . You are special , but not special in a bad way . You know , special in a good way . You have a story to tell and , as scary , as nervous as you may feel , and you know , share it and it could be the best thing you ever did in your life , meaning you're going to help other people .
You know , and just be yourself , be true to yourself , be patient , always , always . Self love Like that is very important , like I would everything . Basically what I was saying before , you know it really comes back to that and I learned that you really have to value every downfall you're going through , but also every blessing that you're going through .
Everything happens for a reason and I feel the more time that you spend in the dumps because you know we all been there and I'm not saying like I'm perfect and like when I go through the downfalls and I'm like all right , I'm picking myself up easily no , it's , it's not , it's not easy .
I , I went through it , I'm , you know , we all go through it , but I feel like there's a like what you were saying before , that there's a time to like snap out of it and be like all right , let me keep moving forward , you know .
So just always remember that when you get in your dumps , like , do something that will make your soul fulfilled , whether it's healing and affirmations , or you have to do some self-love , talk and read a book and watch something that makes you happy and like , even if you have to cry and let it out , that is also a form of healing girl .
So my beauty is definitely do that , like , do that because it's going to help , but definitely be you , be true to you , share your story and you got this . We all got this .
Yes , yes , yes , yes , yes . I could not agree with you anymore . I just couldn't the emoji clapping hands . I know , I know I'm like woohoo , I love it . Okay , is there anything that you can think of that we have not had you share about ? Is there anything at all that you feel is important ?
I think you actually covered everything . I have everything here and I'm like okay , we kind of went through all of it . The only thing was like where to find me on social media and that's really it Everything we like I checked out , like , yeah , we did everything Okay .
So hard because , you know , we try to keep the podcast episodes from being too long , but I just feel like so many people have so much to share , right , and that's why , honestly , I end up bringing people back on multiple times , because either people want updates , or maybe we just want to talk more about other topics , or I don't know .
Oh , I mean , yeah , I mean in the future . If you would like to have me again , just definitely let me know . To let you know I have a I'm supposed to have like a video interview going on with like some type of organization . We could talk you know further about this and other time , but that's supposed to happen .
So I mean that's related to like the chronic condition too . So if you would like to do like update within months from now or something definitely , definitely hit me up . Like I'm definitely here if you need you know anything , absolutely .
Yeah , yeah , absolutely . And I know that people like to hear updates , and you know , and they also just love to hear more . So , right , right , and I could talk . Yes , I think we both can . Okay , so where can people find and follow you ?
Okay , so on Instagram , my Instagram handle is Virgo Beauty XO , and all of that is together . You can also find me on TikTok at Virgo Beauty XO , and that's together as well . You can find me on Facebook and YouTube at Virgo Beauty , so Virgo Space Beauty , okay .
And then I have my website where you can go to wwwdancewithvirgocom , and I also have an Instagram that is my business for Dance with Virgo as well , so you can go to Instagram and you can type in Dance with Virgo , and that's my other page too , as well .
Love it , love it , and I'll definitely have you send me over the link so I can link them in for everyone in the show notes . Oh my gosh , thank you so much for joining . This has been such a pleasure and an honor . I'm so glad you came .
Thank you , I'm so happy that you gave me this opportunity , thank you . Thank you , I'm sending you some virtual hugs .
Thank you and listeners until next time . Don't forget your spoon .