Pollyanna Penguin’s RA Blog

Please stop stealing my blog posts

This is a blog about sites that steal other people’s content to earn them a profit through rather dodgy advertising – you know the sort of thing – ‘Get a million dollars of free goods on Amazon: click here’ or ‘Lose 36lb in 3 days just by clicking this link’. They feed on the gullibility of naive people, and oddly enough, that’s not what motivates me to write and not what I want my writing used for, thank you very much. It’s not that I think many people are actually reading my content on these sites but that’s not the point!

One such example appears to be Health and Fitness Recipes .com* – I’m not writing it out as a proper web address because the last thing I want is a link to the site! However, I’m publishing these here to see if they automatically scrape this one too. Then if anyone reads it there they will know what’s going on!

I’m not sure what triggers the site to be scraped – perhaps some keywords like medical, doctor, health, fitness, RA, rheumatoid arthritis, surgery, GP … who knows. There’s a tasty little smorgasbord of keywords for you though, if you want to steal this one, guys.  Continue Reading Please stop stealing my blog posts…

Quick update

On the bright, Pollyanna side, I managed to have an enjoyable, if sedentary, weekend! I did pretty much nothing but rest – rest and read books, rest on a chaise longue in the sunshine, rest and chat to my mum, rest and watch telly, rest and do some drawing and painting, rest and do some embroidery … SLEEEEEEEEEEP! Hubby was marvelous and did … well, everything else really!! And yes, my knee is very much better! The steroids (and rest) definitely helped.

Continue Reading Quick update…

‘That went better than I expected!’

The above is one of hubby’s favourite phrases, and one of the first things that alerted me to the fact that he’s not a natural optimist, but today I found myself saying the same thing.

I realised this morning that there was no putting it off – I’ve been flaring for the last three or four days and I had to see the GP. If you read this blog much you’ll know how much fun that can be and why I was putting it off! After a few days of resting as much as possible, alternating painkillers, putting on compresses, rubbing in gel, bathing and, ultimately, realising I’d been overdosing slightly on the ibruprofen by mistake, the time had come!

Continue Reading ‘That went better than I expected!’…

Thank you Healthline!

I’m chuffed to bits to once again have been listed as one of Healthline’s RA blogs of the year, even though as ever I haven’t posted very much. I’m actually having another knee flare today (with various other painful bits but that’s the worst bit as usual) so it’s nice to have something to celebrate a little bit too! Continue Reading Thank you Healthline!…

Sleep and sleep study update

Well I’m at day 22 (I think) of the 30-day sleep study. It’s been interesting for me to monitor my sleep and I do hope I get to see a week’s worth of data from the fit-bit equivalent thingy I’m wearing, as the study coordinator mentioned this should be possible. At the moment I’m monitoring how I THINK I slept each night and also how I feel each morning and evening. What I’m intrigued to know is if I did sleep how I think I slept. Continue Reading Sleep and sleep study update…

Great Blogs I have Read this Week

It’s the final day of the 3rd Annual RA Blog Week – thank you Rick for getting me posting again – I wish you had time to do this monthly throughout the year so that I’d get blogging more! Today the prompt is to discuss great blogs I’ve read this week.

I have read a LOT of great blogs this week, some from old friends like Cathy and Rick, some from people I hadn’t come across before and some from new bloggers. Way, waaaay too many to mention but here are a few that stood out for me.

On mental health day, Cathy posted a lovely, thought provoking and positive blog. It was also great to read Steph’s blog from The Young Face of Arthritis – especially ‘Don’t. So true. (What am I on about? Go read it!) Some people are going through hell at the moment and still have found the strength to comment on mental health. The one that stood out here for me is from Unexpected Advocate – the says ‘Answers? Hell no!’ But then she gives a pretty good answer at the end I reckon: “I only have one life to live. I will not miss it because I am bitter or angry.” Go girl!

Then we had tips and tricks – I’m sure there are loads and loads of fine ones out there, but I haven’t had time to read them all yet, except for Leigh’s. Unlike any of my posts ever, this is short, sharp and to the point – taking in the big picture very nicely.

Then we had Partners. Many, many of us are so darned lucky with our partners, most certainly including me! Leigh, aka Phat50Chick, is one of those, and Cathy and Rick again, and also Lori, the Chicken Whisperer! And then, something completely different! Lene’s best friend is … her body! A fascinating, super-positive read!

And finally … hobbies. It’s sad to hear how many people find their hobbies harder, such as Leigh, who’s had a really rough time of it this year. But she’ll persevere, I’m sure, as have PsA Mermaid with her beading, and Aimee over on Capture, Craft, Cook, who sounds a bit like me (a little over-hobbied but loving it).  I also enjoyed Rick’s very entertaining post on inheriting his father’s collecting bug!

I’ve read so many along the way but failed to make notes or be in any way organised, so those who I haven’t mentioned – you still wrote great blogs!! Thanks to everyone who participated in RA blog week and special thanks to Rick for organising it. I’ve had a blast and hope you’ve all enjoyed it as much as I have.