Managing Painful Symptoms, How Dancing with the Stars’ Judge Carrie Ann Inaba, 55, Is Coping With A Difficult Chronic Disease

Inaba continues to raise awareness around autoimmune disorders like Sjogren's Syndrome. In fact, the Honolulu native even does video segments in which she shares what it’s like living with an autoimmune condition and how you can navigate and manage it.

In the video tutorial shared to YouTube, Inaba talks about the things she uses to “manage my autoimmune conditions.” She continues to say, “I thought I’d share that with people at home.”

Inaba says, “a lot of you ask me about how I live and get through life.” She shares, “I have an autoimmune disease. I have Sjogren's Syndrome; I have Lupus, I have rheumatoid arthritis…One of the gifts of having these conditions is that I do not take for granted a healthy day. And that is a beautiful gift.”

Coping with a Chronic Condition

A chronic condition like Inaba’s Sjogren's Syndrome requires management and attention.

Inaba shares in her earlier video that this condition requires her to “manage dryness. It’s an auto-immune condition that affects the moisture-producing glands in the body.” She says she takes medication that helps her produce saliva. Inaba shares that she takes the medication at night and that she’ll also take it if she’s going out to dinner or is somewhere where she’ll need to speak a lot, “so my mouth doesn’t get dry.”

Inaba experienced “extreme pain” at different points due to her various conditions. Sjogren's Syndrome, explains the Mayo Clinic, is a disorder of the immune system, and its most common symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth. Typically, this condition goes alongside other immune disorders. Tennis superstar Venus Williams, 42, also has Sjogren’s Syndrome and has battled it since 2011.

People are typically diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome after the age of 40, and it is more commonly found in women. The Mayo Clinic outlines the other symptoms, which can include:

• Joint pain, swelling and stiffness
• Swollen salivary glands particularly the set located behind your jaw and in front of your ears
• Skin rashes or dry skin
• Vaginal dryness
• Persistent dry cough
• Prolonged fatigue

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Caring for Your Mental Health During Medical Challenges & Practicing Gratitude

Living in gratitude like the kind Inaba talks about in her video, and how she’s so grateful for good days is vitally important, especially while going through a health challenge like a chronic condition. It  takes effort to focus on the positives over the negatives, but the rewards can pay off big time in the form of good mental health.

If you're able to train your mind to stay grateful and positive and therapy can help you do that you'll find that it benefits your health journey. For starters, it can help you to feel better mentally. Also, some experts have found that having a positive attitude may improve prognosis in some instances.

In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, speaks to the importance of gratitude. He says, “A positive attitude is really important…My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they’re diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK.”

He continues, “Now doesn’t that mean I’m good at saying that the cancer won’t grow. But I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease.”

Dr. Murrell says his patients who exhibit gratitude weather these health storms better. He says, “And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Stay Positive, It Matters

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