How I Conquered Rheumatoid Arthritis – Part 5
In March 2024, I was travelling on a business trip to the United States, to New York, for an important team seminar. Despite the illness, I was throwing myself into my work, even more than before, as I had just received a long-awaited promotion and wanted to live up to this new role.
I wanted to put my health problems aside. But deep down, I knew this trip was going to be complicated, because when you travel, you control nothing: you have no kitchen, no means to cook, so every meal is eaten out.
I had brought the methotrexate with me, the immunosuppressant prescribed by my rheumatologist. I no longer had a choice: my latest blood results had not been good at all, despite all the efforts I had made with my diet in an attempt to reduce inflammation. I would understand later why those efforts had not yet paid off at that time, and I will tell you about it in the continuation of my story.
The medication was to be taken on Friday, at a reduced dose so that my body could get used to it gradually. In the meantime, I had the whole week ahead of me to manage.
I had set myself the rule of maintaining my vegan and gluten-free diet as much as possible. But the reality on the ground was a different story.
Every morning, we would leave the hotel as a group with colleagues and, naturally, everyone would stop at a café on the way for breakfast: coffee and pastries. For me, it was the same frustrating ritual every time: walk in, scan the menu, hope to find something, and leave empty-handed. For lack of anything better, I would get an almond milk latte or mocha and some fruit. Not exactly enough to get through an entire morning.
At lunch, it was the same. Colleagues would suggest a place, everyone would follow. I couldn’t see myself saying “I can’t eat like you” or asking to see the menu before agreeing; I didn’t want to be perceived as being difficult. I still tried to slip away for some meals, typing “vegan restaurant” into Google Maps in search of a healthier alternative.
One day, I walked into a restaurant that presented itself as entirely vegan. The menu offered imitations of classic dishes, but in vegan versions. I placed my order thinking I had made the right choice. I quickly regretted it. It was strange, and I felt like I was eating plastic. I couldn’t finish it.
That meal opened my eyes to something important: vegan does not always mean healthy. The concept at its core is good and beneficial for health, but it has become a marketing term used to sell anything as long as there is no animal product. Some of those plant-based imitations of classical dishes can be among the most ultra-processed foods: trans fats, additives, industrial texturants. In the end, worse for your health than many conventional dishes.
After that meal, I had an inflammatory flare-up…
And then, as often in those moments, a thought kept haunting me: why me? Why did I have to watch every bite, calculate every meal, or else suffer, when my colleagues ate whatever they wanted, without thinking, and had no problems like me (at least from what I could see)? I couldn’t understand this injustice.
I also told myself: I hadn’t even lived a completely wild life to end up here. McDonald’s wasn’t part of my routine; I wasn’t someone who constantly abused processed food. Sure, I probably didn’t eat enough fibre, but still. So why?
I know today that it is not that simple. Our body reflects far more than just our diet. Our experiences, our buried emotions, our chronic stress, our unspoken feelings- all of this contributes to creating an acidic environment in the body, one that is conducive to the development of illness. Diet is a major factor, but it is not the only one. And what does a good diet even mean? In my new career in nutrition today, I meet many people who have health problems and tell me they eat healthily. Unfortunately, when I dig deeper, I find that many think they eat healthily without that really being the case, and that was true for me too; I need to admit it.
In our time, you really have to proactively educate yourself on how to eat healthily and detoxify effectively, because it is increasingly difficult not to be exposed to stress, pollution, processed food, chemicals, heavy metals and endocrine disruptors, all of which contribute to harming our body.
Today, there are more than 100 autoimmune diseases¹. One in ten people is affected worldwide². More than 15 million Americans live with an autoimmune disease¹, and 80% of patients are women³. These figures are alarming and constantly rising, primarily in so-called developed countries. We have access to food, to water, and yet we fall ill, often because of what we eat or what we don’t eat enough of. This is one of the most painful paradoxes of our time.
That week, we had a team dinner at a restaurant with all of management. For most people, it is a pleasant moment. For me, it was an additional source of anxiety. The choice had fallen on a Mexican restaurant. I thought to myself: “No gluten, phew!” The evening went well; I ate corn tortillas and shrimp.
The next day, my knee was unrecognisable. Painful, swollen, and I was limping. I could still walk, but barely normally. I was doing everything I could so that my colleagues would not notice anything. I would later learn that corn is very often genetically modified, especially in the US, where 92% of corn acres planted use genetically engineered seeds4, and that for many people suffering from inflammatory diseases, it can trigger flare-ups.
The last thing I wanted was questions about my health. I had always been very private about my personal life, and even more so about my health. So I played my part, as if everything was fine.
It is incredible what the body can endure when it needs to. It holds on, holds on, holds on, until the first lull, and then it lets everything go, as if to remind us that we have pushed the limits too far.
That is exactly what happened on the last day of that trip to New York.
While waiting for my flight to Hong Kong in the airport lounge, I had changed into comfortable clothes and was working on my laptop. The pain in my knee was intensifying before my eyes. I prayed inwardly for it to calm down before boarding. The flight lasted 15 hours.
Once on board and seated, the pain became unbearable. Every millimetre of movement of my leg made me scream on the inside. I started to cry, first from the pain, then from rage. Rage against this illness that invited itself everywhere in my life, that prevented me from simply being myself, simply being present. I had truly had enough.
The flight attendants saw my swollen knee and, above all, my distress. They reacted immediately, called for help. I understood from their questions and their words to me that they were wondering whether these were signs of an impending pulmonary embolism, whether I needed to be removed from the flight as an emergency. And there, for the first time, I was afraid too. What if it wasn’t just a rheumatoid arthritis flare-up? What if it was something more serious? After all, I didn’t know enough about this disease and all the potential associated risks.
I managed to explain my illness to them; I told them it was probably “just” one of my inflammatory flare-ups. Finally reassured, they brought me ice. I placed the ice on my knee and fell asleep.
When I woke up, the pain had eased, but not enough to walk normally. I left the plane in a wheelchair.
Another difficult experience. I realised, once again, how deeply this illness had invaded my entire life. Even a work trip that should have been a moment of renewed motivation ended this way.
Back in Hong Kong, something had changed in me. My rheumatologist, the doctors, the internet, everyone said the same thing: rheumatoid arthritis cannot be cured. You manage it, you control it, but you don’t get rid of it.
I could not accept that. I could not accept the idea of growing old diminished, of being a burden to my husband, of not being able to be fully present for my children. That was not the future I wanted for myself and for my family.
I began to feel a deep rage to get through this, which is what my mother had taught me and shown me throughout her life. Never feel sorry for yourself and have the will to overcome. I made a decision that day: I would fight to get my health back at any cost.
Because it is often when the pain becomes stronger than the fear of change that true transformations begin. That is what happened to me.
In Part 6, I will tell you about the first changes that allowed me to begin my journey towards healing.
References
1Mayo Clinic News Network (2025) ‘New study calculates autoimmune disease prevalence in U.S.’, Mayo Clinic News Network, 6 January. Available at: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/new-study-calculates-autoimmune-disease-prevalence-in-u-s/ (Accessed: June 2026).
2 Zheng, J., Lee, Y. and Leong, P. (2024) ‘The Modern Epidemic of Autoimmunity’, International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, 27(11), e15426. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.15426. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1756-185X.15426 (Accessed: June 2026).
3Angum, F., Khan, T., Kaler, J., Siddiqui, L. and Hussain, A. (2020) ‘The Prevalence of Autoimmune Disorders in Women: A Narrative Review’, Cureus, 12(5), e8094. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8094. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7292717/ (Accessed: June 2026).
4 USDA Economic Research Service (2025) Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States: Recent Trends in GE Adoption. United States Department of Agriculture. Available at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-united-states/recent-trends-in-ge-adoption (Accessed: June 2026).