The Health Hunt: Real Healing Journeys, Everyday Wellness & Expert Tips

Ep 13 - Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis: When a Diagnosis Stops You Cold with Debbie Roppo

• Sandi Magder and Daniel Schuman • Episode 13

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Receiving a Rheumatoid Arthritis or other chronic illness or life-alterning diagnosis can feel shocking and overwhelming. In this episode, we discuss the aftermath of a scary diagnosis and what that moment of truth feels like for many patients.

What does it feels like to hear “This Is Forever" from a doctor? 

In this powerful first conversation with our guest, Debbie Roppo, a board-certified health and wellness coach and the founder of The Inner Empire™, we sit in one of the most disorienting moments many people will ever experience: receiving a life-changing diagnosis.

This is part 1 of a 3-episode series with Debbie.

In this episode, Sandi and Dan talk openly with Debbie about what it actually feels like to be told you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the shock, the fear, the disbelief, and the pressure to immediately accept a future you didn’t choose. Rather than rushing to solutions, we slow down and explore the emotional reality of that moment.

Debbie shares her personal story of waking up in severe pain, recognizing something was wrong, and ultimately being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis while working in an orthopedic medical office. She describes how hearing “this is forever” felt like a punch to the stomach and how that experience shaped everything that came after.

We also discuss:

  • The emotional impact of receiving a chronic illness diagnosis
  • The difference between osteoarthritis vs rheumatoid arthritis
  • How chronic pain can be isolating and misunderstood
  • Why many people feel pressured to “just do what the doctor says”
  • The importance of choosing carefully who you share your diagnosis with
  • The reality that chronic illness is often an invisible struggle
  • Why being your own health advocate matters
  • How the U.S. excels in acute care but struggles with chronic care
  • Why a diagnosis does not have to be the end of your story

This episode is Part 1 of a three-part conversation with Debbie.  In Part 2, she will walk us through what happened next, the choices she made, the questions she asked, and how she began to chart her own path toward healing.

If you or someone you love lives with chronic pain, autoimmune disease, or has recently received a diagnosis, this episode is for you. You are not alone.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode

  • Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis
  • Living with chronic pain
  • Autoimmune disease diagnosis
  • Emotional impact of diagnosis
  • Chronic illness and mental health
  • Doctor-patient communication
  • Rheumatology experience
  • Being your own health advocate
  • Functional medicine vs traditional medicine
  • Invisible illness
  • Chronic illness isolation
  • Mind-body connection to pain
  • Navigating a new diagnosis
  • Health coaching and chronic illness

🔗 Connect with Debbie Roppo

Text us your thoughts, questions, or takeaways. We read every message.

All views, opinions, and commentary expressed on The Health Hunt Podcast are solely those of the hosts. They are shared in a personal capacity and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of any current or former employer, including any organizations with which the hosts may be professionally affiliated.

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Receiving a Life-Changing Diagnosis

Sandi Magder

Hi friends, welcome back to the Health Hunt Podcast. A human, humble, and humorous exploration of how to level up your health. Today's conversation centers on a moment many people know intimate. That moment when you receive a diagnosis that stops you in your tracks. The fear, the disbelief, the pressure to immediately accept what you're told that your future will look like. In this episode, we talk about what that moment actually feels like and why diagnosis doesn't have to be the end of the story. If you've ever found yourself thinking, I don't know what to do next, this conversation is for you.

Introducing Health Coach Debbie Roppo

Sandi Magder

I am very excited about this episode, in part because we have our first guest. So that's exciting. And, you know, we're gonna have lots of great guests going forward. But this one is very meaningful to me. And, you know, when you do a podcast, it's exciting because, you know, you get to talk to interesting people, you learn a lot from them. And sometimes when you're lucky enough to have awesome humans as friends who also have a lot of knowledge, you get to bring them on as your guest. And so our first guest today is Debbie Rope. And I know both Dan and I are really honored to have her on here, and she's just a wealth of information. And this matters to me personally because we met years ago through a women's networking group. And you'll get to hear her story, and I think you'll understand why her and I have connected so deeply. But again, she's a friend, she's an amazing human. And even more than that, and for the purpose of this podcast, she is an expert. She is a double board certified health and wellness coach, and she is a wealth of information and a ball of energy. And I'm just excited to sort of get to introduce her to our community. So that's a little bit of the backstory. So I'm gonna kind of let uh Debbie take it away, but I want to first discuss what life

Life Before Health Coaching (Debbie 1.0)

Sandi Magder

was like for you before you got into the health coaching work. You know, like what was maybe like Debbie 1.0 like?

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. Uh well, thank you, Sandy and Dan, for having me. I am so honored to be in the space. Uh wow, Debbie 101. Well, that was a scary place to be. Way back before I went got into health. I uh I'm just gonna share deep here. I want people to know that you can come from a dark place and end up in an incredible place. When I left my house at 18 years old, I was an alcoholic, I was into drugs, and I hated myself. I had an internal dialogue that was so brutal. And that's where uh I started, right? That was my beginning point of uh my journey, and it was dark and it was ugly, and um, that's where that's where I that was Debbie 1.0. That's where I started from a dark, dark, dark place.

Sandi Magder

And I think that's helpful for people to hear. Like I know a little bit about that, but I I don't know if I've ever heard you explain it that way. And so as we get into your story and where you are now, you know, anyone who's struggling, they're gonna really connect with that. And it gives them like a light at the end of the tunnel, or even just a light and a tunnel to see. So I appreciate you sharing that. I I know it's you know, it goes back a long way and certainly come a long way, but it's an important starting point. So I guess from there then, how did you get into health coaching?

Sudden Onset of Symptoms & Self-Diagnosis

Debbie Roppo

Yep. Uh, that was like I said, when I was 18 years old. When I was about 40, um, I was an x-ray tech and running an orthopedic surgeon's office as the office coordinator. And I woke up one morning, and I know that this is different for everyone. Everyone starts with a bunch of symptoms, not me. Actually, I think I might have had some symptoms, but I was so good at ignoring and suppressing my life that I didn't really, I don't really remember having them much. But I woke up and I was hurting. I went to grab my blanket to take it off of me and my I couldn't. It would just hurt too much. I couldn't have put my feet on the ground that day I crawled to the bathroom because my feet were swollen. My my knuckles were swollen. And because I was an x-ray tech uh working at an orthopedic surgeon's office, I diagnosed myself and I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. And that is the beginning of how I started into health coaching, how I moved from where I was to where I am today.

Sandi Magder

And so I think, you know, and I I appreciate you sharing that. And what you described, I, you know, people who have listened to this podcast and especially the episode where I talk about my journey will now know why Debbie and I share such a strong connection because there is that moment where you, and it was similar for me. I had one or two joints that started first, but then there was a day that I woke up and literally I couldn't get out of bed. I had to call my mom. I didn't know, I didn't know it was like the most bizarre thing. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know what it was back then, but it's a scary thing. And so part of what I really want to talk to you about is that moment, that moment of the diagnosis. I know that you, because you were in the medical field, you kind of had an idea, but when you actually hear the diagnosis, and I've talked about, you know, when you rheumatology and rheumatoid arthritis, you're kind of told, this is it, you have this. And I would love to hear you share about what

Hearing “You Have Rheumatoid Arthritis”

Sandi Magder

that was like, what it felt like, and sort of how you moved through it.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. Uh when he said the words, it felt like someone punched me in my stomach. It literally took my breath away. Because even though I was like, oh, that's probably what it is, when it was, that's what it is. This is your blood work. We've tested, this is what you have. Flashes of all of these people, mostly women, that I had x-rayed with this disease, just start popping through my head. I saw their joints, I knew their story. I did this year after year after year. I work with these women. So was fear. Really a lot of fear. I was in my 40s. I have two children. I I just couldn't believe that this was happening to me. And uh, I think that's really was my first just fear and kind of you just want to just hide. I wanted to just, I wanted to go drink, I wanted to suppress, I want to do everything I could so that I didn't have to experience what I was experiencing.

Sandi Magder

Yeah. That's was my first reaction. I think what you're explaining too is probably something a lot of people go through. It's almost like, you know, you've heard about these things, let's say you someone's told they have cancer, right? You hear about it from other people, but you don't think about yourself that way. And it's almost like watching a movie of yourself and experiencing as if it's not you, it's someone else. And I think that's why you kind of want to stick your head in the sand because it's easier to not have to make the real association when you first hear that. And again, it's so I'm curious to know what you and I I've talked about, you know, my, and this is because it's 30 plus years, what my experience was with doctors. And I'm curious to know what your experience was. Was it explained to you, or maybe because like you were in the medical profession, they didn't bother. Like what I what was the bedside manner and and how was it presented to you? Because I think that's very, very important.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. It was, you know, when I think back on that, it it kind of pisses me off. I got to be honest with you. Because it was, this is what you have. It's for the rest of your life. There's nothing you can really do about it. Here's the medication we're gonna put you on. You'll be on this for the rest of your life. Have a good day. That's pretty much what I experienced.

Sandi Magder

Yeah. It's similar for me too. And that's so that like it's upsetting that that's sort of the and it like 20 years later from when I was diagnosed, but that was the similar experience I had.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. And then, of

Questioning Traditional Medicine & Doing Her Own Research

Debbie Roppo

course, I go home, I start doing research, I start learning some different things, I start exploring. I go back and I ask questions. And and I'm not saying that every doctor's like this, I'm just telling you my personal experience, my journey, the irritation. He was irritated that I was asking questions. Well, boy, you know, I started researching and I learned about this functional medicine, and I understand that they're doing different things in different countries. And um, I don't want to go on medication. I'm thinking about doing it in a more natural way. Fine. I'll see you in five years and you'll be in a wheelchair. Uh that's the experience I had. And exactly what he said.

Dan Schuman

Yeah, those that's the deepest, darkest part of traditional medicine is just um they only know what they know. And there's no thinking outside the box. And um go ahead, but it's just it's just sad to hear that.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah, and and he and bless his heart, and you know, I he was offended by my questions. He was offended that I was pushing against what his what he said I should do. And I'm a bit of

The Buffalo Analogy: Facing Chronic Illness Head-On

Debbie Roppo

a bull. Like I I like to call myself a buffalo, right? So you know how the story of the buffalo, when there's a storm coming, the buffalo is not an animal that runs from it. It puts its head down and it runs straight for the storm. So that when when I got that diagnosis, the first thing I said was fear, that's where I got it. Fear and I want to run and I want to hide. That was my initial reaction. That very quickly changed for me. It especially when I started to do the research and I found out, wait a minute, we're 27th in chronic care at the time. I mean in the in the US, right? Yeah. Yeah, in the US. In the US, our acute care, we're badasses. You know, you can break your arm, you have a heart attack, you want to be in the United States. But we rank about 27th in chronic care. So I was like, wait a second. What are the other 26 countries doing with chronic care? And when I started to do that research, I I I I knew without a shadow of a doubt, I was gonna put my head down and I was going that way. That was it. I had I made the decision, and and that's where I went. That's the exact path I took.

Sandi Magder

Yes, yeah, that's why we connect. But I guess I'm wondering too, if you can share with people how did you what so what was the process in the in terms of the time frame, right? So you get this diagnosis and you're shocked at first and you go through all of the emotions. Did you first, first of all, have any kind of like grieving period where you just sort of sat and absorbed it?

Processing a Chronic Illness Diagnosis: Fear, Grief, and Resolve

Sandi Magder

Yeah.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. Uh it would it was a pretty short period of time for me, but I feel like it should be whatever it is for whatever you're comfortable with and what's best for you. I am a solution-based person. It's just my mindset. My I was raised that way. That was my dad. My dad never hired anyone for anything in his, you know, growing up. It was always, he just figured it out. That's just who he was. And he always kind of instilled that in us. And so as soon as, to be quite honest with you, when the doctor said, fine, five years, I was that's really kind of triggered me. It kind of lit a fire in me, like, excuse me, excuse me, maybe some people. You don't know me, you don't know what my heart is, you don't know my passion. And um, so it was a pretty short period of time, within really days, uh, that I said, no, it's not what I'm doing. And and I really just buffaloed straight forward. I'm gonna figure this out. What do I gotta do?

Sandi Magder

I love the buffalo analogy. I don't think I knew that about buffaloes, but now I can't like unknow it. So that's I love that about them. But I get it too, because I'm like that too. And I joke, like nobody's the boss of me. And so if somebody tells me something, I probably want to prove them wrong. Now, I think I don't remember it was different when I was younger and I got my diagnosis because I was in such bad shape. And again, we didn't have internet. We have you couldn't look stuff up. But I feel like and with anybody, and this is just like a words of wisdom, you have to have grace for yourself. And I think also you have, you know, when you start telling people about these things, you have to choose wisely who you speak to because everybody's going to immediately have advice. And I don't think that that's inherently helpful. So this is, I'm also speaking to the people that if somebody gives you information about a diagnosis that they received, you have to really think about and maybe first of all, ask them what they want. Because again, unless somebody comes to me and tells me about arthritis and I can talk about my experience or they want to hear about it, there's not a lot of advice that a person who's not a doctor or doesn't experience that can really add value. And I think it can overwhelm people. It can make them feel like they have to act quicker than they're ready to. So I just think that that's something to kind of be mindful of. You don't have to tell everybody and and you know, you can take time to find the words and talk to the people that you know will just be supportive. And, you know, if you know that that's what you need, if if you're able to vocalize that, I think that can be helpful too. But that that's a tricky situation because I know in my case, everybody wanted to help. And and then there's I a feeling of guilt when they're not helping and you're not getting better and all of these things. So I think managing your people can be almost as difficult as just dealing with the diagnosis in a vacuum.

Debbie Roppo

I haven't really thought about that piece, and I'm so glad you brought that up because boy, oh boy, when I told the people around me that I was this was my diagnosis and I'm not going to go on medication, you would have thought I just said I was, you know, gonna blow up the world. Uh they were so strongly against it. And everybody around me um really wanted to push me to do just do what the doctors say, just do what they say. Your joints are gonna do this, this is gonna happen. And I worked in an orthopedic practice, right? So I was working with doctors and I had nurses around me, and they were just couldn't believe that that was my decision. Um, so boy, what you said was so valuable there. Really make sure you know who you want to talk to about your decision and and what you're going to do. I think that's actually critical. Uh fortunately, again, when people were saying, uh, well, that's not a good decision, Debbie. It's not gonna happen. I'm just like, watch, mate. So I think it was part a good thing for me. Yeah. Yeah. But Dan, I'm curious to see what you have to say.

Dan Schuman

Yeah. Um, so

Living with Chronic Pain & Invisible Illness

Dan Schuman

I was not very aware of rheumatoid arthritis much at all until the recent years. Certainly, some people in my life introduced it to me, discussed it more, and obviously Sandy and Debbie were talking about it today. I don't have anyone um in my close family that had it, and obviously um, I um don't experience those symptoms, but I feel from people that don't get it and don't understand it and aren't um associated with it, it's this kind of quiet battle that no one appreciates. Um, that people are functioning in life, but they're they're experiencing pain, and people that are just living not like taking this all for granted don't really appreciate that these people have this disease or these ailments. I think also, speaking from my personal and then also just generally from you know, maybe I'm projecting a little bit, but I feel like people associate rheumatoid arthritis with just having typical arthritis. Oh, yeah. There's no difference differentiation from it. And so differentiation, excuse me. Wow. That's uh saying that's a that's a lot of sorts. It might be a t-shirt. You would have to define that because it's not a medical term, so we're we're good. Um I certainly can't say it, but um, they don't differentiate that. And so there's a big misconception there. And then I think they also think, and because I probably did at some point as well, that it's a disease for old people. Yeah, old people don't. And so I was wanting to get both of your perspectives on just all of these kind of ideas and notions that people that aren't you know associated with it have.

Sandi Magder

I can tell you, and I think you know this from when we even decided to do this podcast. This message about chronic pain and chronic symptoms is very important to me because I know how isolating it can be. I have I've had pain every day for 30 years. Some days it's worse, some days it's manageable, but it's there. If I go to open something, even a door sometimes, it's difficult. And so I don't talk about it every day. I can't say ow every time I touch something. So it becomes something that I manage on my own. And some, there's some people that probably do say ow and they want the attention, maybe. But for most people, it's not something you're gonna complain about or talk about on a regular basis. And so it's very isolating. And I've talked about too, I think, in the episode where I sort of described all of this. For me, it's held me back because I'm always afraid that if I go somewhere, I'm gonna be tired or I'm gonna have pain, it's gonna be too much walking. So it's almost easier for me to just stay home. And I know that that's that again, also is isolating because I do want to participate in life and see friends and make plans, but it's just it's always there. And so I appreciate you asking that question. And I think Debbie can speak to this as well. But there's an element of it, and even just the figuring it out stuff, right? If you know that everyone's not sort of in the headspace to do the figuring out part of it with you, it's hard to talk about it.

How Pain Feels in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Debbie Roppo

Yeah, yeah. The first year uh was I was in terrible pain uh because I was learning, I was figuring it out. That was my year of figuring it out. And the pain is uh boy, to to describe it is it's challenging. I I know that when I was in my inflamed, you know, at that first year, if you bumped my finger that much, just that much, tears would come to my eyes. It it was it's excruciating. And I've given birth twice. So I know what excruciating natural birth. I know what it is. It was it's hard to explain how much how painful it is. It's arthritis is painful and it's a different thing than rheumatoid arthritis. Uh, and not that it can't be extremely painful as well. But one of the things about rheumatoid arthritis that I that I think's uh a powerful piece is it can really start deforming, right? With regular arthritis, you don't see the deformity as much. Yeah. Okay. I have it in my fingers and and other yeah.

Sandi Magder

Yes.

Debbie Roppo

Right. When I had an aunt, Aunt Lo who had it, and bless her heart, I think back on her in that wheelchair, and she, everything, she was so deformed. You you'll see it uh really curled up, you know, the wrist, the fingers, the feet, the knees. I can't imagine the amount of pain that she must have been in. And so I think it's important, Dan, what you said there, that it there is a difference in being diagnosed with arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and that rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that is extremely, extremely painful if it's not reverse. Or taken care of.

Dan Schuman

So I'm going to ask some more questions from the I'm learning. I really, really love this. You said that you acquired rheumatoid arthritis or you were diagnosed with it relatively quick. There was no early signs that you were aware of. Maybe there was. And most people probably have some early signs. If you would you said a blood test confirmed this. If you would have taken a blood test a year before or five years before, did it reside in your blood at that point? Will biomarkers pick it up at that point? Or was it how does it kind of just hit you?

Debbie Roppo

Yeah, yeah. So what when the blood work for me, I was uh to test if I was um genetically pre uh pre pre predisposed predisposed to it. Sorry about that. And um so I am. I have the genetic marker

Genetics, Environment & What “Triggers” Autoimmune Disease

Debbie Roppo

that you know, but this is one of my favorite statements about functional medicine. Genetics is like a bullet in a gun. Lifestyle is what pulls the trigger. So there are people that will have that uh genetic predisposition, but never actually have the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. I was living a lifestyle that absolutely fed this. It created it, it pulled the trigger. I was drinking, my stress, and which I know we'll talk about the mental piece to me was probably the biggest piece. Um, and I know people think that's crazy, but it absolutely was a huge thing for me. The way I ate, the way I treated my body, all of those things were really did pull the trigger for me.

Dan Schuman

That's a great analogy. I appreciate that.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. Yeah. And one more piece about that, because people can sometimes think that it's it's always something you do. It can be, I grew up with mold in our basement. I used to swim in creeks all the time. So there's parasites and there's things that you're doing that are happening, you have no idea. You have no idea that you're being uh exposed to certain things too. So it's not just that you're your lifestyle that you're choosing, it's the lifestyle environment that you're in as well.

Sandi Magder

Yeah. And it's it's definitely multifaceted. And I know that the rheumatology community kind of they understand once you have it, right? They understand what's happening within your body from a biological perspective, but they're still not an understanding of the causes. And so I have my own things about this based on the mind-body work that I'm doing and the neuroscience and things like that, which we'll probably be well, we can discuss it a little bit here, but that's a whole other episode in itself. But I know for me, it wasn't what I was eating at the time. I know that it was a it was a stress emotional related thing where my body was trying, my mind and body were in, you know, cahoots and it wanted to get my attention and make me stop. You know, so it's it's I don't think it's the kind of thing where it's like it's certain things you can screen for and maybe change things early. I don't necessarily think arthritis in most cases is like that. So I think Dan was maybe asking if you had caught it earlier, would that have changed anything? You might have then addressed it earlier, and we'll get into sort of what you did, but I don't know if that's if it's that sort of a thing.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah. It's interesting because I just listened

Functional Medicine vs. Traditional Medicine

Debbie Roppo

to Mark Hyman, and he was talking specifically about rheumatoid arthritis, and he says one of the things that's different about functional medicine, traditional medicine, is traditional medicine kind of thinks this is why you got this. Functional medicine is not that way. There are multiple reasons why someone might get rheumatoid arthritis. It's not one thing. It could be parasites, it could be mind-body work, it could be amoebas, it could be uh, you know, exposure to certain things. So it's, and that's for all diseases in functional medicine. We don't think of it as this does this. It's not that linear path that we think it is in traditional medicine. There's multiple reasons. You can have the same diagnosis and have a plethora of different reasons why it happened, um, which is a bit different than how traditional medicine looks.

Sandi Magder

And I got it. I think that's an in a very important point because that's how you go down the rabbit hole and that's what gives you permission to do your own research.

Debbie Roppo

Yeah.

Sandi Magder

Right. So if you see someone that says it's one thing, you know, okay, you can consider that. And I, you know, I've talked about how like medications were really problematic for me, but I don't think that's the case for everyone. For me, the side effects significantly outweighed the results I got. But if somebody had a magic pill and it had some side effects that were going to kill me, I might be interested. And I actually, uh kind of an aside, my functional medicine practitioner actually had me on a very low dose of a medication that I think is for people detoxing from methadone. But apparently it's supposed to rewire the brain for pain signals. I tried it, maybe nauseas didn't help. I don't like it, but I was open to it because I feel like if I could have some duration of time without pain, my body could then envision what it was like and get out of the neural circuits issue of like this is what life is like. We can't imagine it any other way. So, you know, we I'm not 100% against medication, but my point is that it's knowing that there are maybe potential other triggers. And I think that's what we're talking about. It's like it could be there and then there's a million different catalysts that could be a factor. You know, we want just people to have permission to go and sort of do some research and do what they need to in the acute moment if they're in excruciating pain and medications help and allow them to then take the time to go and look for other solutions, like that could be great.

Debbie Roppo

This is why I love talking with you, Sandy, and and Dan, because I I am such a strong, strong, strong advocate for bioindividuality. You know, when it comes to this is the way it's supposed to be, I don't believe that for anything. I truly don't, because one person's poison is another person's medicine, one person's medicine is another person's poison. So it's gonna be different for everybody and everyone's story and life and where they're at and and when they got diagnosed, right? Just like we were talking about earlier, you were diagnosed 30 years ago. I was diagnosed, you know, what am I almost 60 now? So 20 years ago, right? Gosh, it can't be that long. Holy cow, that's amazing. I don't think it is. I think it's more like 16 years or something, but I don't know. I don't even know. But anyways, but my point being, so even when you're diagnosed, right, there's what I what the data that I could gather as opposed to what you could gather. I was 40s, you were in your, you know, a young girl. So it's so different. And and I think that that's really important point that every the bioindividuality, it's gonna be different for everybody. What works for one person is not gonna work for someone else. People ask me this when I'm health coaching all the time. You know, what's the best medicine or what's the best, or what's the number one? What's the like I have a magic pill? I don't have any. There aren't any. It just depends. Like, I gotta know more, or I gotta have a whole more story to actually give you a piece of advice. And I think that's important because in traditional, the way we think about medicine today, I think it's very much uh, this is what it is, this is the answer, this is what it is. And it's just not reality, in my personal opinion.

Sandi Magder

Well, that's that's the holistic approach that Dan and I are very, you know, favorable towards because there's so many factors. And so, first of all, it's about managing people's expectations. Everybody would like the quick fix pill, right? But that's unfortunately, if that was in existence, we'd all be walking around in a dream. And so that would be delightful. But and it's another thing that I just wanted to quickly say is that, like, I, you know, in my episode, I've said very disfavorable things about rheumatology and the rheumatology profession, but I don't want that's just based on my experience. And I've actually recently had a conversation for somebody who is in the rheumatology field and he studied medicine in another country. And so he has a different approach. And unlike what Debbie and I experienced, he's talked to me about how he does help

Being Your Own Patient Advocate

Sandi Magder

to deal with the patients and how they're feeling, right? It's not just like this is your diagnosis. It's here's some, you know, all of the things that you kind of need to know. And also, I'm here for you if you have questions. So if, you know, you can doctor shop. I know Dan loves to doctor shop. So it's like if it you do need to have good professionals to help you along the way. And so if you talk to someone who gives you a bad vibe where you're just like, I don't connect with what they're saying, keep looking. Ask for ask people, you know, who might know, find forums, or people can recommend somebody. But I think that there are good practitioners out there. And so give yourself the time to find someone that you really can connect with and that helps you.

Debbie Roppo

I think that's a really good point because I feel the same way. It's just like a mechanic, right? I mean, not every mechanic is at the same level. There's different ones and they've practiced different things. You know, I I went to an acupuncturist who uh she had, you know, taken her class. She was doing it for a year. I also went to an acupuncturist acupuncturist who was seventh generation. Seventh generation. That's wild. So it's a different world, right? And it's the same thing with practitioners. So there's some that are going to just, they don't want to learn. They don't want to, they don't care what the new medicine is. They don't want, they don't care what what the new uh holistic ways are. And then there's some that do and are, oh wow, that's interesting. Let's learn about that. So it's not necessarily all traditional medicine. I agree with you a thousand percent. It is the individual doctor, and I think there's some incredible ones. And then I think that there are some that um that aren't.

Dan Schuman

I'm just gonna piggyback on this and zoom out a second. Just picture going to a doctor's office, traditional doctor, on their plate today is 22 patients. That's what they that's who they're how many they're seeing in that given day. And they have 15 minutes with each, and they don't know anything if they're a new patient. They don't know anything about you until they look at your chart five or 10 minutes before. You're you know, you get your vitals taken, doctor will be right with you. In that gap time is the doctor studying who you are. And they come in and they know what they know, and they could be great doctors. Um, but it's the system is not built for success. It's very difficult. So that's why Sandy says at doctor shop, I'll go see one, and I'll get a second opinion. It's already built in. I'm already doing that. And because I want different personalities. Maybe one doctor is older, one doctor is younger, they're thinking about things differently in the medical field. And then I'll go to my functional doctor and then I'll start to become my own advocate and start to cross-reference all of these ideas and come to some conclusions that are important to me, being my own advocate. And so I hope that people who are listening, that maybe now it's 10 listeners, really understand that um you gotta be your own advocate.

Sandi Magder

Yes. I just want to quickly say it's gotta be more than 10 listeners because we've actually been listened to in 13 countries. So we're global. Debbie, you're going global if you're not already.

Dan Schuman

We're gonna go.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, I just quickly want to share some statistics because Dan has asked me this on offline before in terms of arthritis. So I did some looking up because I sometimes I'm human Google or human chat GPT, but not always. So there are estimated, again, not everybody gets diagnosed. A lot of people just live their life in pain, but between 1.3 and 1.5 million adults with RA in the US. And then worldwide, it's probably closer to 18 million. And then of new cases, it's estimated to be about 230,000 per year. So that's 630 people a day that walk into a doctor's office and get a diagnosis like that and have to have that what next thought and the fear that comes along with that. And like we just said, maybe they didn't connect with their doctor or feel like they could ask more questions. So here's where I really wanted to get into, first of all, because I know the outcome. So it's, you know, I want you to walk us through what then happened and how you got to where you are today, because it's it's a great story, and I think it will be helpful for people to hear it.

What Comes After the Diagnosis...To Be Continued

Sandi Magder

Getting a diagnosis can feel like the end of the story, but it absolutely is not. In this episode, we stayed in that moment: the fear, the overwhelm, and the pressure to accept a future that hasn't even had time to breathe yet. But a diagnosis is rarely the whole story. And this is where Debbie's story really starts to turn. In the next episode, Debbie walks us through what happened after. The choices she made, the paths she questioned, and how this moment became the beginning of a completely different life than the one that she was told to expect. If you've ever wondered, okay, what now? That's where we're headed next. And if you know someone who lives with chronic pain, with a chronic illness, or who's recently received a diagnosis, please share this episode with them. It just might help them feel seen and a little less alone on their journey. Please join us next time for part two of our conversation with Debbie Rope.