How I've found a way to manage my medical condition (1 Year in Remission) So I Can Work on My Startup Again
November 04, 2025
IMPORTANT MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This
is my personal experience only and should NOT be taken as
medical advice. Do NOT stop, change, or adjust your medications
without close supervision from your rheumatologist. Autoimmune
diseases are complex, individual, and potentially dangerous if
not properly managed. What happened in my case may not apply to
yours and could be harmful. Always work with your healthcare
provider.
I developed autoimmune arthritis a few
years after graduating and starting work.
My doctor
suggested—and I believed—that my arthritis was triggered by work
stress: "Consider working less to keep your arthritis under
control."
But now I'm building a startup. I
need to work more, not less. This created a real problem.
The
bigger issue wasn't the joint deformity or pain—it was the
immunosuppressant medications. With my immune system suppressed,
I got sick easily and frequently, and recovery took longer.
Try
building a startup when you're frequently ill. Try
traveling with a weakened immune system.
Years ago,
I'd experienced an unexplained remission. My doctor checked
my bloodwork, confirmed my remission and took me off the meds.
With that in mind, I started paying closer attention to what
made my symptoms better or worse.
After a while, I
noticed something odd: working at Starbucks seemed to trigger
especially strong flares. My rheumatologist restarted my meds
immediately.
The final straw was that my renewed
medications seemed to have lost their effectiveness. My
arthritis kept flaring even as my immune system got weaker.
Running out of options and frequently unable to work, I needed
to try something different.
After some
experimentation, I discovered something surprising — my symptoms
went away once I stopped drinking coffee AND tea AND orange
juice. I also noticed that not eating acidic foods (ketchup) and
not having heartburns also improved my symptoms.
Once
I eliminated these dietary suspects, my symptoms improved
rapidly. My rheumatologist let me off the meds completely as my
blood tests showed no inflammation. I've been in remission
for a year now, with regular monitoring.
My immune
system seems to have recovered — I'm no longer getting sick
frequently. This has allowed me to work on my early-stage
startup.
Here's what I still find puzzling:
I'm now working 24/7 with considerable stress, but my
arthritis remains in remission. My doctor had originally
suggested stress was a trigger.
In my case, it seems
possible that it wasn't the stress itself, but rather the
lifestyle changes that came with transitioning from student to
professional—specifically, starting to drink coffee and tea
regularly. Of course, I can't know this for certain.
Again:
This is my individual experience with my specific case of
arthritis. Your disease is different. Your treatment should be
different. Work with your doctor.