AD3_AUT13_p11_Interview Martina Cole_Layout 1 12/09/2013 14:27 Page 11
digestinterview
Martina
Cole
Autumn 2013
Photo: Charlotte Murphy
MEET...
With 20 books under her belt and more to come, crime writer Martina Cole has taken
control of her rheumatoid arthritis, reports Iona Walton
M
artina Cole’s page-turning crime
novels have made her one of the
most successful British female
novelists of all time. Gritty plotlines tackle
London’s underworld and have achieved sales
of over ten million books; Martina’s twentieth
book – Revenge – looks set to storm bestseller
lists around the world this Autumn.
Less well-known is that Martina has a daily
battle with rheumatoid arthritis, triggered
when she broke her arms after falling off a
swing as a child, and diagnosed when she was
21 years old. At the time her son, Christopher,
was a baby and Martina had three jobs… and
was a long way from the comfort of the fame
she has since acquired.
“I was devastated at first,” Martina
remembers. “The pain was terrible and
throughout the years I tried everything from
vitamins and supplements to a range of
mainstream and alternative medicines.
“Over time, I have learned how to manage
my arthritis and now self-medicate, only
taking drugs when I have to. I have tried
them all but for some reason the painkiller
that best works for me is Sainsbury’s Own
Ibuprofen 400.”
Martina’s arthritis has progressed since her
early twenties; her right elbow has fused and
the arthritis moved into her left ankle and
spine, affecting her neck and shoulders.
“My right elbow is so badly bent that I have
to wear long sleeves to hide it. One consultant
suggested I had a hinge put in but I’m a
ARTHRITIS
believer in not having a general anaesthetic
unless it is absolutely essential.
“I can go for weeks when I don’t need much
medication but at other times the pain is
excruciating. Typing aggravates it, so I had a
bad attack when I finished the third rewrite of
Revenge, which involved a month of intense
work.”
“I was on holiday in
Egypt when I heard
that a former Aga
Khan found relief
from bouts of arthritis
by being buried up to
his neck in hot sand”
Like many others, Martina finds that the
weather has a big part to play in how she feels
physically.
“I was on holiday in Egypt when I heard
that a former Aga Khan found relief from
bouts of arthritis by being buried up to his
neck in hot sand,” she laughs. “It made me
realise that I too experience less pain in warm
weather – when I’m at my house in Northern
Cyprus where the summer temperatures reach
40oC I often have a much easier time.
Strangely, dry snowy days seem to have a
positive effect too.”
Since the devastation of her diagnosis over
30 years ago, Martina has learned how to live
with her rheumatoid arthritis and refuses to
let it hold her back.
“Most people have absolutely no idea that I
have arthritis,” she says. “The way I look at it is
that I would rather have this than something
more life threatening. Sleep is difficult as I
wake up every 30 minutes throughout the
night with pain in my neck and shoulders, but
I don’t let it get me down. I’m a big meat eater
but I’ve come to realise that beef makes my
pain much worse, so if I’m planning to eat it –
or tomatoes – I’ll take pain killers first.
“I make myself be active and refuse to let
my arthritis stop me gardening or enjoying
outdoor life.
“My advice for Arthritis Digest readers? If
you want to do something, go and do it.
Don’t let arthritis beat you. I know that
living in constant pain is terrible and can
drag you down – I once had to stand my hand
in a bucket of ice after a book signing – but
keep as active as possible. I want to do the
Inca Trail next year and nothing is going to
stop me.” AD
Revenge, published by Headline, is
available on 24th October priced at
£19.99 (hardback).
Visit www.martinacole.co.uk for more
information.
www.arthritisdigest.co.uk
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