anyone with rheumatoid arthritis

joint pain and weakness and swelling!

zombie

My mom has it. It's really painful. Her hands and feet are all twisted, she can barely walk. And the medicines you take for it are toxic. It's awful.

Upset

My four year old son has Juvenile Rheumatiod Arthritis

zombie

Judged:

I am so sorry. My daughter was very ill for a few years. Luckily she is ok now but it is really hard to watch them suffer and not be able to do anything to help. I hope you have a good support system. Poor little guy.

shell

I have rheumatiod arthritis. I was diagnosed when I was 30, I am now 36. I am also taking those "toxic" medications. I'm just so tired and in pain all the time, mostly in my hands and feet. I do hate to hear that Upset's son had JRA. My thoughts and prayers are with him and zombie's mom. It's a debilitating disease and it's a struggle everyday.

TIM-LISA

zombie wrote:

My mom has it. It's really painful. Her hands and feet are all twisted, she can barely walk. And the medicines you take for it are toxic. It's awful.

how old is your mother and how long has she had this.

zombie

Judged:

TIM -LISA My mom is 70 but she was diagnosed when she was about 40. It has been really tough. Like shell said it's a struggle every day. There were times when she didn't want to live anymore, the pain is sometimes that intense. She has had so many surgeries. Knee and hip replacements,shoulders, had her toes fused twice. She was bed ridden for about a year because they didn't think they could fix her one hip. She had no cartilage left at all. It was bone rubbing on bone. But my sister found a great specailist and she can get out of bed again.
People hear arthritis and they think it's no big deal. They don't understand the difference between RA and osteoarthritis. She had to quit working not long after she was diagnosed. She had been a bookkeeper but couldn't type anymore. That's why I feel for your situation. Not being able to work and people trashing you for it. If they only knew.
The good news is there has been some improvement of medications in the last 30 years. I hope you, shell and upset's son have a better time of it than she has. The bad news is that the meds are so freaking expensive! And have so many side effects.
I truly wish the best for all of you. It breaks my heart to hear about people being diagnosed with RA.

zombie

shell - Thank you. The same to you and upset.

citizen

my sister was diagnosed at the ripe old age of 17. for the longest time i thought that you had to be at least 40 to get it. boy was i wrong. i feel so bad for my sister. she's 23 now and she can't walk alot of the time and has a little boy to take care of. she can't exercise, go shopping even for very long and she gets what they call 'water on the knees' and she's off her feet for a week or so. i just found out that i have it as well, im on a cane half the time because my hips and knees and ankles hurt so much i can bearly walk. im just 24. my heart goes out to everyone who has it and their families. people don't realize how much it affects people. its painful and makes life unbearable at times.

TIM-LISA

zombie wrote:

TIM -LISA My mom is 70 but she was diagnosed when she was about 40. It has been really tough. Like shell said it's a struggle every day. There were times when she didn't want to live anymore, the pain is sometimes that intense. She has had so many surgeries. Knee and hip replacements,shoulders, had her toes fused twice. She was bed ridden for about a year because they didn't think they could fix her one hip. She had no cartilage left at all. It was bone rubbing on bone. But my sister found a great specailist and she can get out of bed again.
People hear arthritis and they think it's no big deal. They don't understand the difference between RA and osteoarthritis. She had to quit working not long after she was diagnosed. She had been a bookkeeper but couldn't type anymore. That's why I feel for your situation. Not being able to work and people trashing you for it. If they only knew.
The good news is there has been some improvement of medications in the last 30 years. I hope you, shell and upset's son have a better time of it than she has. The bad news is that the meds are so freaking expensive! And have so many side effects.
I truly wish the best for all of you. It breaks my heart to hear about people being diagnosed with RA.

yes it is a struggle every single day of your life with this 'RA' and to have ppl make fun of somebody that cant work anymore like my self and all the other's that have this 'RA'or anything else is so stupid on there part!zombie i take methotrexate.hydroxychlor.foli c acid.and a pain meds.ppl just dont know how dam painful it is until they walk in our shoe's with this 'RA'we hope your mom does good.

zombie

Judged:

citizen - Sorry to hear about you and your sister. This is such an ugly disease. It can rob you of a lot of the joy in life. Stay strong. Try some alternative medicines. I can never get my mom to do that.
TIM-LISA - Methotrexate is a good medicine but hard on the liver as you know. Stress is really bad for RA so it pisses me off to read all the crap these people write about you guys. But it sounds like you have a good, strong marriage and that will see you through.

TIM-LISA

zombie wrote:

citizen - Sorry to hear about you and your sister. This is such an ugly disease. It can rob you of a lot of the joy in life. Stay strong. Try some alternative medicines. I can never get my mom to do that.
TIM-LISA - Methotrexate is a good medicine but hard on the liver as you know. Stress is really bad for RA so it pisses me off to read all the crap these people write about you guys. But it sounds like you have a good, strong marriage and that will see you through.

zombie .i wish we could get along with family cause life is to short!

TIM-LISA

actually you can be born with arthiritis,I have osteo...and I"m here to tell you the shit is painful as hell.the DR. doesnt have me on a damn medicine.I have days that I cant even hardly get out of of bed.....but it seems to be that DR"S dont give a damn but nothing but a dollar....it is just you have to live with it and go on....and pray for the best of it in life.exercise seems to help some...but not a whole lot.than you are tired after words....so damn if you do and damn if you dont.

Upset

Judged:

I can understand everyone's pain my son deals with his everyday. I cant imagine what it can be like to be 4 years old and all that pain. His Rheumatologist has already done steriod injections.. he has took all the anti inflamatory meds and they do nothing. they give him nothing for pain other than childrens tylenol.. my heart aches for him. they said they may have to use low doses of chemo for him. So all i can do is pray that it doesnt go to that extreme. I feel very sorry for anyone that has to live this on a daily basis or has anyone is there family.

i have it

Winchester, KY

Judged:

i have it i was diagnosed with it bout 3yrs ago im 29 now and i have those knots on my arms fingers and ankles it is the worse pain i have ever had and at times it will depress u soo bad becuz the way ppl look at u when u try to walk when it is at its worse i feel for anyone that has it i pray to god every night that they find a cure for it i also take the meds and humira shots they make u sick more than they help

TIM-LISA

Upset wrote:

I can understand everyone's pain my son deals with his everyday. I cant imagine what it can be like to be 4 years old and all that pain. His Rheumatologist has already done steriod injections.. he has took all the anti inflamatory meds and they do nothing. they give him nothing for pain other than childrens tylenol.. my heart aches for him. they said they may have to use low doses of chemo for him. So all i can do is pray that it doesnt go to that extreme. I feel very sorry for anyone that has to live this on a daily basis or has anyone is there family.

our thoughts our with you!

Upset

Judged:

TIM-LISA wrote:

<quoted text>our thoughts our with you!

Thank You So Much

zombie

Judged:

Upset - My mom had chemo years ago. It really helped. Like I said before my child was seriously ill for a few years so I sort of know what you are going through. I bet you'd take all the pain for him if you could. Hopefully they will find a cure in his lifetime.
My daughter used to be an athlete. She was ready to start competeing at a national level when she got sick. It completely changed her life. For a while her confidence was shot. But she found she had other talents too and developed those. Took stock of her friends, her choices and it really did end up maker her a stronger, better person. I guess I'm trying to say that maybe some good will come out of it for him. I sincerely hope so. Come on to cry or vent anytime you need a friend.

shell

zombie: I truly admire your daughter. It must have been very difficult for her and you seeing her suffer. One good thing has come out of my having RA. I'm a nurse and I have really been able to sympathize with a patient's pain while others may just see them as drug seekers.

i have it: I also was on Humira for a time but had reactions to the injections. I'm just on methotrexate and lodeine right now but might get the new med Simponi when I go back to the rheumatologist. It's a once a month injection. I pray that you find some relief from the pain.

Judy