Feeling robbed every day..
- At first with the prednisone I thought I was progressing, but my doctor decided Methotrexate would be better. When I went off the Prednisone, I thought my body was falling apart. The methotrexate didn't help much and I lost most of my hair. I found that the only time she paid real attention was if I nagged and whined. Through that she put me on Tavra (sp?), which is less hair loss and seems to handle the 'flu feeling' a little better, but to this date, I haven't got my life back yet. From what I understand it's your doctor's perogative to decide what meds to give. Only this last month she decided to do another MRI to check for more damage, after 3 yrs. Yes I feel robbed, but I do what I can when I can, and just try to keep going. In the end I think that's all you can do.
- —lchillersm
Tiredness
- Since developing rheumatoid arthritis 18 months ago, I don't feel the same person I did before I had it. My energy has almost completly gone. I just want to sleep all the time. If I had to go to work, I couldn't. The only good thing is I am a pensioner.
- —Guest Tricia Le-Hair
I DONT FEEL ROBBED ANYMORE
- I'm 41 yrs old and have known since l was 19 I would eventually suffer with arthritis, suffered for 6 yrs with my past injuries .....it has just started in the past month and is a great shock to my system l hoped it wouldn't affect me till l was in my sixty's. l feel disabled some days l can't drive or even get up....but after reading about all you extremely young people suffering with it, l feel blessed to have had some good years without it ....l think the moral to the story is there is always someone suffering a damn sight more than us!!!!!
- —Guest NAT
Why me
- I feel I have been robbed because I use to play with my children and now I can't get down, use to go camping and shopping. Now I can't walk around the store long enough. Some days I don't even feel like driving it hurts so bad. My knees hurt all day now, I'm only 38 years old and I feel 68. I'm scared my husband will get tired of me. I always thought I would be working til I was retired. but now I'm disabled, can't do anything. I feel useless. Housework has really become a chore, most of the time I let it go. The meds they have me on don't even work good anymore. They're talking about surgery, I don't know about that. I can't hardly get around now, what if something else happens. I have a new granddaughter and I can't keep her due to this. It breaks my heart.
- —Guest marche austin
Hurting all the time
- Sometimes I feel like giving up because of this excruciating pain. But instead I decided to pick my head up in keep going forward. If I don't , then who's gonna do it for me. Nobody but myself. I have enrolled at Kaplan college. I am studying to get my Associates degree in Medical practice Management. I started in February and plan to finish.
- —Guest Leticia Carrizales
20 years old with RA
- "Robbed" is not how I would describe what arthritis has done with my life. "Redesigned" would be a better word. Sure, maybe I've been "robbed" of a young woman's life...I can't run or rock climb anymore and my friends just have to know that some days no, I can't go out and party because I'm too exhausted. However, what this has done for my life has blessed it. I'm now motivated to surround myself with people who love & support me. When before I was a social butterfly, now I am more cautious and think, "will this person accept & support the fact that I have this disease that perhaps makes me 'unfun' at times?" I have made better friends because of it. It makes me think more seriously about who I will marry and what job I will have in the future. I have to seriously think about my limitations and adjust. It's made life a puzzle and perhaps added more zest. It gotten me more in touch with God. It's given me the chance to redefine my life and I am determined to have it be for the better.
- —Guest Katie
Robbed of my enjoyment of retiral
- Yes! Yes! Yes! Wanted to play golf - enjoy an active life - can't do it!!
- —Guest Duncan
Yes...
- I feel as though I have been robbed by arthritis. I'm currently in the process of being discharged from the Navy due to severe hip and knee arthritis (the knee arthritis only occurred due to a late diagnosis of my hip pain). My pain has gotten progressively worse since my pain began two years ago. The worst part is, if the military doctors had taken an x-ray or MRI when I first started complaining that something was wrong, the damage to my hips would have been minimized and surgical intervention would have worked. Now, I'm losing my job, and I've already lost my girlfriend because I didn't always feel up to going walking downtown or going shopping with her. By the way, since I'm only in my late 20s, all of the orthopaedic surgeons I have seen won't give me a hip or knee replacement because I'm too young. On the bright side, though, since I'm getting the boot from Uncle Sam, I figured I may as well go back to college and get my medical degree.
- —Guest Ryan
Robbed?
- I use to feel sad because my life has changed so much and not in ways I wanted. I lost my job, friends, family's understanding, the relationship with my husband changed. I spent so much time trying to find answers and treatments and I always left feeling misunderstood and would cry all the way home because nothing ever changed, pred. and pain meds. I finally got tired of being sick and tired and bringing everyone down that I keep it to myself and try to look around and see how much I have to be thankful for. I have three young grandchildren that I help watch, as hard as it is sometimes, it makes me feel useful and I look into those adorable faces and realize they need me and they need me to be happy. There were times when I felt life wasn't worth all the stress, but I look at other people and we all have things to bear. I have a lot to be thankful for, my family is healthy, I can't imagine how hard it must be to have a sick child. I just try to be as positive as I can.
- —Lilnick1960
Not so young
- I am a 21 year old who was diagnosed in my final year of schooling at 17 years of age. Due to this I did not do well in my year 12 exams and didn't get into my chosen uni course. I re-did year twelve the following year and I am now half way through a nursing degree. I am trying my best to live my life but I freak out every now and then that I am not going to be able to cope with nursing work once I graduate and don't even get me started on how I am going to get married and have kids and everything. Especially when I am not allowed to fall pregnant with the three medications I am on currently. I don't feel normal, and I hate feeling like I'm too young to have arthritis.
- —Guest Aiken
Yes I feel robbed!
- In 2005 I had a set of twin boys. We were enjoying playing and going places with our boys. Then, on January 12, 2007 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. It has been devastating. I can't do as much with them now as I use to. They have had to learn that I can't pick them up or play in the floor with them. We can't go places like we use to. If we do I can only go for an hour or so as I can't walk good. I feel robbed but I feel that my children have been robbed also. I just hope that they will understand why their mother can't do the same things as other mothers. I can go on and on but I will stop here. I think everyone gets my point.
- —Guest Jerri Mahan
Never in my life
- I do not lie and I do not dare to say life with RA is easy. It is diffficult. However, I do not feel robbed. I always say I miss wearing high heel shoes. And of course I live with it since childhood and I decide to stay out of marrage commitment for I was too tired to wage war against the society. Instead I have got two beautiful kids out of breathtaking love affair. My families support is priceless in this. I also earned my Master of Arts Degree in Gender Studies last August from Addis Ababa University. I have tried to keep my job. I live costly and I am poor. But still I am living with challenges and inaccessibility. Nevertheless, I can not say I am robbed. Rather I prefer to fight the limitation in various ways and to get the maximum possible out of life.
- —Guest Dibikenesh Mengesha
I feel robbed by arthritis
- Among other things, I've been robbed of the ability to carry on a normal conversation with people. When everyone you know is healthy & they take things for granted, and all you want to do is be unconscious so you can escape your pain, there's not much you have in common. I was robbed of confidence & instead am afraid of every little change in routine. The way I've adjusted & coped has been to erect walls as a defense mechanism, & put on a brave act, in order to get through each difficult day. Miraculously, the only thing I haven't been robbed of is my sense of humor, without which I certainly would have suffered even more. Thanks for providing this forum where we can vent without feeling guilty.
- —Guest Sooz5555
46 to 85
- I was always active, loved mowing lawn, fishing, hunting, working in garage -- always busy body, but now I can't seem to do anything on my own, repairs around the house, the lawn, things I used to enjoy that were relaxing are now so stressful. I still work but that's over. I would not be working if not for office job behind desk but it has gotton to the point with all the swelling in my joints that it's getting impossible to do. It is a chore just to lift my leg up into the car at the end of the day and when I arrive home, hot bath to try to relax joints then it's the rub down with some type of deep heating rub to try to relax. I can't take a lot of the meds out now because of diabetes and kidney failure so my doctor reccomends to stay home and rest instead of medication and he's right the weekend sometimes are not so bad but I stay resting in bed or on couch pretty much the whole time. Welcome to my world a father of 4 46 years of age that feels 85.
- —Guest keith jordan
RA robbed me
- YES, I STOP WORK BECOUSE I WORK IN THE HOTEL HOUSE CLEANING SO I HAVE HAND RA.HOW CAN I WORK LIKE THAT?!
- —Guest ludwig aliza
