Pet peeves about arthritis
- I have arthritis in my neck, so one of my pet peeves is not being able to turn my neck as far as I need to, in the car when I back up.
- —Guest Stan Witham
Pet Peeves
- When healthy people whine all day about mosquito bites or a cold, and you are suffering in silence. You want to say, "At least yours goes away!"
- —sooz5555
Faking
- RA struck when I was 26 and had 3 little ones. My ex's grandfather said I was faking. Within a year my wrists and ankles were fused. I have had three surgeries one was a knee replacement. I miss working as a office manager because my hands are so bad. I even had to have my wedding ring cut off due to deformation. RA has taken away who I really am, and made me into a disabled person. I know 2 other women with RA who are on the potent drugs. One died of cancer at 42 and the other is severely crippled. Has the medication worked for anyone? Dr's want to give methotrexate which has not worked for me. I have gone with supplements and diet and feel better. My prayer is that they find the cause and a cure. Both my grandfather and mother suffered severely with RA. Could be a genetic link.
- —Guest Linda Miles
Knees
- Fran I loved your poem. Laughter is the best medicine! There are so many different pains and issues with RA, that I am not sure what is RA or something else going on. Sometimes my knees feel as though they are going to let me drop although there is not a lot of pain there. Would that be connected to RA??
- —Guest beany
What annoys me
- When people, especially family, thinks you are faking the pain, some even comment on the fact that 'you look good how could you be sick all the time, it's in your mind and you just want to be sick'. Yet still they do not know what is RA. I'm 31 and worked a great job but the pain from Fibro and RA is too much. I had to choose between my family and work, my 2 boys and hussie need me more. Now ppl think I'm lazy.
- —Guest r lall
Jane in pain
- My heart goes out to the potter. I have been a pianist for 60 years and now I can no longer use my hands to produce the music in my soul. I have had bilatteral hip and knee replacements and am possibly looking at having C spine surgery. I broke my femur in 4 places but rehabbing from that was much easier than living with this chronic pain and daily disappointment. Thanks for giving us a forum to hear from others with OA or RA.
- —Guest msjaneb@sbcglobal.com
How People Act
- People just blow you off, it's just a little pain.
- —Guest jj
Pitiful
- I have tried for years now to get a "doctor" to try alternate ways to ease my RA. These so called medicines are poisoning. How can they give you these things knowing they could cause cancer and other nasty things. Yet, they do so. All they want is money, not caring about anyone. People suffer and they get rich. I think it's horrible and they all should try living in pain the way we do. It might make them think about what they are pushing down our throats. Shame on all of them.
- —Guest Pat
Frustration
- My biggest pet peeve is not being able to be active with my grand kids. I fake it pretty well but at 5 and 2, they're beginning to catch on to the fact that gramma hurts.. All the time.
- —Guest Glo
Anger
- It's so difficult to understand and accept the fact that I'm only 47 and unable to move my hands. The worst part of all in fact is, it affected my job and my passion, because I'm a potter. How can u sit on the wheel and have ur hands on the water for hours? How can I have strength back to my hands to work the clay on the wheel? Or to make or produce any work? It is just not fair... I love what I do... and now I can not do it anymore because I'm different and my hands do not respond to commands the way they used to...after over a decade of practicing to perfect the skills...I lost it all because of RA. I am trying to retrain and adapt to the new me... trying to adjust, trying to cope by relearning to use my hands again... but still... THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.... I feel frustrated, sad, angry and wish people around me would understand how bad it is....
- —Guest eunicelondon
RA
- wanting to talk on a chat room with people who have RA as I do. To see how they are dealing with it
- —Guest Pam
Responsible for me
- The way people act and the comment "I don't want to be responsible for your care."
- —Guest Mary Bowman
What bugs me about RA
- I always hate the conversation when I actually decide to tell someone about my RA! It never fails when they hear the word “arthritis” they tell me how they have arthritis in their knee or hand. I try to explain to them that I’m not referring to Osteoarthritis. RA is an immune system disorder. They just don’t get it. To them I look healthy and they assume I have their normal aches and pains. The public just doesn’t understand. I almost wish they would change the name of RA to something else and leave out the word “arthritis”!
- —ShannenM
Starting the Car
- For the last 2 years everytime I wanted to start my car to get out for a while, my husband had to start the car for me because it just hurt too much to turn the key. Sometimes I'd try and ask a good samaritan in the parking lot to help me out. Then my husband found this device called a push button start. He had it installed in my car and now going places whenever I want is so easy. He bought it from www.gallotech in California. I don't ever need to use a key. Getting in the car is still a pain but I don't need to have a key. Just push the button and I'm off. I guess it's the little things in life that we all have to deal with that make this disease so horrible. Bless us all.
- —Guest Judy
From Fran
- Ode To Arthritis - Hands of rusty door hinges, knees of guacamole. To open a jar is comical, to walk is holy moly.
- —Guest Fran
