This place is such a great reference, and am glad I found it. In December of 2005 I had "out-of-the-blue" swelling in my right knee. I am in the military, and due to an upcoming deployment, my doctor waited on draining the fluid. I deployed to the quiet and peaceful country of Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Wow, God was looking out for me on that one. My job is what most people would call the "Bomb Squad". It involves wearing an 85 pound protective suit, and that was quite the struggle while deployed. I ran a few 5k runs while there, and prayed the entire time for strength to just finish the run (that and envisioning my wife at the finish line). After my deployment, I had about 35cc's of fluid pulled out. But, my doctor pretty much gave me the "i have no idea" line when I went in for a follow-up. He sent me to an orthopedic doctor who discovered a very severe case of synovitis. After having that arthroscopically removed, I was sent to a Rheumatologist. She decided it would make my day by trying to drain fluid out of my post surgery knee about a week after the whole operation...yeah fun. She is a great doctor though, so I let her try. It was all blood, so she gave up. I am about 1 appointment away from actually receiving the diagnosis as "Rheumatoid" but she has called it "Chronic Inflammatory Arthritis". I just recieved the first dose of Methotrexate, and in perfect timing, because I turn 21 on Tuesday the 29th. The Rheumatologist told me I am cleared for one drink and will take my next dose on the Thursday after my birthday. Not really what I imagined as a 21st birthday huh? So now I wait, and slowly build my strength back up. My military future is also up in the air. And that is the only real part that depresses me. But it is all a waiting game. If I am medically discharged, I have no idea what I will do. No idea.
Thanks to all here who post anything, your help reaches more people than you could ever know.
-Jonathan
Welcome Jonathan.
It's a shock discovering you have a disease like this - especially a disease that impacts on our ability to work and exercise and enjoy our free time however we like. Please keep us posted on you progress - fingers crossed the methotrexate will help you a lot.
Jonathan, how heartbreaking to get this news so early in life. As much as you want the military, your health needs to be a primary concern. Maybe they could transfer you to something like military intelligence or some other field that does not require you actually being in a fighting position.
As far as your future, it is still wide open. It would be a great idea when things calm down to talk to a career advisor. You can usually get career evaluation tests for free at colleges.
Your time in service may give you two very important things, one is money for college and two if they do a medical discharge you may qualify for a partial disability income. That is what happened with my ex. He went in the service when he was seventeen and they found some kind of arthritis. He was given a medical discharge and 75% disability. It wasn't much money. But it was always there for him, allowed him to always have access to the VA hospitals, and he was still able to work at something else.
I know it must be devastating though to be young and strong, training, learning your physical abilities and then have this come crashing down on you. And, I doubt friends your age are going to get what this means to you. That is going to be one of the hardest things to deal with. But even babies can get RA.
You actually have to be an extremely tough person to face living with RA. Hopefully, they will get you on a good medical regime quickly. Since you have been in physical training, take advantage of any physical therapy that you can get into. This will help regain any function you may have lost and keep you from losing more. The discipline you learned in your previous training can be a real strength in fighting this illness.
You will have to strengthen your body in new ways because with RA your muscles and joints are weakened by the inflammation process. You'll have to learn how to exercise in new ways. Running, for instance, is not good on your joints. Swimming and bicycling (with doctor's permission) can become your activities.
You are in a good position in the fact that you probably have a fairly strong body to begin with. Build on that, but do it with caution.
RA doesn't end your life, it changes how you deal with life.
Hang out with us in the RA sections. Also check out some of the other boards that we have mentioned. You will find other people closer to your age that are dealing with similar problems.
Oh, and I've heard of Qatar. My friend, who is from India, has a brother that lives there. He's shown me pictures of it. It is one of the most beautiful, most desired places to be by the very rich of the region.
Hopefully, before they send you elsewhere, you can get to visit and see as much of it as possible. I hope so.