Hello | Arthritis Information

Hello, im 21 and live in tijuana... i was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis about a year ago. Since i mostly spent time by myself I hardly notice there was something going on with me, i have problems with anxiety so i spent most of my time walking all across town, reading, drawing and playing music, i was used to a lifetyle away from other people i never paid much atention to the cracking noises my neck started to make, or the inusual disconfort in my hands and fingers, i tought that was probably from too much walking or overdoing something else.
It all hit me like a brick when i started getting this pains on my back that made me tip sideways, i tought i was going crazy. Where did all this come from? my father is a doctor but we had a dificult relationship, i was forced to consult this with him, he took some blood out and there it was RA ...
I really lost it when i moved to an apparment that was very cold, i never felt this bad, my joints were all in pain, i didnt eat that healty cause there was hardly money for food so there where times when i didnt had much energy and just had to lie on the floor... my roomate a hippy type guy made me feel worse since he convinced me that i was doing all that with my mind and brought this upon myself.. my father gave me some medication, ibuprofen and naproxen... said that would help me with the pain... it helped but then the side effects where worst, got a serius gastritis and my digestive system was a mess...
so there i was all bymyself punched hard by life and my depresive and anxius personality where no help... people tought i was nuts when i told them bout my diagnosis, said that i was to young to have artrhitis that i needed to check if this had anything to do with my psique...
feeling like a mentally ill person and nothing showing sings of getting better i seriusly tought of suicide...
And well i know that this may be a polemic alternative but a friend recomended mariguana, said it had medical benefits for my condition. And im happy to say that it was the best thing that i found, it really brought me a new insight on life.
Sick of all my friends singing hey hey my my when they saw me i found a new joy in life in yoga and musical meditation. Although i still have pain from time to time and i think i have to stop walking as much and see a reumathologyst, i get this feeling in my knees as if the where wet, today i started walking with bend knees.. this gets really scary sometimes, also my jaw makes this noise on my left side and get nervous ticks on it. i try not to think much about it but my fingers really worry me, it will really be hard to get by with out beeing able to play music..
I have never talked with anyone who has arthritis and well, it gets real loonely sometimes when no one around you can understand you, i found this web page and tought i might tell my story, maybe someone can relate... any feedback will be apreciated.... thnks

HI and welcome. You certainly came to the right place to find people who can relate. You seriously need to go to a rheumatologist and get started on some meds to stop the progression of ra. Ask your father maybe he knows someone. I know how you feel. You are not alone. Take care of yourself.

Welcome to the site afroblue.

Afro Blue,

Welcome to the board. Please see a rheumatologist soon and get on some meds. This board will give you lots of support, so ask away. there is always someone online all hours of the day and night. keep us posted.

Phats

wow, that was fast...
i just consulted this with my father and he said he didnt trusth rheumatologist, only for extreme cases will he refer a patient to one.
i´ll have some blood taken out tomorrow so we can run some test and see about what can be done.
I have a problem now with the meds for atrhitis since i´ve heard that they are strong and have serius side effects, i was refered to homeopaty, so ill give that a try.
And im also very interested on the nature of the disease, i read that in some places its consider that RA is caused by a flaw in the digestive system, that made a lot of sense to me since i had problems with that since i was little. And the psicological factor, i read that RA is an autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints.. i started to wonder if it could be posible that tension and frustration in thoughts can lead to those sorts of disease, i saw the movie what the bleep do we know and they mention the power of tought, and how one makes theyr own reality and how we can affect our own selfs with negative thinking, have you heard anything like this?
Welcome Afro Blue. I am sorry that you have to have the pain and uncertainty of the Rheumatoid Arthritis. It can certainly be a roller coaster ride! We all here can certainly relate to that!!

It is wonderful for you that your father is a Doctor, but really sad that he says he does not trust Rheumatologists. It is their speciality to research and treat arthritic and other muscular and skeletal disorders, and to ask the you the right questions, physical examination of joints etc, & apply the correct tests, medications and treatments to ease pain and slow down inflammation and the progress of the disease that is diagnosed.

Your blood tests are only one of these tests, but certainly not the only one and sometimes bloodwork doesn't show what is called the RA Factor, although RA can still be active in your body. In that case it is called Sero-Negative Arthritis. There are many of us here in the Sero-Negative class, but it can be just as severe - pain and damage wise.

The usual medications that are prescribed aim to lower/eliminate inflammation, thus reducing pain and joint damage.

Of course, you must make your own choices, but I think you would be well advised to get on the internet - Google Rheumatoid Arthritis - and read up as much as you can to educate yourself about the recommendations and different treatments for this condition.

There are lots of wonderfully supportive people on this Board, so do keep posting with your questions.

Hi AfroBlue, I saw that movie too. I think there is a lot of power in thought
and positive thinking but I reject the idea that you brought this disease
on yourself with thought or lifestyle. It is known there's a strong genetic
component, and more and more evidence is coming out that there is
some kind of infectious trigger, so saying you brought this on yourself is
like saying you gave yourself the flu or blue eyes with your thoughts.

Please please please see a rheumatologist. You can get a lot of
information and treatment options from them and if you don't like the
drugs they prescribe you don't have to take them.

Learn as much as you can.

Also, check out www.roadback.org. It's a very informative website which
advocates the use of antibiotics to treat rheumatic diseases. Many people
go that route when they are strongly resistant to using conventional
arthritis drugs. It doesn't work for everybody but you will learn that no
arthritis drug does.

Whatever route you decide to go, it's important to treat this disease as
early and agressively as possible.Gimpy-a-gogo39226.9885185185

Welcome to the board but please see a rheumatologist. They are the best kind of doctor to help you with your RA.The sooner you get a diagnosis and treatment the better.It is scary in the begining but once you are well informedyou will cope better.

Take care

Welcome to the board!!!Hi Afro Blue...welcome! Thanks for the response.
Right now i quit my job cause i needed a little time off so i got no budget for a rheumatologist, but i will try to visit one as soon as posible.
I wake up everymorning with this feeling in diferent parts of the body, like stiffnes with a burning sensation... but if i do some yoga i can feel the blood circulating and nurishing the body, so when i get those sensations i just try to keep active, and most important keep a healty attitude, im learning to accept this and im try to get familiar with it...

but it stills makes me wonder, for example i read that homeopathy uses things like a little substance diluted in water, so the medicine is mostly just water... people say they dont understand how it works.. but some say it does... its like beliving something actually makes it happend...

Happy to be on the forum.

afroblue - if I could begin again from my diagnosis of RA, I would take every medication going to try and knock it on the head. I would also exercise to make my body as strong as possible ( taking strain off the joints), and have a balanced, healthy diet. You need to do everything you can before your joints get damaged. RA does not go away by ignoring it. I think stress, junk food may exacerbate things, but there are plenty of people around who have stress etc. and do not get RA. So it is not your fault, but it is in your power to face up to it and deal with it, and modern medecine, to my mind whatever the side effects, is your best chance of making it go away, or at least minimising its power.

Again, for me, homeopathy may make a tiny difference, but its impossible to tell as there are always good days and bad days and any number of reasons can account for them and really I have the attitude that I might as well try it and it might help because some people think it works, rather than any real belief that it's making the slightest bit of difference.

Welcome to the board afro!

I *love* the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know" I completely understand what you were thinking about the power of thought. But just like in the movie, I think that concept can really only apply to things we are consciously in control of. Like how we view our bodies, our personalities, how we love ourselves and others. I'm pretty sure it would be almost impossible to will yourself better with such a complex disease. Or not even necessarily things we're consciously in control of, but things that are directly controlled by our emotional hormones. Does that make sense? RA, unfortunately, has no link to any of those hormones. But ya know what, that sure doesn't mean to stop thinking good thoughts. LOL It'll help you in other areas of life anyway!!!

I hope you get to see a doc soon :) Good luck to you!

Good luck with whatever way you choose to go.

Welcome to AI AB! Glad you're here. You'll find plenty of support here.

I'm a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, positive imaging and basically positive mind control. I do believe it makes a HUGE difference in the way I manage my life with a chronic illness. I wouldn't however take any chances while you are in the early stages of RA. Early, aggressive treatment is proven to be the best in the long term. A good bit of the "damage" that can occur can happen within the first couple of years. If you waist time experimenting with mind control and natural remidies you will have waisted time you won't be able to get back later.

Glad you've found to Pot to be good medicine and to relieve some of your pain but keep in mind that it's doing absolutely nothing to slow the progression of this disease. You'll need something besides anti-inflammatories like your father prescribed to insure things do not progress to a point where it's out of control. I hate that your father has a poor opinion of RD's. It's bad to say but the majority of GP's do not know how to treat RA and the folks that waist years with their GP's get far behind in their treatment and therefore end up fairing far worse than those that are under the care of and RD early.

We're glad you're here AB. Hope to see more of you in the future.