My Experience of Arthritis

A pain in the...... Actually it's easier for me to list where it isn't a pain! ~ The early story ~ A little background which I hope will just show why I didn't immediately begin to suspect there was anything too seriously wrong with my health, much less that I had arthritis. From the age of 12, we lived in a remote country house (our nearest neighbour was a mile away). It was also a house that hadn't been lived in for 7 years before my parents bought it and so we lived in constant house renovations for 5 or 6 years. A house that meant my sister and I were fortunate enough to have a pony, and we spent many hours outside, either helping ...  Read the complete review

I SUFFER FROM RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS!!!! God it feels so good to be able to say that. Now you are probably thinking that I have flipped my lid to find joy in saying that, but I havent. Let me explain........... About 18 months ago I went to bed, nothing strange in that, most people go to bed. During the night I woke up cold and realised hubby had nicked all the duvet (nothing new there either ;D). The trouble was when I tried to retrieve the cover I couldnt. My elbows screamed at me everytime I tried to move them. Okay, I must be having a nightmare, you know, the one where when you try to move you cant. I tried again, same thing, excruciating pain. I ...  Read the complete review

I suffer from oseteoarthritis due to my disability, my joints are not able to remain loose enough, and because my father, and his father suffered from it also, according to my doctor. I was informed that I was “predisposed” to this due to the factors above. I have to admit I had no idea that it could be hereditary or that there were different types of arthritis. I knew, of course that my father suffered from this horrid ailment but, because I had always lived a fairly active life, working long hours and exercising well, I didn’t really suspect my problems were due to arthritis at all. My problems were not major nor were they all that painful at ...  Read the complete review

Shortly after my 21st birthday I began to experience some rather disturbing symptoms. I have always been prone to headaches (we Aries are supposed to be martyrs to headaches) but I was beginning to get some really nasty, stinging ones, as well as rather unsettling spells of dizziness. I noticed, especially, that if I looked up suddenly the whole room seemed to spin. These dizzy spells were sometimes so severe that I felt quite nauseous. I had just changed my job, got engaged and put a deposit down on a house, so my doctor, reasonably enough I suppose, put these symptoms down to stress. (Yes, good old stress again.) He prescribed a low dose of Valium. ...  Read the complete review

Most people think that arthritis is something that only elderly people will suffer from. This is far from the truth in that 1/1000 children suffer from the condition. During a conference that I attended, Dr. M. Rooney (Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist) estimated that there are 1400 children in the whole island of Ireland that suffer from arthritis. If this is the case, then just think how many children throughout the whole of the UK suffer from it. In every school it is likely that there will be one or two children who suffer from this condition. JIA (Juvenielle Idiopathic Arthritis) is defined as "Inflammation of one or more joints for at least 3 ...  Read the complete review