Living Day-By-Day With Rheumatoid Arthritis

I always run into situations where I meet a new person and we get into the fact I have arthritis…and I always get the same line "But you can't tell by looking at you…you look fine." I know they say it because most of the time it is true. Unless you look closely at my swollen joints or if I happen to have really sore legs that day…I 'look' fine. But why do people feel the need to say that I don't look like I have arthritis? I didn't know there was a specific way to look. Also, I get comments like 'but you are so young'…and when I tell them I was diagnosed at the age of 2 they usually say they didn't even know that kids could have RA. Does anyone else get these kinds of comments…do you say anything in return?  -L

What a day I've had so far! I woke up extremely stiff…took me a good 20 minutes to stretch out my joints and get moving. Then I had to go into work early…did the work I had to do…then when I went to get up from my office chair, I couldn't. I had to stretch out each leg slowly as I had been sitting too long without movement…ugh… Some days I just feel so stiff! Then when I was getting back in my vehicle, I hit my wrist on the arm rest and was in tears because it was extremely painful…what a mess of a morning!!! I hope my day does not continue like this! I always seem to be less mobile when the winter weather starts (and rainy days). I am not looking forward to the winter at all. Does anyone else feel this way? How are your joints in the cold weather? -L

Ok…so where did I leave off. Well, as I said, I didn't want to be on any medication while pregnant. So, shortly after the wedding I did become pregnant. For the first 12 weeks or so, I felt ok…just really tired and a little bit of nausea…and mild soreness and stiffness! After that – I felt great!!! My joints didn't hurt for the most part and I had more energy. After the birth of my son, I still felt pretty good day to day. I was breastfeeding also…so I was happy to feel good and not need to be on meds. At about 6 months postpartum…it all came flooding back. It felt like overnight my body changed…my joints became swollen again, I was stiff, tired and in pain. Great…just what I need when I have to take care of the baby. There were many times I couldn't even hold him for longer than a minute or so as my wrists would just give out. I went to my doctor and she decided that I should go back on my meds. So, I started taking prednisone again. A few weeks later…my Irit...

Hmmmm…where to start.   Well this is my first official post.   I guess I should start out by letting you know why I decided to start this blog and a little background information.  First off, I decided to start this blog as I thought that sharing my day-by-day stories about living with Rheumatoid Arthritis might help others feel that they are not alone.  Sometimes I just want to know that others feel or have felt the same way that I do…sometimes you need to feel the support of others and know that you are not alone. Now a little background info on me.   I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 2 years old.   I was starting to show symptoms around 18 months of age.   First, the disease just affected my knees.   Then it slowly started creeping into joints all over my body.   I was getting blood tests weekly, Cortisone injections regularly as well as being on a mess of medication.   The medication also came w...