Hello, I just joined the site and i'm just looking for people to talk with and share interest and to complain with. and also learn about my disease and symptoms and all that good stuff.

I'm 19 and i have had RA for 2 years. it started in my hands and they would get stuck in a fist.  i figured i was sleeping on my hands or something...but it went on for months.  i am a procrastinator so i just kept dealing with this horrible pain and figured it would just simply go away.  i was also a waitress at the time so you can only imagine.  i just kept getting worse and the inflammation wouldnt really get better throughout the day. it always hurt SO BAD. finally my mom made me an appt. and told the doc what was wrong and decided i needed cortizone shots.  i got them and they worked for a year n a half before flaring up again.  About a year later after my cortizone, i started college. of course i was walking a lot more...and it started in my feet.  i would wake up in the morning and barely be able to move. even my feet being under the covers killed me. my roomate through i was dieing...we would joke.  my family just thought i was sore from walking so much, but i knew this wasn't that at all and that something was seriously wrong with me.

so i went to a foot doctor who was no help at all. he told me that the problem was the flip flops i had on because my xrays were normal. i was sooo upset...i didnt care what the xrays looked like, I WASN'T FEELING NORMAL. and also i had JUST gotten them sandals and it was the 2nd time i'd worn them. so please tell me again why the problem for the past 3 months has been my shoes i got 2 weeks ago!

it's still odd to me..but at this time i worked at a gym as a receptionist.  i got really into fitness and would do the eliptical. it would really get the blood flowing in my feet and i would feel better afterwards.  soon i started to run about everyday for 3 miles on the tred.  at first my knee started to hurt and my manager gave me a wrap for it and said it's prolly runners knee. that eventually went away. i really stuck out the pain....

even though it hurt really bad at first to run...eventually its like my feet became numb and i couldnt feel anything. and afterwards my feet would feel better.  it was just so weird that i could run for a half hour non stop..but walking would about kill me!

this year in may i got married and moved because my husband is in the air force.  when i moved i noticed my hands were acting up again..along with my feet. it was horrible. well, i went to the doc. and they did the blood work and thought this is what i had.  i eventually got in with a rheumatologist in august and got put on my meds.  the meds worked really well at first and takes away most of the pain...but definetly not all of it!! i still have swollen hands that are stiff for a good while in the morning and sometimes my feet really kill me.  i dont think i'll ever walk normal again. i get really sad...and i had to quit my job as a hostess becuase standing on my feet made me come home and cry as my hubby would rub my feet (God bless him!)