A letter to all the Rheumatoid Arthritis "Newbies"

It gets easier

While I can tell you that life gets better, and living with this disease gets easier, I cannot tell you when or where that will happen for you.  So instead, I will provide you with hope.  I call you my fellow rheumatoid arthritis sufferer, but what I prefer to call you is my fellow rheumatoid arthritis fighter.  That is what will bring you hope.  Fighting this disease will bring you hope.  You may wonder how it is possible to fight an incurable disease.  I too have asked myself this same question after being bombarded by family who told me that I had to fight this disease.

This, my fellow fighter, is how you fight rheumatoid arthritis.  You start by getting out of bed.  That may sound very simple to a healthy person, by with rheumatoid arthritis, this is never a simple task.  You may not be able to get out of bed due to the depression.  You may not be able to get out of bed due to the pain.  Or you may not be able to get out of bed due to the fact that you were up all night because of the throbbing or maybe because of the side effects of your medications.  But to fight this disease, you first must get out of bed.  Please know that there will be some days when you can't get out of bed.  The pain may be too unbearable, or you may just need a day with the covers pulled over your head.  That doesn't mean that you are not fighting rheumatoid arthritis, it just means that you need a day, or two, or three to rest in order to have the strength to fight again. 

The hardest step

Now the next step in your fight against rheumatoid arthritis is the hardest one, and it is also one that you have to figure out on your own.  The next step to fighting rheumatoid arthritis is to live.  It's as simple, yet extremely difficult, as that.  The hardest part of this step is that you must find your own reason to live your life, and live it well.  If you aren't at the point where you can do it for you, then do it for the ones around you who love you.  Do it for the ones who have brought food to your bedside on one of the days you were just too depressed to get out of bed.  Live for your spouse or your kids who may have seen you give up so much, that they feel they may have lost you forever.  Then, you can do it for yourself.

Severe rapidly progressing Rheumatoid Arthritis

You may ask how I dare tell you how to live your life or what to expect.  I only tell you these things out of my past experience.  I have had rheumatoid arthritis since high school.  I didn't experience severe pain until I was 23 after the birth of my second son.

After that I spend two years of my life on a mission to get a diagnosis, even after my physician told me that I had absolutely no medical reason to have any symptoms.  At the time of my diagnosis I was told I had so much damage in the joints of my fingers that I would not be able to pursue a career as a court reporter and I was only three months short of getting my bachelors degree.  I have lost out on a full year of my kids' lives as I lay in bed.  My husband has had to feed me, dress me, and he has seen me spend hours screaming in pain until my voice no longer sounded human.  I am now 29 years old and have what many rheumatologists have called severe rapidly progressing rheumatoid arthritis, and I am living well and fighting this disease.