Cranky old Lady

[computeraide]

I'm also one of the folks who was diagnosed with rheumatoid at a young age (9 years old). I definitely agree there's a misconception that it's an older person's disease. When I was around 10 years old I somehow got a free subscription to AARP magazine -- I assume because they found out I was a patient of a rheumatologist. When I was first sent to see that doctor I was checked in to the hospital for in-patient treatment and somehow wound up checked in to the geriatric ward. Very scary for a little kid who doesn't know what's wrong with them!

On topic: Don't you love those regular crabby customers who you wish would just dry up and blow away? I'm surprised she didn't demand the pharmacy tech crochet her a set of gloves.

[LewisLegion]

Oooh, as a chronic pain patient stuff like that gets my goat. My mother has had RA since she was sixteen. To old people who think young people can't be in pain/disabled/have a serious illness...just count your blessings that you didn't actually get OLD until you got OLD. Some of us are already stuck with all the complaints and misery of old age but it's robbed us of our 'young age' too.

**added a finger flip off to the guy who told me I was 'too young' to need a cane after I parked in the grocery store handicap spot. You're lucky I didn't insert it in you**

[tollbaby]

Wow... I was diagnosed with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis when I was six years old. That's right, SIX. The old bat can kiss my (sore) ass.

[Eisa]

I'm 22 and I have arthritis in my feet. Which I may have had since I was a little kid. [lovely add-on condition right there ] I may be developing arthritis in my hands and I have something else going wrong with them [my fingers literally turn white and swell up like sausages in cold weather ]

Grouchy old woman can kiss my ass.

[Squeaksmyalias]

I have to say it makes me feel better about what's going on with me, that there are so many here that understand what I'm feeling.

[Seshat]

Believe me I do. My problems hit seriously in my late teens - as in, high school, not college-age. By the time I was in my final year at college, I should have been being treated as disabled - it's just noone believed me so I doubted myself.

It's been twenty years since I was first diagnosed, and I'm still finding out things that I feel that aren't normal. (Like, say, a constant sore throat isn't normal, and nor are 'burps' that bring up bile into the mouth.)


.... so yeah. We know what constant pain is like, and what not being believed is like, and so forth.

[ADoyle90815]

My former MIL has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was very young, and was basically wheelchair bound by her 50's because it was that severe. My ex-husband was actually delivered by C-section because of his mom's arthritis, and he was also her only child.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

My mum knits fingerless gloves for me too, I have raynaud's syndrome secondary to another joint condition & I find the gloves more effective at keeping my fingers warm by covering the backs of my hands & wrists than any meds etc. the doc can prescribe.
I'm glad they're helping your pain

Hey! First time I've come across someone else with Reynaud's! I never found fingerless gloves much use for me - keeping generally warm certainly helps, and avoiding vibration (which used to be a tad difficult on a motorbike...)

[Misanthropical]

I find it funny in a weird way how most people assume the one in pain is Mr. Mis since he is the older one and are shocked when they find out it's me who is having all the pain issues. Mr. Mis is the one who pain-free and is only there to help me out.

I have had horrendous pain since I was 13 years old and now I'm 40. It would hit with no warning and would stay for a week before leaving to strike out of the blue another time. When it hit I could barley stand, walk or lie down. It was hard to eat or drink. I had a lot of my teenage years stolen to this pain not counting the time it took from me as a wife and mother.

The doctors couldn't figure out why I had this pain, so they didn't prescribe anything for it. It wasn't till 6 years ago that a doctor finally gave me pain medication and told me there is no reason for me to be in pain.

I just had surgery last week to hopefully fix the problem and straighten the backwards J shape my spine was twisting into.

[BeeMused]

I just had surgery last week to hopefully fix the problem and straighten the backwards J shape my spine was twisting into.

I'll keep various bodyparts crossed for you!

[Primer]

I just had surgery last week to hopefully fix the problem and straighten the backwards J shape my spine was twisting into.

Ah yes, the joys of scoliosis. Mine is "adult onset" but it's still miserable. Pain management has determined that injections are no longer feasible, and my next course of action is (more) back surgery. I'm putting that off for as long as I possibly can. Mis, I sincerely hope that your surgery helps you!

[telecom_goddess]

there is such a thing as adult onset scoliosis? I had no idea I thought that happened in adolescence.

[Primer]

there is such a thing as adult onset scoliosis? I had no idea I thought that happened in adolescence.

Most scoliosis does first show up in childhood/adolescence. Quite a bit, however, starts around middle age, when the discs start deteriorating unevenly. Also, most scoliosis is not nearly as severe as what is imagined when one thinks of scoliosis.

Frequently, people won't even know they have it until the "old age" back pain gets bad enough to finally send them to a doctor. I actually first learned about mine when the arthritis in my hips got so bad, I had to have them replaced, and saw my spine in the x-rays. I'm not ready for (more) surgery on my spine just yet, but I know it'll be happening eventually.

[protege]

I have it in my knees and wrists.

That sucks So far, my wrists are fine...but my knees do hurt from time to time. It's always worse in the winter, since the colder weather really messes with things. Lately though, I've found that some of the leg exercises at the gym.. I can't do now. They put too much strain on my left knee...and I have to be careful. I will say, that the hot tub and pool are *awesome* at relieving pain. Too bad I don't have one at home though. At least not yet

[Food Lady]

I guess I'll chime in. I've had upper back pain since childhood, and no one took it seriously, not doctors, not bosses, not coworkers. It took a work injury when I was in my early 20s to get a proper diagnosis: slight scoliosis/degenerating disks. I can't tell you how many middle-aged people scolded me for saying I was in pain. And yet, so many of my acquaintances don't even know because I don't complain about it, unlike the SC in the OP.