Rheum with a view

As if I don’t talk nearly enough about Rheumatoid Arthritis, I’m going to devote an entire post to it.

I was diagnosed with RA three years ago this past December. Previous to this I’d always been kind of whiny and achy in various spots, mostly my knees, and ignored by my doctor (not uncommon, many RA sufferers — who happen to mostly be women — go un- or misdiagnosed for years). When I got a real job with insurance again, my new doctor actually did listen to me when I complained about the various aches and pains and the fact that I was tired all the gosh darn time. Not to mention that I also packed on close to thirty pounds in less than four years.

She took the two-hour naps every afternoon and weight gain into consideration, ran some tests and discovered that my thyroid had slacked off and my metabolism had suffered as a result. A while later, when I mentioned the achy knees and various other parts that give me trouble, she theorized that I might have RA and sent me to a specialist.

RA is an auto-immune disease (of which there are about a dozen and, once you get one, chances are good that you’ll develop others) where your immune system is somehow convinced that connective tissue and other necessities of the joints and other body parts are invasive and need to be attacked and kicked out.

After being officially diagnosed and talking with the specialist and his physician’s assistant, several things started making sense. My thyroid, it turns out, was probably damaged by the RA (or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis which is another auto-immune disease and causes hypothyroidism). My cold hands are a result of Reynaud’s Phenomenon (or Secondary Reynaud’s — constricted blood flow to the outer extremities when exposed to cold or stress) which many RA sufferers develop. The achy joints, of course, are from cartilage the RA has ravaged.

As of now, I have RA damage/pain in my knees, elbows and, as mentioned, my thyroid and hands. My knees are definitely the worst off with my hands a very close second with being cold all of the time and experiencing cramping or spasms at the most inopportune times (the shampoo bottle and my foot have enjoyed several encounters early in the morning). Compared to most of my rheumatologist’s patients, I’m not all that bad off. I’m lucky that I’m young and was diagnosed (relatively) early to begin treating the disease. However, having RA, it’s entirely possible that things will only get worse with age (which is why I’m trying to get in shape now) and, as I said, once you have one auto-immune disorder you’re that much more likely to develop any number of others. Plus, the RA itself doesn’t necessarily stop with the cartilage in your joints when there are all sorts of other tissues in the body it can attack like the heart and lungs. Fortunately this is very rare.

To counteract the affects of RA, I take an anti-inflammatory almost every day and an anti-malarial agent. The anti-inflammatory keeps inflammation — and pain — at bay. Part of why I’m trying to lose weight is because the less weight on my knees, the fewer pills I’ll hopefully have to take for pain and inflammation. The anti-malarial pill, for reasons I don’t think anyone is really all that sure of, helps to slow the disease’s progress and, hopefully, prevents further damage. Oh, and of course, I take a hormone replacement to compensate for the vacation my thyroid took.

And that, my friends, is more information than you ever really wanted to know about Rheumatoid Arthritis. Just remember, I’m not a doctor — I don’t even play one on TV — and all the stuff above, while it sounds convincing, is based on what I’ve understood from the rheumatologist and research I’ve done on my own.