intimacy and relationships

Hi . That is an interesting question and I suspect the individual circumstances will play a large role in the answer. I'm tagging fellow team member because I know that after a lifetime of RA (diagnosed at age nine) he has dealt with this issue and he wrote about it here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/telling-others-about-your-ra. In addition, Angela wrote about it here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/dating-disclose-chronic-illness.

I can also tell you that I happen to be the husband of someone with RA. My wife, Kelly Mack (a contributor here) was diagnosed at age two, 46 years ago. She has used a wheelchair since childhood, so disclosure was never really an issue or rather reduced to a conversation about a very visible disability (she wrote about our relationship here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/surprise-relationship).

As you can see, there are a variety of views and circumstances and I tend to think it boils down to what you are comfortable discussing and when. You should never feel you have to explain anything before you are ready and you deserve to be treated as a whole person. Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts. Best, Richard (Team Member)

Honestly... there’s no ‘right’ timeline, . I think that it depends on a lot of factors when someone does decided to share such personal information. Some people share it early on, others wait until they feel comfortable or it naturally comes up. I think it really depends on your comfort level and how much you want that person to understand what you’re going through. My rule of thumb, ALWAYS do what feels right to you. All the best, Latoya (Team Member)