Just diagnosed/RA and I have Muscular Dystrophy

Oh, goodness, ! Your post made me chuckle and then I felt guilty! I, too, have inherited some less-than-ideal diagnoses from the ol' family tree. And I would rather have gotten something tangible with less, well, pain and trouble?

In all seriousness, I am sorry you are dealing with even more diagnoses. It's not uncommon for autoimmune conditions to travel in pairs (or packs) and to often bring some tag-a-long comorbidities. Sigh. I do hope you have a crack medical team that is capable of handling complex medical situations like yours.

And please know you are not alone here! While other members may not have the exact same list of conditions as you, many of them can relate to juggling multiple health conditions.

Also, if you happen to be interested, we just launched a new community dedicated to Sjogren's, which you are welcome to check out -- https://sjogrens-disease.com/. But, we also have a fair amount of information about Sjogren's on this site, since quite a few people with RA will also deal with Sjogren's.

And may these latest diagnoses be the LAST you add to your list!

Best, Erin, Team Member.

Hi . Wow, you really do have your hands full. I can't say with quite this combination, but I know many here understand multiple comorbidities. My wife, Kelly Mack (a contributor here), was diagnosed with a severe case at age two, 47 years ago. She has collected a few other conditions over the years. It is important (and frankly amazing) that you have managed to maintain a sense of humor. A number of years ago Kelly did this video on finding the humor in RA: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/video/video-finding-the-humor-in-ra
As Erin mentioned, I'm sure coordinating care and the insurance is no easy task. For a long time Kelly had a GP who served basically as a gatekeeper for coordinating between the various specialists. Do you have a method of coordinating things that, hopefully, keeps it from taking over your life? Best, Richard (Team Member)

Dear and ,
Thank you so much for your responses! I appreciated both of your kind words and support. I actually chucked reading your reply, Erin, so please… no need to feel guilty at all! Laughter is the very best medicine!! 😀


I’m very fortunate to have an excellent GP and specialists that are all in coordination with each other due to my multitude of issues, and because the universe has such a great sense of humor, my rheumatologist informed me at my last visit that I also tested positive for lupus, in the latest round of testing she did, so basically Rhupus syndrome (lupus/rheumatoid arthritis overlap is how she described it) Sigh… I think I might need a list of things I DON’T have.. haha.. it may turn up shorter. lol…
I did sign up on lupus.org, as well to get more information.
Thank you for sending the link to your wife, Kelly’s video. I’ll be watching it as soon as I’m done responding.
I look forward to getting to know everyone here and becoming more familiar with this site. I’m not very tech savvy so it takes may take me a minute to find my footing. Thank you again and have a fantastic day! All the best!
Melie1313 (Melissa)