Newbie
Hi.
I'm Andy, new to the forum. Diagnosed with RA sept 2021. Feeling a bit lost, confused, frustrated. I live In the Wigan area and I'm struggling to find a local support group for advice and support.
After spending the last week or 2 sticking to a really good anti inflammatory diet I'm now having a flare up. Hardly seems fair does it. Anyway, hello everyone 🙂
Andy, welcome to RA.net! Everyone here can understand feeling a bit lost, especially the first year after diagnosis. This is a great place to come for both information and support. Flare ups never seem fair! Or well timed! I hope you have been able to start care with a Rheumatologist and get started on a treatment plan. Some people do have good luck with an anti-inflammatory diet, but many need additional treatments. Take some time and cruise through the website - there is a ton of information here. And, please, post questions and updates on how you are doing. With Hope and Best Wishes, Jo Hi Jo. Thank you so much for your reply, and welcome. I have had an initial assessment with a rhumatologist along with a hand scan which shown chronic inflammation. I'm now awaiting a follow up appointment, which seems to be taking forever with the "covid backlog". I'm very apprehensive about dmards too but I'm at the point where my condition is regularly affecting my day to day life 😔
, hi Andy! I am so glad you found us, though I wish there were no need for a community like this one. I hear you about finding local support. Arthritis.org may have support groups in your area, but I don't know if they would be meeting (due to covid) and Arthritis.org is for all forms of arthritis -- including OA, RA, etc. They do have online support communities, too. You can see if they have any thing that might meet your needs -- https://www.arthritis.org/home. Also, I like the CreakyJoints community for information -- https://creakyjoints.org. And, of course, our community has lots of support and information, too. But, I know have local, in-person support can really help and I hope you are able to find that in your community.
Hang in there and please know you're not alone! I hope you are able to get that appointment soon (that covid backlog is NO joke)!
Best, Erin, RheumatoidArthritis.net Team Member.Hi Erin.
Thank you so much for all the information. I'll check it all out. So where are we all from on here ? Is it mainly UK or USA users ? I'm near Manchester UK by the way., I think a good chunk of us are in the US, but we are definitely getting more international members. We have at least a few folks from Great Britain and Australia and other European countries. I believe we have a couple folks from the Middle East and such, but I don't know for sure. I, myself, am smackdab in the middle of the US Midwest (Indiana, to be exact). We are based in the US but we are always welcoming international members and doing our best to provide safe information pertinent to other nations. It's a work in progress 😉
Best, Erin, RheumatoidArthritis.net Team Member.
