What did you find most helpful to you when you were first diagnosed?

Hi ,

Welcome to RheumatoidArthritis.net. Being newly diagnosed is a scary and overwhelming place to be. You are definitely not alone in this. You may appreciate this article in which people share what they would have told their newly-diagnosed self — https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/what-would-your-current-self-say-to-your-newly-diagnosed-self/ .

There is a lot of great fundamental information on our website that can be found under the Menu at the top of the page. When I was first diagnosed, I turned to my rheumatologist and the Arthritis Foundation for information, as well as patient stories.

Hopefully some additional community members will share their own tips.

Best, Lisa

Hi Lisa, thank you for sharing. It’s nice to know I’m not alone!

I want to welcome you as well to our humble little site. I suggest patient to patient meetings as a good approach.

I suggest looking at the arthritis foundation connect groups in your area for local connect meeting. They are all over the US and some are exceptional while others are still good places to start.

Hi Newtome. Along the same lines as what Lisa shared, one of our other contributors, Carla, did a series on things she would tell her newly diagnosed self (I highly recommend all of them). The first article is on getting the diagnosis: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/no-1-its-just-a-diagnosis/. One of the things that she notes is that "if I could go back and talk to me, I would tell myself just that. That an RA diagnosis is not the end of the world. It’s an opportunity to make things better." Know that you are not alone and always welcome here. Best, Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team)