Newcomer With Severe RA
Hey people,
Mine is a story similar to many of yours. I am a 58-year-old (tough as nails as my husband puts it) woman who was and still tries to be very active. In my younger years I was a jogger/marathon runner, a body builder, a fitness center owner, taught phys ed for 13 years, drove a school bus and participated in many physical activities including self defense/karate.
In 2009 my family doctor thought that I had RA and sent me to a specialist. We lived in Raleigh, NC at the time so of course I went to one there. She looked at me for maybe two minutes and said that I did not have it. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but I did not realize this at the time. I have since been diagnosed for RA, Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis. I am on countless medications and I just told my husband that with the life style that I lived that I would have never thought in a million years that I would in such poor physical health, but there is no prevention against this auto immune disease that strikes many of us very hard.
I cannot do most of the things that I used to do. In fact, it is difficult for me to even straighten out my hands in the morning. At times I walk with a sever limp due to the pain in my back. My hands and arms are going numb on me more and more often. The pain is so severe at times that like many of you, I want to throw in the towel for good sometimes, but I want to watch my grandchildren grow up and grow old with my husband. Still, it is becoming ever more difficult to function. My RA doctor has painted a bleak picture of gloom and doom for my future. My husband was quite upset that he did that because he feels that we need to examine as many options as possible. In other words, whatever it takes!!!
So my question to all of you is, "Is there ANY light at the end of the tunnel”??? ........ or are we fighting a futile battle against the inevitable??
I need some feedback here because I am running short on hope.
Thanks to all who read this.
Linda G.
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