Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction.
I've had severe RA for 12yrs. now and I need not tell you "the hell" all of us go thru on a daily basis......I really work at keeping an open heart and have stoppted sharing with my children and siblings as I feel they don't want to deal with it....Maybe it hurts them to see their once active Mother and once active sibling be where I am and they can't deal with it......They don't u'stand why I can't go certain places and do certain things? It's hard when they've never been in these shoes....I'm so glad to have found this site; maybe it's a place where one can truly understand the physical and emotional things we deal with when being stricken with this disease.
I must say, there has been good things thru all of this! I have learned to have more compassion for illness.....when I was so healthy, I didn't have much tolerance for those who weren't......admiration for every one of you working thru this.....PATIENCE........I was the Queen of being impatient with those who were ill....... now I have a totally new outlook. There's many more lessons I have learned over the past 12yrs. however, that's enough for now.
.Would appreciate some feedback about family situation.......have they changed since RA and if so, how do you cope with them.
Thank-you so much
vjewel
I must say, there has been good things thru all of this! I have learned to have more compassion for illness.....when I was so healthy, I didn't have much tolerance for those who weren't......admiration for every one of you working thru this.....PATIENCE........I was the Queen of being impatient with those who were ill....... now I have a totally new outlook. There's many more lessons I have learned over the past 12yrs. however, that's enough for now.
.Would appreciate some feedback about family situation.......have they changed since RA and if so, how do you cope with them.
Thank-you so much
vjewel
IT CERTAINLY DOES CHANGE THINGS. AGAIN, THANK YOU
learning about others is about the only great thing about cp.
using a website where theirs others that have pain and that helps as they understand the daily stuggles that cp does.
Thank-you for writing. Hope for a good day.
my friends that arent on ds are very understanding and help out alot, takng kids to school and having them over so i can rest.
i say i am very lucky to have friends and family that understand how cp has changed my life.
it took a couple of years for family to understand and for the past 10 years they have being great.they make sure they go to places where i can sit and watch and join in when i can,
I do not blame them because I too took good health for granted, back when I owned it.
People have zero understanding of the effort required to do even the simplest tasks when arthritis takes over a body.
Except those who are extremely close to us, I do not think we can "teach" others what chronic pain and disability are like or expect them to have much understanding of it. They can still move fast and should certainly continue to do so!
Just tell them you will catch up in a little while then find yourself a bench and wait for them to come back. LOL.
With that said - welcome to DailyStrength!
Vicki