Welcome to our area.
If possible, I do think that health should come first. Some people do not have many options - their job may be providing your health insurance plan, family responsibilities, etc. For me, my husband would like to retire when he is 65 - but I need health insurance, so he has to work for another 18 months, so I can qualify for medicare. RA is not cheap. That is what he gets for marrying a younger woman! :)

I do not understand why being self-employed is considered a step back. It does give me more flexibility depending on how I feel. There are times that I have hearings and appointments when I need to be places at specific times, but if I can not sleep, I can take care of paperwork and emails at 3:00 a.m. If I want to take a nap in the middle of the day, I can do that. On the down side, being self-employed means that there may not be a steady paycheck. On the upside, for me, my office is in my home, which I love.

There are wonderful people here. I am glad you found us.

Luckily I'm from the UK and have the NHS, which is just wonderful. They have really looked after me the last 2 years. I'm hoping self-employed is going to work for me. I can see lots of advantages. I'm just struggling getting my business off the ground at the moment and it can feel quite lonely when things aren't happening...

I'm a second grade teacher. Luckily, my med cocktail is working at the moment, because those little kiddos can be exhausting. At this point, I carry the insurance for my family of 5 and we need my income. I really take it one year at a time. Sometimes even when I'm feeling bad, going to work can get my mind off my pain. The exhaustion is what really hits me. I feel like a deflated balloon! When I get home from work, I have my 3 kiddos to take care of. My hubby works from home and is extremely helpful.
I think you are lucky to be able to make the decision to become self-employed. Best of luck!

Juls

I pushed it for a year and a half working after my symptoms really started affecting my ability to work- fatigue, concentration, critical thinking. I gave up a lot in my personal/ family life to maintain enough energy to keep going. I worked autonomously & was able to adjust my work around my most difficult times, that's the only reason I could keep working.After hand surgery in December I had a major flare and that took me down and I had to stop working. I'm 57 and am on permanent disability. I just have myself to support so that makes it somewhat easier.
You'll find many different stories here, I haven't found medication to help me enough to get back on my feet, some do.
Don't get the criticism you're getting for being self employed, my only thought would be the benefits and disability plan that come with being employed with an employer you may need, I did .
Resting a lot is a large part of managing symptoms for me, plus the pain medication I need to take now, I couldn't do the job.

I was diagnosed 2 years ago next month. I am a nurse. I do not work in a hospital, clinic, or nursing home that would require me to be on my feet all day. There is no way I could do that!

I work for a community support agency which assist adults with disabilities in living the best lives possible. I spend much of my time at my desk or at a meeting table. I do get up and down through out the day to do assessments and give medications. I sometimes have to do a fair amount of driving through out the day. That is hard on my feet, hands and arms sometimes. Once in awhile I need to assist in lifting or positioning a person who cannot do it for themselves. I may pay for that for several days.

Working is very hard on me and takes 99% of my energy. However I do need the income and the medical insurance. It is just my husband and I at home so thankfully I don't have to take care of my son anymore (he's 22 and on his own now). If I could be self-employed and work from home, on my own schedule I would do it in a heart beat!

I recently went back to work and I love it. It took a long time to decide what would fit with an "RA life".
I am a receptionist (Office Aide) at a middle school. It pays way more than disability but I will be off a week at Thanksgiving, Two weeks at Christmas, one week in March and 10 weeks in the summer. And I get 5 sick days and 5 off days. My job involves sitting mostly but I do get up and walk to take messages, sort mail, make lots of bathroom trips if I've taken prednisone :), but overall it's a great low impact job.
I make sure that I walk in the evening. Right now my RA is in check for the most part. But even if I was a mess, I could mostly do the job.
Another option was to work in a doctor's office, but the time off would have been much less. I have a 12 and 14yr old so being off summer with them is a priority.

My hope is that we are just waiting for the cure. That we can hold on til that happens. It's coming....just wish it was faster.

PS. My income is far less than it used to be, but like I said, way better than disability. And a plus side for me is it's a decent distraction from the body aches, pains, twitches, whatever is happening that day.

RASally's post could have well been written by myself - an exact summary of my journey and also being the same age.

It took me a long time but I am getting better coming to terms with this new way of life. I absolutely know now that I can never go back to being my pre-RA self. The reinvention of myself has been the hardest part. I am still searching for things to do with my hands and mind while I have to spend most of my days in my chair.

Not only did I have to stop working 3 years ago, I now can only handle leaving the homestead once every other week to do our grocery run. Even that I have to kind of save up a couple days ahead of time - make sure I do absolutely nothing so I can get in the truck and drive. Then it is a given that for 2 days afterward I am crippled up to the point of barely being able to walk or use my hands/arms. Then before you know it the 2 week cycle comes back around.

Glad you signed up and joined us!

I'm 57, the main wage-earner at our house, and we have two kids in college. As long as I'm able to haul my sorry self in, heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go. As you've seen here, others haven't had to make a choice: going to work became just plain impossible.

It's always a balancing act between money, family, whether you like what you do, and your health. No hard and fast rules about health always coming first, or last for that matter. Yes, you absolutely have to take care of yourself, but there are days where it's more important to do what needs to be done. Juggling RA and a demanding, all-consuming career may not be in your best interests, though. Do what you feel you need to do, and to heck with what anyone else thinks.

Hi jjr and welcome.Thanks for starting this thread. I actually have been working as a registered nurse for the longest.. I am now looking at an early retirement. I was diagnosed with RA about 12 years ago and the RA has been progressively worse. Fortunately when I was diagnosed with RA I was working in a clinic. I am still working i a clinic setting now which at times can be very busy. There are some days I cannot put my feet on the floor. I have an FMLA in place so I am not penalized ever for calling out. So for me self employment is not an answer, but I am looking into teaching nursing online as a supplement to income when I do retire, I have been on many biologics, many of which have stopped working for me. Even with the biologics I still have breakthrough pain and am being managed by pain management doctor for that.

When I got RA in 1999 I was knocked flat. I was not diagnosed properly for 2 years, but I couldn't get out of bed, let alone teach classes of French to kids from grade 4 to 7.

So I applied for disability for different reasons, and I've been on it ever since. I have to "retire" this year to pension. It feels weird - I've been employed since forever. LOL

There was no alternative for me to do my own business, as I was much too sick the first 6 years. When I finally got on a good combo, I asked my union health person if I should come back to work, and she said, no, because the meds often fail. I was pretty certain I was good to go!

Two weeks later, mthx failed, and the Sulfasalazine 8 months later. Kineret was dead in the water. Plus I had my foot reconstructed and to this day the pain is so bad, I can barely walk. Be careful if someone pushes foot reconstruction on you! My left foot is very deformed, toes crossed, huge bunion and it hurts much less than the reconstructed one.

So I think it depends upon how severe your RA is, and how well your meds work. I guess self employment would be better for controlling your environment.

I did go back to school on-line and get my MDiv, and got ordained as a pastor. But I am not even well enough to do volunteer chaplain work.

I do hope you can keep the self employment going!

I'll be 57 in November
diagnosed with RA in 1998 or so
rf and anticcp positive with every manifestation known
can't take biologics
had to retire at 56
i take 6 sulfasalzine tabs a day
and prednisone burst about three times a year for flare ups
and i read this forum everyday to help me

I went on disability 6 months after dx. After 4 years I'm now able to work about 9 hours a week. I'm starting Humira soon and I'm really hoping that it helps with the fatigue. It is far more disabling than the pain. I was a middle school teacher of 120 students daily.
I now teach at college level and its so much easier. I'm 53.... diaged 6 years ago.

When I first had symptoms, I was fortunate to be a persistent person and worked through six doctors before I got diagnosed sernoegativve RA. That first year was a bugger, and I had to get coworker help at times, sometimes take off a day or two. Fortunately, I have not had to submit an ADA claim and still have my full time college advisor job. I get pretty stiff, so I get up at least twice per hour. MTX was taking good care of me until a few months ago; now I have Orencia. When I get home, some days I can hardly keep my eyes open! I live on a ranch and raise purebred goats and am thankful my husband helps (even though he is 'just' the tractor man and doesn't own goats himself!). I just take it one day at a time. It CAN get better!

I am still new to this. I still work full-time as an engineer, mostly in office setting with some outdoor, onsite work occasionally. My view on the importance of my career has changed. I prioritize making sure a feel well and am better balanced Work/Life than just being all in and over working myself. I am only 32 so I am not sure how this will affect my career or play out. We shall see.