Interesting article. I think we have touched a bit on this topic a couple of times here recently - about not "appearing" to be in pain to others who seem to try to diminish what we must be going through. I've had two such experiences just recently, one with my own brother who was visiting from out west. I had mentioned in an email what a difficult time I was having this past year. We were visiting in my living room and he actually said "well, I'm glad to see that you look like you are doing pretty good." I guess that must have been because I wasn't lying in an iron lung or restricted to a wheel chair with a live in nurse (yet). I was really taken aback by his comment. I honestly didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything.

Then, just recently, I told my boss and personnel office that I am planning on having surgery for my finger (boutonniere deformity). When they asked about it, I showed them my finger and they both actually gasped! (I'm thinking to myself, if they only knew!) If they could somehow see a physical representation of the cumulative misery this demon has caused me for the last 45 years, they would have fallen on the floor.

For the most part, people don't see what we are going through, so it is somehow simply "not there" or not real. And as the article states, this "invisible pain" haunts a lot more people than just those of us with RA.

Agreed. Unless it's my feet flaring or when everything swelled to double it's size - no one knew.

Wow - this article is almost as if it's written by me - I have Type 1 diabetes and hypothyroidism - and now RA - (among many other little things that only add up when combined with these) - all autoimmune diseases - with added complications of their own - so I have lived with chronic pain for many years -

I have often dealt with guilt - when I have a good day and can get some things done around the house or yard - I feel a tremendous amount of guilt thinking that I should be at work - or that maybe I'm just a hypochondriac and making too much of my conditions - I have been off work for the past two months - the longest that I have ever been off work - so I am running through sick leave hours that I have accumulated over the years -

I think that the hardest part is that the only time that I go out is when I'm having a good day - so people only see that side of me - not the days when I'm at home walking around like Frankenstein struggling to get upstairs or straining to open things - lol -

Great article - thank you for posting it