1. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you are too sick to get to work, even though you work at home.
2. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when the first 4 ‘favourites’ in your GPS navigator are medical specialists. Your GP/primary care doc isn’t in the list because you see him so often the car can pretty much drive itself there.
3. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when all your shoes are flat and slip on. You don’t own any clothes with fiddly buttons and all your pants are elastic waisted.
4. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you still use your electric blanket in the summer.
5. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you see the nurse who draws your blood more often than you see the friends you used to have before you got RA.
6. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you buy yourself new heat packs for a ‘treat’.
7. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you reach your medical expense thresholds in the first month of the financial year.
8. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you share your bed with heat packs more often than you share it with your husband. And you prefer it that way.
9. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you finally get fed up and ask your friend who has ‘arthritis’ too, what DMARD she is on, and if she’s tried a biologic, and how she feels about taking low dose chemotherapy. You compliment her on her stilettos and the lovely rings she’s wearing. And realise she just doesn’t get it and never will.
10. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when a PAP test is one of the more pleasant tests/procedures you have to undergo regularly.
11. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you have to choose between the potentially deadly effects of the disease or the potentially deadly side effects of the medications to control it.
12. You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you know that the Spoon theory has nothing to do with eating.
13. Edit! You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when your doc nicknames you ‘holiday house’ because your constant visits fund his vacations.
14. Edit! You know you have Rheumatoid Arthritis when you have everything from paracetamol, through codeine forte, tramadol…right up to morphine and endone in your medicine kit. And you select from it depending on the pain level today.
My wife has RA and I can certainly relate to number 8. Although I can never truly understand the pain of RA, I do see just how devistating it can be. It’s nice sometimes to read a blog like this that puts a comical spin on some of the horrible downsides of the disease.
When you get all excited about a day / night out then have to cancel due to RA
When the medicine box is full of meds other than first aid equipment and panadol
When you see your doctor so often that you just continue with the last joke you were talking about and everyone remembers right where you were.
When you’ve literally tried every shoe insole available at the pharmacy and get excited when your favorite one goes on sale.
#3 & 7 made me laugh out loud!
I’m glad, Kathleen. We could all use a laugh!
When the pharmacist asks himself, “Wasn’t she just here yesterday?”
And knows your name and all of your prescriptions by heart 🙂
When you carry a drs letter in your handbag stating that you can by mersyndol more than once a month
Nice one 🙂
when your rheumy feels like family & jokes about your hubby & calls you by a nickname
So true! I see my rheumy more often than a lot of my friends!
When your joints sound like rice krispies when you get up in the morning.
Yes!!! Maybe even all day 🙂
A year ago none of my joints made a sound…well, maybe occasionally. Now my feet, ankles, shoulders and hips crack. Funny…that’s all the places that hurts most of the time. And you’re right, not just in the morning but the morning does seem like they all crack at the same time.
As someone who just took a day off work (and today was a work from home day) because of RA, I could totally relate to Number 1. And I really felt like I needed a laugh after farewelling my children from bed (electric blanket on!).
But number 9 really got up my nose. When I go to work I always wear kick-arse heels and fifties dresses. I don’t look sick, I don’t want to look sick and I want to focus on work, not RA. So I really don’t need judgement for not ‘getting it’. I’ve been taking a truckload of drugs since I was 19. I often feel like shit. But I don’t need to look like I feel. I do get it. I’m in pain. High heels are more pain. But at least it’s not ‘disease’. I feel like any other woman in her thirties, even when I have the bone structure of an eighty year old.
Fair call, Bridget. I do things that cause me pain, because they give me some happiness as well. If high heels make you feel more good than bad, then they’re worth it.
This list gives a good insight into what having rheumatoid arthritis is like. Thanks for sharing.