do people yawn when you say "arthritis"

Shann...I noticed that you also have the pernicous anemia? Are you on Methotrexate by chance? I was also diagnosed with it and on Vitamin B12 injections. But the times I have gone off of the MTX, my anemia has gone away, and my blood work for it has been normal.  The minute I start back on the MTX, the anemia comes back (low B12). Just some food for thought:)

That is appalling about the "intervention" I have a neighbor and her husband told my husband that she is addicted to pain meds, and needs rehab, and I thought to myself, I wonder if she has chronic pain and is she really addicted? I have a prescription and I only take one per day, if that because I don't want my doctor to think I"m becoming "addicted" to my pills, it is ridiculous

I have yet another sinus infection -my third since being on humira. This one combined with the recent heat wave- brought me to Doctor for a breathing treatment for my asthma. I have had asthma for 5-6 years. My chest never hurt as much as it did yesterday. it was different kind of pain. The doctor said I have Pluerisy (? spelling) It is an inflamation of the lining of the lung. She asked me when do I see my RA doc next,,,
I said next week,. She said I should mention the pleurisy to her. Does anyone know if there is a conncetion with RA and Pluerisy? She put me on antibiotics and good old prednisone..
So the prednisone will help my asthma, my pluersiy and of course my RA..

I am currently only on Humira It seems to have given me the most relief of all meds so far. I still have pain but the swelling is visably MUCH less,

wow, these posts are amazing...everyone seems to have the same thoughts,and experiences.

I too feel tired alll the time,and hurt all day long, and get the looks of your just lazy or over-dramatizing .  I work as a cashier and sometimes my 'invisible inflammation' of my fingers make it difficult to pick up change or reciepts to give to customers.  I just say "man my fingers aren't working today", and they just think I am fumbling or trying to rush and laugh it off. But what I mean is exactly what I am saying.....they wont work...they arent bending or are hurting to use.  Also I had to help a customer get a propane tank, as we sell them where you bring in your old empty and trade for a new full one, and I said to the man "I will let you get it down off the shelf, as I cant its too heavy", he kinda gave me a dirty look like I was younger than him (I am 35 but still get I.D checks to see if I am 19).  So I proceeded to tell him I have arthritis and it was too heavy for me to lift down....he just kinda gave me the 'blow off smile' and said something to the effect of ya arthritis hurts.....so I then told him YA and I have it in Every possible joint you can think of in my body and I am already hurting today so I didnt want to make my hands (and thought arms,wrists,shoulders, the list goes on and on) hurt more as I had to work till the store closed.  It was only then after I was getting kinda frustrated at him that the little light went on in his head   and he kinda went "oh..." and he told me he hoped I would have a good afternoon and feel better.  I thanked him and went back into the store to deal with my next customer.  Now mind ya I dont tell Every customer my problems, I just deal with them, but he was just making me mad because I was just trying to politely ask him to get his own propane down and he hit my last nerve that day.....

I try not to complain at home as it makes my sons (7 and 5) feel bad for me, and I dont think they should have to worry about their mom, its MY job to worry about THEM!  So when they ask me to play and if I am hurting at that time I just sometimes tell them maybe later that I am 'busy' doing something...like last night I was eating my dinner so I said maybe later I was eating...but then when I was done my son asked me again...and I hate telling him I am sore but I had to fess up because i just couldnt use my fingers to play the game he wanted me to play.  He was okay with it, but it kills me to have to tell him no.

I play with them dont get me wrong, most times I just play and deal with the extra pain cause its Totally worth it to see their happy smiles.  But its heartbreaking when you have to tell your child you cant play with them, so I understand what others are posting.

OOPs my post is getting really long...sorry  guess I needed to vent more than I thought....thanks for the support

hope you all have a good day ((gentle hugs))

It can be extremely frustrating as for any arthritis they just think of a stereotypical osteoarthritis in elderly people, and assume I'm a little stiff sometimes... not realising it entails extremely potent medications (christ, MTX is chemotherapy, effectively).

I tend to keep it vague, if it needs to be mentioned, I will say I have an autoimmune disorder. It works well, because then if you need to elaborate you can describe your symptoms without predudice or prejudgement which people are naturally vulnerable to.