I'm a little scared...

I've seen that some of us has RA and I was wondering if you guys and gals have any experiences to tell me on how yours developed.  My right hand has been hurting a pain I can't really describe and things like handshakes and opening doors hurt.  It wasn't too terribly noticeable until last year around this time when both hands started to hurt pretty bad and frequent.  Little things have been getting hard to do like opening jars and pop bottles and now they hurt with the weather.  Around christmas last year I noticed that my feet were starting to hurt the same way.  In the foot and mostly the balls of my feet and toes.  Figured out that the right foot (ball of my foot and up) hurts when the temp changes suddenly and doesn't do it gradually and the left when storms are coming.  Funny thing is when the storm gets here my foot is fine.  My wrists were next  in the timeline I can't quite pinpoint and then in the last few months my ankles have been hurting.  So I made an appointment with the rheumy and its not until this august.  Oh the thing that made me resort to the rheumy is my physical therapist and one co-worker said that its possible I have RA.  Can anyone help?

Thank you so much for posting, Karen!  You have no idea how good it feels when I get a post back because where I'm at in the world I don't know anyone with fibro.  But at least thru online I know I'm not alone and have found hundreds of fibromites.  Though I wish there wasn't so many.  I would never wish this on anyone.  I recently tried to get another co-worker to understand what its like to have fibro and why its my life and makes my relief so angry in the mornings that he acts childish and uses his sucking up skills to get out of duties because of me.  I have tried to explain to that guy that I do my best and sometimes can't always get all of my stuff done on my shift.  So with this other guy I wrote him a list of "I can't" and told him to read the spoon theory.  Naturally he just read the list.  We still have to discuss what he thought that I CAN do, but I am nervous and angry at the same time because a healthy person can't tell a person with a chronic illness that they CAN do stuff that they've already explained they can't.  Like right now I'm in the middle of a flare up that was caused by me wearing my harness boots like the bikers wear on their harleys last night because my husband and I went to a movie and I wanted to feel pretty.  I knew I couldn't be too pissed (that's my way of getting across that I'm more than angry) that I wore them because I did choose to wear them.  However that's the stuff I was trying to get across to him that I can't do.  Not without consequences and not without difficulty.  There's something I can't do and refuse to do.  Other things I will do them because I have to, but its not without challenge.  Sorry I had to vent that for a second.  I wish I had the answers to help treat and soothe my pains and stiffness, but I'm still understanding what it means to live with a chronic condition.  I was raised in a family where my father has a slight handicap.  He wasn't born with full arms or hands.  He has a finger on each hand.  He wasn't raised to think that he was a freak or that he couldn't do nearly everything that a normal person could.  So its hard for me to wrap my head around what fibro will mean for my future.  I haven't even gotten to start a family.

Hi again, I just saw your new post. I'm sorry you are hurting. It is really difficult to
explain to others what we are dealing with because they cannot feel our pain. I told my
husband once that it is like having a total body sprain and being crushed. In time your
husband will see what you are able to do and what you can't. The biggest thing is you have
to give yourself a break and try to pace yourself so you are not constantly overdoing.

Fibro is difficult but in time you do learn to live with it. I still have an enjoyable life.
I do feel your pain, I think we have all been there. Sending gentle hugs!

Hugs, Robin

I have had my hands and feet hurt...hurt a lot!  I, too, thought I might be getting RA because RA is in my family.  Osteoarthritis is too.  So, I really didn't want to know and just kept on doing my best.

 

My hands got so bad that I couldn't open jars.  I bought a jar key and that helped.  I also had a rubber disk that I put on the top and that help me get lids off.  My daughter even bought me an electric appliance that removes lids because my hands were so bad.  My right hand, expecially, around the thumb and the bone at the "thumb side" of my wrist.  I could barely move my thumb and so holding a pen was next to impossible.  I started practicing writing with my left hand.  That bone on the wrist got hot and the muscles were inflammed.  Taking ibuprofen did help with this.  This went on for months and then started to go away.  I not longer have that problem.

 

My feet were bad, too.  I had the ball of my foot hurt and then the following year, the joints in a couple of toes.  My foot even swelled some.  My doctor though I might have gout and gave me medication but nothing worked.  My feet problems aways happened in the winter and then clear up when the weather got warmer.  BUT this year I didn't have the problem.  I really think it's the vitamin D3 I am taking but time will tell.

 

So the bottom line is, I have had a lot of what you are describing and it has all gone away.  I do think fibro plays into this.  My fingers still lock a little.  If I close my hand in a fist and then try to open it, my fingers will slightly lock and then pop when I get them straightened out.  I don't know why but it isn't high on my list of priorities! 

 

So, try to relax.  Your being frightened about it will just make things worse.  You will get to the bottom of this.  Who knows?  Maybe by the time August rolls around, they won't hurt!  Let us know what the doctor says, okay?  We really do care.

 

Sherrine