#RA autoimmune disorder

[life-after-65]

Diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis

Once a person has at least one joint that is painful and inflamed, a rheumatologist can use a ten point check to help diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The assessment covers four areas: joint involvement, serology, acute phase reactants plus duration of symptoms. There is a total of ten points. A score of six confirms a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Here is how it breaks down. Choose one…

[gypsy-that-i-was]

I WILL have this….

[machinedramon]

legit wondering if when I start going to the doc for all my physical shit I should ask abt who I should see abt maybe getting mood stabilizers

i'm sick of this unending cycle of getting eight million ideas and scrambling from one to the next before burning myself out on all of them and falling into a depression and hating myself for not doing any of the eight million things I was excited about

[proseka-headcanons]

Since autoimmune disorders (which are my closest bet as to what Saki's condition is) often come alongside Rhumetoid Arthritis, I like to think that Saki struggles with that as well, needing the support of things like crutches or a wheelchair on especially bad pain days. Early after reuniting with Leo/need she would often try to push through the pain, but they helped her realize that its okay to rest and take it easy when she needed to.

Furthermore, since RA often runs in families, I can see Tsukasa developing it to an extent later on. He's terrified at first, what if he has a flare-up before an important show? What if he can't perform properly in musicals anymore? Will this ruin him as a star? Thankfully WxS and his siblings and friends are there to support him, and he slowly manages to learn to manage his condition alongside his dreams.

(I have neither RA nor any other autoimmune disorders, so please lmk if anything I said here was inaccurate or offensive!)

this is so real…. they support each other so much. To Me

[covenawhite66]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues, resulting in inflammation, particularly in the joints.

This person was likely dealing with a condition that caused swelling, soreness and mobility issues.

[walkawaytall]

Kinda lost my mind earlier after some blood test results came back and told the new rheumatologist I saw last week exactly how I was feeling about her walking back a diagnosis I’ve had for two years with very little evidence.

I am willing to be wrong about having RA. But not without compelling evidence when I had symptoms and bloodwork that indicated I have it at the time of diagnosis and I responded well to hydroxychloroquine — which is not something that would help pain from fibromyalgia or hypermobility. And considering she was real quick to say anti-CCP antibody blood tests can have false positives but didn’t mention that at least one older study indicated that the frequency of false negatives is actually higher than that of false positives, I don’t actually count my most recent negative test to be compelling evidence in isolation (I had two of these tests come back positive a month apart in 2022, and my most recent one was negative).

(Also…okay, I don’t know how to explain this, but the speed with which she decided I didn’t have RA but did have fibromyalgia — this was all pre-blood test, mind you — struck me as this being like…maybe an area she’s passionate about or something. Maybe she’s decided to prove to the world that fibromyalgia is real and treatable and misdiagnosed as other conditions and she wants to assure her patients that fibromyalgia isn’t her brushing them off as hysterical — she knows it’s real. It did not strike me as someone carefully considering everything I had just said and weighing it with the other variables I mentioned — that I have an existing autoimmune disorder, etc. — or someone considering that I have RA symptoms — because I do — but also maybe symptoms of these other things.)

[milf-propaganda]

i haven’t used my nsfw in so long and this post isn’t even nsfw related. content warning chronic pain/illnesses.

i finally went to the doctor yesterday about my chronic pain. it’s been in my hand a lot because of my office job and it gets to the point where i’ll cry from the pain. anyway, i went thinking it’ll be carpal tunnel and the doctor told me it’s most likely not. she did two tests on my hand and ofc i didn’t have any pain. my hand was swollen but i got so nervous and told her no it wasn’t really swollen.

but…unfortunately yet fortunately she wanted to do blood work because she thinks it could be RA - rheumatoid arthritis. i did kinda figure it was arthritis but knowing this is an autoimmune disorder has my brain needing to do a ton of research. and every single thing i’ve read really makes sense. it just makes sense. and i’m really hoping the results come back positive. and not in a weird way. but sometimes i feel like i’m making up my pain. that i can’t ask for accommodations at my job or in my relationships bc of my pain.

it’s so validating and scary to know this isn’t all in my head. that anytime next week she can call and confirm something isn’t okay with my body. then i did reading that RA can affect your periods. and just like knowing my job is super fucking weird about people WFH but i’m gonna ask for that accommodation once i get my results and see a rheumatologist.

idk feeling scared and excited. its good to catch this in the early stages bc my body won’t have to deteriorate into stages 3-4 especially since those stages are like really bad. i can’t wait to have relief for my fingers and knees. i know people constantly think i’m making it up bc i’m only 26 but i’m in so much pain a lot of the time and i’m ready to just get on a routine and help my body.

[dr-smita-goel-homeopathy-clinic]

*Dr. Smita Goel Homeopathy Clinic*

www.thehomeopathyclinic.co.in

Joints are the parts of your body where your bones meet. Joints allow the bones of your skeleton to move. Joints include:

• shoulders

• hips

• elbows

• knees

Joint pain refers to discomfort, aches, and soreness in any of the body’s joints. Joint pain is a common complaint. It doesn’t typically require a hospital visit. Sometimes, joint pain is the result of an illness or injury. Arthritis is also a common cause of joint pain. However, it can also be due to other conditions or factors.

Arthritis

One of the most common causes of joint pain is arthritis. The two main forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

According to many medical orgainisation, OA is most common in adults over the age of 40. It progresses slowly and tends to affect commonly used joints like the:

• wrists

• hands

• hips

• knees

Joint pain due to OA results from a breakdown of the cartilage that serves as a cushion and shock absorber for the joints.

The second form of arthritis is RA. It more commonly affects women than men. It can deform and debilitate the joints over time. RA causes pain, inflammation, and fluid buildup in the joints as the body’s immune system attacks the membrane that lines the joints.

Other Causes

Joint pain can be caused by:

• bursitis, or inflammation of the cushioning pads around joints

• lupus

• gout

• certain infectious diseases, such as mumps, influenza, and hepatitis

• chondromalacia of the patella, or a breakdown of the cartilage in the kneecap

• an injury

• tendinitis, or inflammation of the tendon

• an infection of the bone

• overuse of a joint

• cancer

• fibromyalgia

• osteoporosis

• sarcoidosis

• rickets

Symptoms

In some cases, your joint pain will require you to see a doctor. You should make an appointment if you don’t know the cause of your joint pain and are experiencing other unexplained symptoms. You should also see a doctor if the area around the joint is swollen, red, tender, or warm to the touch, the pain persists for three days or more, or you have a fever but no other signs of the flu.

Go to the emergency room if any of the following occurs:

• You’ve experienced a serious injury.

• The joint appears deformed.

• Swelling of the joint occurs suddenly.

• The joint is completely immobile.

• You have severe joint pain.

Diagnosed

Your doctor will probably perform a physical exam. They’ll also ask you a series of questions about your joint pain. This may help to narrow down the potential causes.

A joint X-ray may be necessary to identify arthritis-related joint damage. If your doctor suspects there’s another cause, they may perform a blood test to screen for certain autoimmune disorders. They may also perform a sedimentation rate test to measure the level of inflammation in the body or a complete blood count.

Complications Associated with Joint Pain

Joint pain is often a result of the damage that occurs through normal wear and tear. However, it can also be a sign of an infection or potentially debilitating RA.

You should see your doctor if you have any unexplained joint pain, especially if it doesn’t go away on its own after a few days. Early detection and diagnosis can allow for effective treatment of the underlying cause of your discomfort.

[citrusandsalt]

I really relate to your posts and reblogs about chronic fatigue and practicing self-love. So if you’re willing to share, what are your specific disabilities?

Hi anon!

I have been really lucky to have a PCP who has gone with "well, you have the symptoms of fibro, and a family history of fibro, so let's throw some fibro treatments at you and see if they help and if they don't, we'll do something else" and they did!

So one way to look at my suite of disabilities is that I have chronic fatigue, chronic pain (especially through the top of my back and my neck), and chronic migraines with and without aura. That profile could fit a few different things, but I've gotten pretty far just by treating the symptoms and muddling through that way.

Additionally, I'm not clinically immunosuppressed, but I do get sick very easily - noticeably to my friends levels of easily, regularly hovering near my max allotment of sick days just because of having colds easily, buying and finishing the biggest boxes of DayQuil and NyQuil multiple times per year easily - and when I get sick I tend to stay sick for longer, especially coughs.

Another way to look at it is: something autoimmune is probably going on. I have a family history of RA, other arthritises, AND fibro. The symptoms I've had for a long time map to fibromyalgia, but newer symptoms also map to spondyloarthritis. So probably some combo of those! Testing is a slow process and nothing has yet come back definitive, but also nothing has come back ruling out either of them (or both of them!). Autoimmune diseases are poorly understood - especially fibromyalgia which many people suspect may "actually" be several different diseases we've dumped in the "girlies' bodies hurt, idk" bucket, so uh, stay tuned I guess.

Additionally, some people count mental illness under disability, and I have severe depression, moderate-severe cPTSD, and mild-moderate generalized anxiety.

And there's a lot of comorbidities in there! Many people who experience trauma also have autoimmune disorders because your brain and your body are actually the same thing and putting one under chronic stress puts the other under chronic stress. And many people who are chronically ill have depression because hey, when your body can't do things, it makes you sad about what you can't do. Being in pain sucks. cPTSD basically always comes bundled with depression and anxiety so that's basically a BOGO special.

A thing that I do think is interesting is the comorbidities I don't have. As far as I can tell, I don't have EDS, autism, or ADHD, and I'm not trans.

So! tl;dr: got the back-and-neck hurts disease, the heady hurt disease, the sleepy bitch disease, the bad childhood disease, and the sad bitch disease. I'm like a beautiful flower where each petal is "huh, that's kinda fucked up but not like, SUPER fucked up, so you can pass for normal enough most of the time. Good luck champ!"

[cripple-culture-is]

could you tell us about question 7 in the ask game? Also 1 if that's ok.

Hi! Yeah, of course! No problem at all =D

Question #7: What's a struggle you wish more people talked about?

Oh, there's honestly so much. I wish more people talked about the struggles and importance of accessible household items, I think. I don't think people talk enough about how accessibility is really important when considering buying certain things.

For instance, I struggle to open the handle at the house my family and I live in. We bought our new house a few years ago, and we couldn't change the handle. My parents have been intending to change it, but they haven't.

We are also currently looking to get a new vehicle, which means we have to check how accessible it is for me. How hard it is getting in, how much leg room I have, where the handles are, and how easy it is to handle/drive.

Accessibility is about more than ramps and wheelchair accessible vehicles. Even though I don't 'look disabled' (whatever that means), I still have to consider accessibility wherever I go and anytime I'm looking at something new.

It could simply be the difference between squeezing a tacky glue bottle vs. squeezing an Elmer's glue bottle, which is a struggle I have dealt with. Tacky glue bottles are CONSIDERABLY harder for me to use due to wrist strength than Elmer's glue is.

It's as simple as needing someone else's help to put on a fitted sheet, or having glass containers that are hard to open. I don't 'look disabled', but I am. And because I deal with wrist pain and my disability affects my wrists, it leads to issues with wrist strength.

So while there are many struggles I'd like to hear about more, I think that is my choice.

Question #1: What disability/ies do you have? (and are they mental, physical, or both?)

I have one diagnosed disability. I believe I have some undiagnosed ones (autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, c-PTSD and/or PTSD, either celiac or non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and hyperthyroidism).

But for the sake of accuracy, I am only going to explain my diagnosed disability =)

I don't think I have gone into full on detail of what my disability is, even on my main blog. I honestly can't remember.

I have an autoimmune disease called RF (rheumatoid factor) negative polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Because I am 20, this would (I think) be referred to as juvenile-onset arthritis, but again, for the sake of accuracy, I am going to give the diagnosis I have on my medical record. By 'juvenile' it means that it is diagnosed/occurs when someone is 16-17 or younger.

Polyarticular means 5 or more. This means that at least five joints in my body are affected by my arthritis. In my case, I have arthritis in every single joint in my body.

It affects my neck, jaw, spine, collarbones, ribs, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, hips, knees, ankles, toes, etc. All of it. Pretty much my entire skeleton is affected. I mostly tend to have problems with my knees, jaw, and wrists. But they are all affected. Because of my disability, I do deal with chronic pain. I struggle when walking sometimes, though I often push myself due to familial expectations, and the fact that I don't like 'complaining'. I also can't stand for long periods of time because of my disability.

My disability is physical. It is mobility related. My disability is categorized as a physical disability, an autoimmune disease, a chronic illness, a musculoskeletal condition, a connective tissue disorder, and a mobility impairment, which is honestly a mouthful XD

I think my arthritis has affected other parts of my body that don't inherently have to do with my joints (potential livedo reticularis on my legs, watery eyes, etc.), though because those aren't confirmed, I just went with what the condition is said to cause (the other issues might be caused by RA, which I am technically not diagnosed with [though I feel like I might have seronegative RA, which would just end up being the more adult type of the JIA I have])

Thank you for the questions!

[life-after-65]

August Journal

I watched the last night of the Democratic convention. Vice-President Harris is a surprise.  For the last three years she has been the quiet figure standing near President Biden when he speaks. No more. She is a breath of fresh air. She is strong. There is no doubt what her agenda will be. This is my summer of learning about baseball. They do have a lot of little rules and it is about the…

[50stressballs]

I’m not TECHNICALLY diagnosed with lupus yet, because I have to see the rheumatologist for more tests. But my ANA is crazy, I definitely have some kind of autoimmune disorder, and I tested negative for RA and Sjögren's syndrome, so like. It’s PROBABLY lupus.

And I’m tired of saying I have “something” or “some weird autoimmune thing” or whatever. I just wanna put a name on it, and right now, that name is lupus.

[0fucksra36]

I have RA. Rhuemitoid arthritis. The highs and lows are real, often lonely, and painful.

I'm too young for this shit. Who isn't though. I've decided to use this space as my confession.

No false or forced positivity. No bullshit. I'm too tired.

Here's to the start of my transparent story.

I have degenerative and progressive diease/neurological disorder. RA and essential tremors. Ra is degenerative. ET is progressive. I move through ME/CFS or chronic fatigue syndrome due to autoimmune dysfunction.

I'm not alone. I'm not complex. I am tired. I hurt. I push and it gets damn tough. This is more than I normally would ever share.

Lol yet here I am.

If I'm having a tough go, and this happens to find you struggling my hope is that you choose this next moment. The next breath and even perhaps the next wave of possible agony.

I'm choosing those items. Sometimes just moment by moment.

We don't have a ton of control, or maybe any at all when it comes to our humble shell.

I can choose to show up as much as I am able. I can choose to come to terms with all of this as often as needed.

It's hard. I'm tired. I'm still here. Choosing my hard.

Tomorrow will be better. The sun will rise.

[jenroses]

In the past 30 days: I came down with covid and the flu simultaneously Devoting all my executive function to taking covid/flu meds religiously on time led me to be late on my ongoing antiviral once, by 6 hours, so I had a brief flare of both shingles AND cold sores. They calmed back down once i got back on track. And now I have a bladder infection.

You would think, with my history (rheumatoid arthritis and resulting immune suppression and steroid-induced diabetes, asthma, obesity, physical and mental health issues, EDS, fibro, clotting disorders, etc.) that coming down with four viruses and a bacteria in this period of time would be horrible.

But you know what? Modern medicine is a good thing. Antivirals are a good thing. Antibiotics are amazing. I took ONE dose of the antibiotic and my symptoms for the UTI are already loads better. I got over the flu in THREE FUCKING DAYS. The flu used to take me out for 2 weeks, sometimes 3 if I got a secondary infection, and that was when I wasn't on immune suppressants. Tamiflu plus elderberry, taken soon after symptoms start, work like magic. Covid was minor. Yes, I know it's minor for a lot of people but with my risk factors? And getting it with the flu? I took an anti-covid antiviral, and of course was already taking elderberry for the flu. I have a few minor lingering issues but they're basically issues I already have, just kicked from a 6 to a 6.5, ish. Like I used to hate black pepper and then I learned to tolerate it and now I can't tolerate it again. That kind of thing. Sensory stuff is more brittle than it was, suboptimal pants are not an option. But seriously, shingles used to be a mandatory 6 week excruciating ordeal. I noticed the tingle-itch-prickle in that nerve, took my not-today-satan pills (famcyclovir) and it never really managed to get going. Cold sore was a specific prickle and a single small bump, never even scabbed. My kid was diagnosed with both flu and strep today, and he's not very sick either, and I don't even have to get swabbed for strep because the UTI drug will also treat strep. (Cefdinir)

I caught Covid 2 weeks after the bivalent shot, went off my immune suppressing drug, and kicked it to the curb with the help of targeted meds and a little herbal knowledge. I've been miserable for days with this UTI and finally got the executive function to get us to the doctor and boom, better.

I am begging you. If you get sick, and you know you're sick, if you can, get tested quickly and treated quickly. Tamiflu is supposed to cut hours off the flu, but in my experience combined with elderberry, it has taken a 14 day illness and turned it into a 3 day illness, several times now. I've never had a flu shot. (I don't object to them in principle, but my body can have garbage reactions to immune provocation and by the time Covid happened the tamiflu/elderberry=3 days sick thing made the flu shot moot for me. The math on Covid works out well in favor of the covid shot.)

There's no benefit in suffering. Especially with Covid and the flu, which mutate constantly and can bork your immune system permanently (see: triggers for autoimmunity. I have 6 autoimmune conditions, fun times.) Covid, especially, can target the cells which remember Covid. Kick it to the curb, kick it hard, kick it fast, use the tools we have.

I didn't even catch bronchitis from all this, and I ALWAYS used to catch bronchitis. because CPAP.

FWIW elderberry also helps the immune system clear out post-vaccine yuck faster. Without, I had inflammatory flares for a month. A dose ended that cycle. Next immunizations I took elderberry sooner and didn't have anywhere near as bad a time. (It is not "just" an "immune booster", it specifically promotes the production/function of tumor necrosis factor and this makes it specifically good for things like influenza.) My reaction to the bivalent shot was a sore arm for a day and then a couple days of local pain. A minor RA flare, short lived, not severe.

Anyway. Wear a mask. Get your shots. If you get sick, have them swab you for both flu and covid, not just one or the other, and strep too, if you're getting a sore throat, because we are past the days of one or the other. Get the antivirals and take as directed. Hydrate. Rest, and rest an extra day on top of it, more if you can, to give your body a chance to really kick it all the way. Use the tools available to you.

[deathspeaker]

Knee Hyperextention

So I have an autoimmune disorder (current doctor believes its RA, but we're still doing tests) and my right knee is the biggest problem child.

For some reason is SO BADLY wants to hyperextend. I can be fine for ages and then suddenly my knee will just... bend backwards. And for the next week, two... sometimes three... I'm in a ton of pain and struggling to get around.

I currently have a compression sleeve which is rather meh, and a basic knee brace is also meh but prevents it from hyperextending again but is also bulky and uncomfortable.

Does anyone have any braces or similar aids that could help me out? I may ask my doctor to see if he can convince medicaid to pay for a proper professional brace but I'm not holding my breath on that.

[smoov-criminal]

17, 18, 19 for the ask game? ✨

17. have you ever made characters with disabilities? if yes, tell us about them and their disability?

ill be honest, im not huge into fandom stuff and that sort of thing, including making ocs. ive made ocs for dnd campaigns but none of them have been disabled. i haven't played a whole lot, but i would like to make a disabled oc for a campaign next time i do play, and i think it could be neat for them to have a small creature that they ride as a mobility aid, ive seen that recommend

18. what are your favourite disability headcanons?

in the same vein, i don't make a lot of headcannons about stuff, but if i had to think of one right now i think finn from adventure time (one of my only tv show special interests) would definitely pretend to shoot fireballs or some shit from his prosthetic arm all the time

19. whats a disability you want to see more or better representation of/for?

i answered this one previously, but i will again! i think we should see more characters with autoimmune disorders like lupus or RA