I was 22 years old when this word entered my world and it was a scary thing to hear.
I was a high jumper for the West Virginia University Women's Track Team, so needless to say, I was pretty active. I started having some really strange pain during the off-season while I was interning for the West Virginia Power Baseball Team in Charleston and I knew something wasn't right.
The pain would jump around, but it wasn't just an ache...it was severe pain with swelling and redness all over the joint. It would be bad one day, REALLY bad the next, back to just bad the following day and then it would disappear to the other side of my body somewhere...same process. I specifically remember one day crying in my bedroom while I was trying to blowdry my hair because I couldn't straighten my arm. My mom had to come finish it for me.
At that point, we knew we needed to find out what was going on. It wasn't easy. After seeing five different doctors in West Virginia, I still didn't have any answers. The blood work that actually shows Rheumatoid Arthritis didn't show up when they ran my tests, so there weren't any concrete answers. I was given some pain medicine that didn't help and sent on my way.
School was starting back, track was starting back and I was still in a state disbelief over what was happening.
Rheumatologists aren't easy to get into. We learned that quickly. The earliest I could see someone with the University would have been that May...and that was even playing the 'athlete card' to get an appointment.
The year didn't go well. I went from one track meet to the next praying that the pain wouldn't be in my legs so I could still jump and I remember nights where the pain was so unbearable, I'd literally have to crawl to the bathroom. I called my Mom one day, crying because my knee was so swollen I couldn't even put pants on. She said to get home and they got me an emergency appointment with the doctor I had seen in Charleston previously. I drove home using my left foot because I couldn't use the right one in Yoga pants that were loose enough to get over the joint and we went immediately to the appointment. The doctor stated that my blood work was still normal and the joints 'seemed to still look fine.'
What!? FINE? I struggled through this particular flare, went back to school and continued on this path of not knowing what was wrong or what to do.
Then something amazing happened.
My cell phone rang and my mom is crying, but not in a sad way, in an excited way. She said "I have an appointment with a Rheumatologist at The University of Pittsburgh Hospital!" I'll never forget...the appointment was the day before my birthday, haha...Happy Birthday to Me, I was diagnosed with RA.
The appointment was very long. I was there for hours, explaining symptoms, talking about my activities and what I had gone through, having my joints tested and I had to have even more blood work done. I remember that I was even tested for HIV! Talk about a scary set of blood work!
The outcome was that I did, indeed, have arthritis. It was a clinical diagnosis called Palendromic Rheumatism, which is a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis that can't be found in blood work. The great people at Pitt's hospital got me on medicine that started working and, even though it took a few weeks, I was feeling much better!
I am 27 years old now, officially on the 5th anniversary of arthritis in my life and I am looking forward to telling my story of diagnosis, the path that followed, my involvement with the Arthritis Foundation, what I'm doing now, how I want to help and the outcome! I look forward to you joining me, sharing your stories and support and making this world a less painful place to be for people with arthritis.
THIS is just the beginning of my journey with arthritis. I have started this blog because I was totally LOST when I found out I had been diagnosed at just 22 years old. This blog will tell stories from my personal experience and those who I have met and come into contact with...I can't wait to share my experiences, support others and learn more about arthritis. Most importantly, I hope this helps spread awareness about arthritis...Over 50 million people (1 in 5) have arthritis in America. What can we do to help ease the pain? Let's start now.
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