Were you ever told " It's all in your head ".

alanthemanc

I remember like it was yesterday. I was playing football, running down the wing ( like Messi ), when my ankle ballooned up three time normal size.
Anyway I went to several specialists, some who took one look, and imediately said " ligament damage", then I went to an ostiopath, who said the same, and one who said " are you sure it's not all in your head mate, are you imagining it .
Anyway another specialist in Oldham took one look at it, and in 20 seconds said , " son, I've some bad news for you, I'm sure thats Rhumatoid Arthritis "
Has anyone said to you, before you were diagnosed," are you making this up ". Alanthemanc

valval

no but had convinced my self that was what the rhumy was going to say to me. got lots of wear and tear from docs but then the swelling came up and bloods showed inflimation lol

alanthemanc

Val
Yeh, if theres one thing that people on here for the first time, who think they might have Arthritis. get a good diagnosis done.
You can see 10 specialists, and consultants, and they might give you 10 different answers. ( although it was 35 years ago when I was first diagnosed with R.A. ).
I think things have improved a lot since, but to be told at 16, you are dreaming this up, is not very good. Alanthemanc

dreamdaisy

No, I was never told that, becuase the appearance of my left knee meant they couldn't! It was hot and very swollen. What I was told, for at least five years, was that it would go away. It did go away: all the old solidified gunk and all the fresh liquid gunk was excised by an orthopaedic surgeon in February 2002 and I, stupid, STUPID STUPID girl, thought my troubles had ended. I knew by the June they hadn't, it started swelling again. How's Carlos? Still drinking your life savings? DD

julie47

Not exactly
But
When i went for my 6 week check up after having my daughter 22 years ago I told my doctor that I couldn't pick her up properly, that my knees and feet were swollen and my hands wouldn't work properly,and wakling was difficult the doc just said (25 at the time) It's just a bit of rheumatism get on with it, no meds given.
After a few more months of struggling I went to another doc at the same surgery and he said it could be RA. I was reffered to a rheumatologist and it was confirmed.
juliepf x

wibberley

I was 7, and had an accident on a slide - 'friend' had pushed me down it before I was ready! The docs thought I'd broken my arm and had me in sling and plastercast for weeks. I was still unable to move my arm at all after something like 8 weeks and that was the start of my JIA diagnosis.

Lois x

alanthemanc

Wibb
Julie
They are the sort of things I thought I would get in reply. The earlier it is discovered the better, if you are not diagnosed for months, the worse you will be.

D.D. the answer is yes, Carlos is drinking like a fish.

frogmorton

I think the first Gp said I had pulled a muscle, but a week or two later i went back and saw a locum with backup (my bro!!!) and he straight away said inflamatory arthritis.

It's frightening isn't it how long some peopel wait for some help.

Love

toni xx

barbara12

Hi Alan
I was told I had hip strain from going to the gym to much, :eek: then sciatica, till i got this awful pain in my knee, I was sent to a consultant who said within 10 mins it is coming from your hip.
Now its a battle between the hips and back.
You do wonder if these consultant have the same training.
Barbara x

alanthemanc

Barbara.
Yeh, just goes to show, really in most cases, you would probably be better asking for a second opinion. Alanthemanc

cthornley

Yes unfortunately it was after diagnosis and the Doctor concerned was at the time my wonderfully sympathetic boyfriend....however luckily I don't pay any attention to him and he is now my husband

Still hurts that he doubted me but I like to think he is a cardiologist so what the hell does he know, I'll defer to his judgement when I have a heart attack :roll:

He also thought I had a low pain threshold (well your always complaining about it so much) but he has revised that opinion following the very painful and protracted birth of our son where I hardly complained at all :shock:

Bloody Doctors eh!
Chrissie :green

skezier

Hi Alan,

I was kinda lucky the bone thing was so obvious and always has been. Comes upon xrays so well it was never assumed it was in my head...

But other conditions.... oh been there and gt the t-shirt.....One day I might prove that one wrong but they have given me tablets to help so its only ignored by the consultant!

They did take years to treat/diagnose the pa.... they kept looking at my hands and saying I had ra, then the bloods didn't have the rf so it just gt shelved and being a fool dispute seeing a rumo for so long I never thought to ask him.... idiot e?!

Then one day I saw him, broke down and had the quality of life discussion..... changed everything!

Hope you doing ok and the doctors say its in your head when they are out their depth You ok just now by the way? Cris x

alanthemanc

Cris
Yeh, I went through a spell 35 years ago when nobody would give me an answer to why my ankle was in the state it was.
I would say it took 2 years before it was treated properly which is, just not good enough. Nowadays there would be lawsuits issued. Alanthemanc

lizzie7ne

Yeh at work by a former boss before I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid. I had a bandage around my left knee due to the knee swelling and I was walking with a limp, it cleared but almost as soon as it cleared my Right Knee was affected (as we all know can happen with RA). My Boss thought I was putting it all on - he said well you have got the bandage on the wrong knee - its "supposed to be your left knee that is sore"!. Then my wrist swelled and to be honest he just thought I was putting it all on, even when my left leg completely buckled at work and I couldnt walk,a colleague suggested I should go to hospital and my boss objected. A colleague on her lunchbreak got me to hospital in her car with great difficulty getting me in and out of the car. The nurse thought it was a torn tendon and treated it for that, however when I mentioned to her I had had problems with other joints she suggested I visit my GP for some blood tests, this I did,the results indicated inflamatory arthritis I was referred to a Rheumy who diagnosed RA.

lizzie

frogmorton

Lizzie that is quite a sad story.

I know you proved the boss you were right, but shame for you in the meantime :sad:

Toni xx

Cez

I don't think anyone but my parents and my best friend really understood how much pain i was in when this all started. I suppose random knee pain doesn't get much sympathy. I don't think even my parents fully understood until they saw my crying one morning because joint stiffness rendered me unable to weight bear on my left hip.

My boss who i must add is a very good friend and probably feels quite guilty now did say to me at one point "it's mind over matter, you just need to do some strengthening exercises and you'll be fine"! One of my GP's just said it was a displaced kneecap, referred me for physio and said loosing weight would help anyone!

Luckily i saw another GP in the practice and he was very thorough, as was the Rheumatologist.

annie_mial

For more than two years I was treated as a neurotic, pre-menopausal female and in one case as a hysteric.

Then I was finally referred me to a Rheumy..........who gave me the right diagnosis after 5 minutes!

However, I was one of the lucky ones, because it didn't start until I was just over 50. I did put up with it for some time before running to the doctor so from onset to diagnosis was somewhere in the region of 5 or 6 years.

Annie