wonder if

valval

well was laid in bed yesterday morning and got to thinking back to when was younger first off remembering all the trips to doc because of stomach pains (given disgusting orange medicine) told was not spending long enough on toilet and to drink more. also itching skin and scalp was always scratching , growing pains, and lastly falling asleep when ever i sat down , i do wonder how long arther has been part of my life got a feeling been with me most of it in one form or another what about all of you????

LignumVitae

Hi Val

I was a super asthmatic kid and I recently read of American research looking into the idea that there may be symptoms based around asthma which are not yet understood and classified as arthritis but which are the very early stages of arthritis (my asthma was deadly back then and is now pretty much controlled unless I get a virus or infection). The research team felt that by the time arthritis hit joints it was probably a lot further in us than is currently recognised. That research was focusing on chest symptoms but given the association of arthritis to stomach problem (some inflammatory arthritis' have the same genetic markers as problems such as Crones disease - might have spelt that wrong) I don't imagine it is difficult to make the link that stomach problems are early disease indicators...that said, I'm not a medical researcher!

LV xx

marrianne

Oh Val it sounds such a blight on young childhood all; I can remember was haveing terrible painful tonsillitis chapped lips every winter ,oh and wearing clinic glasses with a patch on one eye caused I am told by whooping cough and measles together and my feckless mother forgetting to keep the curtains closed ,its an interesting topic this ,wonder what childhood illness memories the others have not to sure which things could relate to Arthritis though .Marrianne

marrianne

Hi LV ,hope you are still happy about ditching deadwood friend ,I certainl no regrets about D I L.....Marrianne

mig

When I was a kid I used to get what they called growing pains,sisters and brother never did,once I hit puberty it seemed to stop,ra started when I got to sixty -ish.As you say Val it does make you wonder.Mig

barbara12

Hi Val
Snap...it was last year sat for 3 hours at the hospital that got me thinking...when I was just in my teens I got what they called fibrositus...and I missed months of school...then when I started work it returned...I do think thats its been lurking all my life...wonder if any research has been done into this.. :?

LignumVitae

Hi Marianne, things are much better now, it's a real weight off my mind...should have done it years ago! I'm glad things are better for you too. Thanks for asking
Lots of love LV xx

earthspirit

my doctors have put a positive on this RA being there from childhood.
im now 52 and got dx last year.

i had raynauds as a young child, about 3 or 4 and was an excessive drinker of water. now classed as links to RA. from about 5 or 6 i have flares in both knees, always twisting ankles and wrists a lifelong problem. i can clearly remember being told i was clumsy (despite a very obvious athletic nature) duh???

my mum was studying at uni and did a first aid course, where she used to get me to ask her questions from the book. i remember learning how do put on bandages correctly from around 9yrs and when i had these flares, would soak bandages in cold water and love the sensation of letting them dry and become more compressed round the ankles and knees. i have trawled though childhood photos and found visible evidence of flared synovial tissue on knees and ankles.

my medical records show years and years of slightly elevated white blood cell cound but i was never actually ill.

i grew up "rude with health" and was a strong robust healthy child. i swam about 20hrs a week from younger than age 13 and took to sea swimming, often 14miles at a time and coming out with "sprained ankles and knees" and did not really question why my ankles and knees were so swollen from being in water.

of course the swimming increased the raynaulds and i was usually quite purple when i came out of the sea.

i ran cross country and marathon and often with a bandage round the flared knees and ankles.

i had pain but just learn to deal with it as i loved doing the sport that i did and the flares only lasted a few weeks.

this all continues in 20s and 30s and you get bored going to doctor feeling like a hypocondriac so i just dealt with the pain and the swollen bits and got on with enjoying my life.

i am glad in a way as i would otherwise have been given toxic meds or been different to who i am now.

i would not have smoked so much and for long

thats only a snatch as the history. its full of it and has been treated by current doctors as total patient neglect. lucky im strong minded or it might have been more devastating that it now is. 20 months of a multiple joint flare and seriously disabled as a result. little joint damage and only a few fingers of deformity. 2 stone weight loss but still with a sane mind,,,,,,,leaves me wondering if i was mad and crazy all along :roll: :roll: