coping with arthritis

Katiemary97

Hi, my names katie and I'm 16 years old. I was diagnosed with arthritis a year or two ago and it has completely taken over my life. I spend a lot of my time crying and thinking to myself that my life is pointless due to being unable to do ANYTHING, all I can do is lie in bed. No doctors will listen to me about how bad my pain is and keep saying there's nothing they can do.

I was wondering how others cope with the emotional side of arthritis and what treatments yous have been offered? Thank you for your time. If anybody else is having any difficulties, I wouldn't mind a chat to see if I have any decent advice.

dreamdaisy

Hello, it sounds as though you are having a rough time at the moment and I am sorry. I am not young person but I have two kinds of arthritis and I can understand how low it is making you feel. What kind do you have and what doctors are you seeing? Non-arthritics think there are just the two sorts, oesteo and rheumatoid but it's more complex than that. A little more detail will help me to reply better but one thing is for sure: arthritis changes our lives but it doesn't end them. It is a condition that is not going to go away but it can be managed and we can cope with it, with help from the doctors and by developing our own coping strategies. DD

Katiemary97

Thank you for the reply. I don't know which kind of arthritis I have, I wasn't told. I know that it was caused by a fracture in my lower back, if that is any help at all

stickywicket

If yours is caused by a fracture, the likelihood is that you have osteoarthritis (OA). It's not true that nothing can be done though it can't be cured, but that's true of any arthritis.

You should ask your GP to refer you to a physiotherapist for an exercise regime. Keeping muscles strong helps to keep the pain down. The worst thing you can do is lie down a lot.

Your GP can also refer you to a Pain Clinic. Here you'll be taught different ways of dealing with pain.

You can do a lot for yourself. Have a look at some of Arthritis Care's booklets http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/PublicationsandResources/Listedbytype/Booklets You could also ring our Helpline people for a chat about it all on the freephone number.

I hope some of this will help. You could also re-post on Living With Arthritis. Most of us are older than you but we do understand what it's like to live daily with pain.

May13

Since you are still young, i suggest that you take other supplements as well . I believe that the body heals itself faster if it has enough fuel to process the repair than just having the medicine that only attacks specific areas. Supplementation can affect the entire body not juts some areas.

stickywicket

On the contrary, those of us with an auto-immune arthritis should be very wary of supplements unless our doc or pharmacist has assured us they will not interact with our medication.

May13

There are a lot of doctors who recommends food supplements. You can ask your doctor about it. Besides, it is better to try something different than stick to something that you are used to that never worked. You can always check the label of the products and ask your doctor on what compounds you are not to take.

stickywicket

May13 wrote:

Besides, it is better to try something different than stick to something that you are used to that never worked.

Those of us with an auto-immune form need strong medication to suppress our immune systems. We can't just stop taking the medication even if it is not working well. In that situation the specialist has to decide on the next course of action. It would be lovely if we could just pick up a supplement from our local pharmacy or health food shop but that's cloud cuckoo land as far as we're concerned.

Our bodies can't 'repair themselves'. Indeed, the basis of the problem is that they've gone into overdrive trying to repair themselves.