The bliss of the ignorant

LignumVitae

Well maybe it isn't bliss but still, it sounded it to me.

I went for a blood test this morning and listened to two septuagenarians having the following chat:

Him: I'm having a test to see if my arthritis is gout.I don't see why, arthritis is arthritis, why bother worrying about the name.

Her: I know, waste of time really but you have to do what the doctor says don't you. My son has gout and he's only young, late forties, you wouldn't think you could get arthritis at that age would you.

I didn't join in, I just read my book and pondered being the mid-thirties woman with the blood test to treat her inflammatory arthritis which can't be controlled by diet and isn't OA and how lucky I am that we can test for these things, that we can medicate them and that at least I got to the ripe age of 21 before I started with my specific flavour of arthritis. Oh to get to 70 before you find out anything about arthritis :roll:

DebraKelly

You gotta laugh!

I was 32 when I got diagnosed with RA! lol

theresak

Ha ha, LV, if only we'd all got to 70 before RA came calling!!

stickywicket

As I speed towards septuagenarian status myself I recall a friend who, when we were both in our 30s wrote a book entitled 'Arthritis, at Your Age?'. After she died her brother put it up online for anyone to read. (http://www.dumville.org/aaya/index.html)

Nothing has changed. People still (encouraged by the press and snake oil salesmen) believe there is just one type of arthritis which is an old person's disease.
I'd personally like to see an AC campaign to educate people. A simple poster for hospitals and GP's surgeries might help. Maybe headed WHICH KIND OF ARTHRITIS? Then, below, a list of all of them. Preferably with a watermark of a small child just to emphasis it's not just an old person's disease.

(Here endeth the sermon from SW to the unfortunately well-initiated.)

barbara12

LV...I must say, when I was young..im 65 now...the tails I would hear and I was non the wiser...this forum learned me so much..but like you say ignorace is bliss :roll: I have a liitle friend that is 11 now, and he has JIA...I feel so lucky that I got to my 50s before arthritis struck.. :shock:

daffy2

I do sometimes wonder how long it will take for the medical world to realise that 'you're too young' is just plain wrong and may deny a patient useful treatment.My list of this fallacy includes menopause, osteoporosis, dementia, parkinsons, and of course our old friend arthritis, either from personal experience or through friends' experiences. There must be many more. The stupid thing is that for a cash strapped NHS and Social Services early intervention can in many cases be very cost effective, enabling an individual to carry on working and/or being independent for that much longer.
But yes, oh to get to 70 before encountering our mutual friend.

As5567

I doubt anything will ever change. I'm now in my 20's and people are still unaware if not less aware now more than ever. The media doesn't help by running big stories about all of these "cures" and stuff like obesity causes Arthritis. Most of the population still only see Arthritis as an old persons disease. I can't count on how many people I've educated and tried to educate about my Arthritis, some take the information on board and are genuinely shocked and surprised about not knowing that about the disease and some just don't take the information on board and continue to this day to tell me things like try this diet, take this supplement and so on.

Another thing I've noticed around my hospital, every single Arthritis information booklet at the clinic has pictures of old people in them, I think that stuff like that really doesn't help people stereotyping. I'm not sure which charities publishes the information booklets at my local hospital, I will have to pick one up and have a look.

Starburst

As5567 wrote:

Another thing I've noticed around my hospital, every single Arthritis information booklet at the clinic has pictures of old people in them, I think that stuff like that really doesn't help people stereotyping. I'm not sure which charities publishes the information booklets at my local hospital, I will have to pick one up and have a look.

I've noticed this too. I do get quite irritated when I see an article about RA and it's accompanied by a photo of hands that clearly belong to someone in their seventies and of course, they are very twisted. It gives a certain image that isn't relevant to the vast majority of the RA/inflammatory arthritis population. Also, in the media, they only ever talk about Rheumatoid Arthritis and make no reference to the many, many other types of inflammatory arthritis.

dreamdaisy

Of course people are blissful in their ignorance - I'm sure we all were when we were able to be. We've had to learn the hard way but I agree that the medical profession is not clued up enough about our conditions. I too have seen that the leaflets etc. all feature older people (maybe the delicacies of the general population would be offended if younger people or children were featured) and the same goes for scooter adverts; all older people rabbiting on about getting out to see the grandchildren.

Our health is not an interesting topic of conversation but the social wheels need oiling hence the 'How are you?' questions. My standard reply is 'I could be better but I'm glad I'm not worse, let's talk about something else.' We can discuss it all on here because we are talking to those in the know but I try not to when socialising. It's boring, repetitive and tedious - mind you so are others when they bang on about their aches and pains and I have to empathise.

Changing perceptions is important but hard to do. We all have our preconceptions about so many things, not just ill-health. It's part of the human condition. DD

stickywicket

dreamdaisy wrote:

the same goes for scooter adverts; all older people rabbiting on about getting out to see the grandchildren.

I don't think I've seen a scooter ad for years but I do remember a recurring one (Yup, like a nightmare) which featured one of those really flimsy, unstable, 3-wheelers ridden by a stick insect woman. (Anyone over 8 stones would have tipped it over.) When she reached the post box, instead of having to do a 8 or 9 point turn to get at the right angle to post her letter, she simply reached out, effortlessly twisting all required joints to the right angle. If only it were so simple!