Arthritic step

Frankieb1

Hello this is my first post in the forum,
I'm Frankie (24) and have been living with psoriatic arthritis and AS for 6 years.
I'm fully accepting of my illness, but I'm at a stage now where I am struggling with the emotional impact it as upon myself. I have always remained very positive and my strength as helped others, but I'm finding it hard at the moment to be positive. I just wondered how people remain positive when the days get tough, also does anyone know if there is anyone I can talk to in the Leeds area.
It's also got to a stage where my relationship is suffering, as I have a lot of frustration and it spills out into our relationship



Best wishes

stickywicket

Hello Frankie and welcome to the forum. It sounds as if you've done really well so far in coping with the PsA but we all need to tread water from time to time, take stock and re-assess the impact it's having on our lives so well done you on taking the first step.

No-one can remain positive 100% of the time especially with a disease like arthritis. Just trying can be exhausting in itself. And, when you're young, your contemporaries all seem fighting fit which can be even more isolating.

I'm glad you found us. We have some great young people on here (though I'm no longer one of them) but we all, whatever the age, understand the frustrations and emotional difficulties we come up against.

Arthritis affects not just the person with the disease but all those around them too. It's all too easy to start re-distributing our pain in a harsh word here and there to people who are themselves struggling to understand and help us.

I have a busy day coming up so must go now but why not give our helpline people a call on the freephone number above? Also, you might try googling Pathway through Arthritis which is a good, free, online course put out by Arthritis Care.

theresak

Hello Frankie,and a very warm welcome to you - I'm very glad you found us. I'm sorry you have PsA to deal with at such a tender age - it must be so very frustrating, in spite of all your efforts to be positive.

As SW said, no one can be positive all the time - sooner or later we all have a dip,when things just overwhelm us. I'm having my own 'wobble' at present, but have had great support from Forum members.

I can understand your relationship worries - no matter how supportive our families & friends are, they are not in our shoes, and can't fully grasp our problems, however well-meaning they are.

There may well be a group in Leeds - if you Google arthritis groups in Leeds something should come up. I'll try and have a look for you later.

Do keep posting.

theresak

Frankie, this is all I could come up with:

Leeds MBRU

groups@nras.org.UK

0113 392 4474

Hope this helps - no idea what the initials stand for!

dreamdaisy

Hello, I've been away and am now catching up with forum matters. I read your post and feel for you, arthritis not only affects us it affects those around us but I have always taken the view that it's my problem and it's best not to take out my frustrations on friends and family. They feel helpless enough as it is.

Two articles on the web which you might find of interest are The Spoon Theory and There's a Gorilla in my House. Both explain in clear ways the challenges we face in living with a chronic condition and they can be useful for friends and family to peruse, it gives them an insight in a more neutral way than maybe we can. I have PsA, OA and fibro so three smelly gorillas live with me!

I wish you well. DD

emmaadams

Hi Frankie i agree with DD the spoon theory is a fantastic analogy and it helped me to explain Arthritis to my husband and my 2 children , they now know when im having good or bad days and are always asking how many spoons i have left .. hope this helps xxx