A little bit more about myself

Wendolyn1
Wendolyn1 Member Posts: 13
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:06 in Living with arthritis

Hi again everyone,

Well now I am a fully fledged member after joining yesterday, and am pleased I finally did sign up. I have been coming on the Versus Arthritis for a long time reading the posts etc, trying to gauge how everyone has been getting on during this pandemic and whether they were feeling like me, anxious and worried, and lonely at times. Let me tell you a bit more about myself....

I was diagnosed about 7 years ago with RA. it was all a bit of a shock at the time and I don't think it really clicked with me for a long time what I'd actually been diagnosed with to be honest. The tablets I suddenly had to take every week, Methotrexate and Hydroxychloroquine brought it all home though. I have been relatively ok with my RA since then, and long may that continue. My main worries and anxieties have reared their ugly head since the start of the current pandemic we are experiencing.

I have spent the majority of the past year and a half shielding on and off like a lot of people, and have unfortunately been made redundant during this time also. My confidence levels are very low at the moment and feel like my life has been turned upside down with one thing and another. I used to be a very chirpy cheerful people loving person and now don't really know who I am sometimes. I have had my two jabs and thought that this might be the turnaround that I needed to get feeling positive and confident again with life, join other people out there who are starting to do things again. I now am worrying about the efficacy of the vaccine, as being immunocompromised as a lot of us are, there there are all sorts of rumours of how it is working for us. How is everyone else dealing with all of this, are you worried etc, is it just me? I know preliminary study results in the Octave Trials are due to be out in Aug/Sept, I shall look forward to reading those.

Sorry to go on so much, and I know there are a lot of people out there in a lot worse situations than myself. This pandemic has hit us all in different ways, and this is where having a community such as VA will hopefully help us all in different ways to deal with what ever situation arises.


Thank you for reading this,

Kind regards to you all xx

Comments

  • janiebin
    janiebin Member Posts: 53

    Hi @Wendolyn1

    I think you have made a good step forward joining the community because there is so much support given and received by everyone here. Numbers of us have been worried about going back out into the world of work, I am still concerned just going to the supermarket and try to choose a time of day when I hope there won't be too many people about.

    As for whether the vaccines will work and whether the possibility of a booster later in the year will give us more protection, we have just got to hope.

    I think what we have to do is work at our own fitness of body and mind, our own wellbeing makes us more positive and gives us confidence to carry on. I felt quite dull and lacking in confidence due I think to lockdown restrictions until last Christmas when I had a hip replacement. Since then I have tried to increase my mobility, stamina and fitness levels and as well as feeling much fitter and more positive, I have actually lost some weight which can't be bad.

    So yes there must be lots of us who are anxious, worried and lonely but we need to stay as strong as possible and keep talking to each other.

    Take care

    Janiebin

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697

    Hi there,

    If you look on the Coronavirus forum Mod Sharon has recently said that the Octave Study results will now not be published until next year.

    Meanwhile, I'm going by the U.S. research which basically, honestly, admits no-one has much of a clue about us immunosuppressed. I'm playing it as safe as I reasonably can.

    https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/covid-19-vaccines-and-immunocompromised-people-fully-vaccinated-and-not-protected.html

    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Wendolyn1
    Wendolyn1 Member Posts: 13

    Hi Janiebin, and Stickywicket,

    Thank you for replying to my post. It is reassuring to know there are lovely people like yourselves out there to offer help where you can, and a friendly word or two when it's needed most. I think sometimes things seem worse when you feel you are the only one out there going through whatever it is that is troubling you. Sharing my worries and thoughts on here definitely helps me.

    Thank you,

    xx