Diagnosed young

Molly_Elizabeth

Hi, this is my first time using this I am 22 years old and was diagnosed at the age of 20 when I was half way through my nursing degree. I was wondering if there is any one around a similar age or was diagnosed at a young age as after almost 2 years of having RA I still haven’t met or spoken to anyone in a similar situation and I feel like talking to my family or partner is not working for me at the moment as they don’t understand what it is like to be in pain everyday and see others around you achieving so much when you physically can’t.

PeterJ

Hello @Molly_Elizabeth and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that that will be your experience as well.

I understand that you have RA and are looking to connect with other young people with similar. Can I suggest that you go to our website and search on "Young People". It has a lot of links to info and I've one of them in below which might help you.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/may/our-arthritis-tracker-app-helps-thousands-of-young-people/

Also it might be worth contacting our Helpline

https://www.versusarthritis.org/get-help/

as they might be able to link you to other groups. In the meantime please do keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and I hope that others will connect with you as well.

With very best wishes

Peter

stickywicket

I was diagnosed at 15 and I can tell you that if you've got / are taking a degree you are achieving a great deal. I had someone to write for me for my finals. I have also learned to measure effort not outcome. Mr SW can rattle through the housework in a fraction of the time that I take but I feel I actually achieve more than he does just by doing it.

However, I'm no longer young by any stretch of the imagination though I remember wanting to connect with others who were. I did but it was mostly 'non-contact' as, even though we all lived in the same city, we couldn't meet up much as...well, as we all had arthritis and young children.

Versus Arthritis do run an online group for younger people called 'Arthur's Place'. Try googling it. Also try googling The Spoon Theory which explains to others how things are for us. It is hard to tread the important line between not moaning about it all the time and not shutting our nearest and dearest out of a large part of our lives. Practice makes us, if not perfect, at least much better at it.

As for the pain etc, well we all have that here whether young or old and I'm sure you'll find us welcoming and understanding.