Hello from a newbie!

Sarahm

Hello to all of you. I have just joined this chat forum.

My name is Sarah, I'm 52 and have had osteoarthritis since my teenage years. We have a strong family history. It started in my neck/shoulder, but it was my 30's before I was diagnosed with cervical spondylosis.

In my 30's it spread to my hands & knees, and I developed overlapping symptoms of Lupus & Scleroderma. More recently it spread to my feet & I now have degenerative spinal disease.

The feet thing was a total shock. After working at home for the best part of 2 years, I returned to the office & wore shoes for a whole day. That's when I realised I had a problem. They have staged it at moderately severe. I limp a lot & it's aggravating my knee pain. The big toe joint is swollen & stiff & I'm having to buy new shoes. Still mourning the loss of all my other shoes 😥

Hoping to hear all your stories and tips for staying active & coping with the pain.

Sarah x

chrisb

Hi @Sarahm (Sarah), 

Welcome to the versus arthritis forum. 

I see that you’ve lived with osteoarthritis from an early age and subsequently cervical spondylosis, Lupus Scleroderma and degenerative spinal disease. Your feet are the most recent part of your body to be affected. You’d like to hear from other forum members how they stay active and their ways of coping with pain. 

I hope that you receive some useful feedback from forum members. In the meantime, the following links to our website may be useful:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/june/staying-active-with-arthritis/

The link above contains a section on pain management including a reference to “self-management resources” which you may find beneficial. 

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/october/our-let-s-move-with-leon-programme-launches-to-rave-reviews/

I hope you receive some useful feedback and In the mean time do have a look around the rest of the community and see if there are any tips for you, maybe in the Living in Arthritis area.

Best Wishes

ChrisB (Moderator)

stickywicket

Hi Sarah. If you have symptoms of lupus are you under a rheumatologist? If noþ, I think it would be good to ask for a referral. It's unfortunately true that OA can affect many joints but it would be worth a check.