Newly diagnosed RA

Fionak73

I'm fiona 39 recently diagnosed with RA. I'm nervous & afraid of to what to expect in the future.

It's affecting me more mentally atm as I feel like people.dont understand or care what I'm going threw. I feel like my children are being affected by it as I'm always sore or tired. I xant be as active as I used to be & with a young family I feel guilty

Any advice on how to deal with this?

Anna

Hello @Fionak73 and welcome to the online community,

It can be quite a shock to be diagnosed with RA, and it’s understandable that you feel nervous and afraid for the future. But you’ve come to a good place here - we all have experience of living with arthritis, and we all understand what you’re going through. You’ll find lots of helpful advice and friendly support, and a safe space to voice your worries and concerns.

I’m attaching a couple of links below - the first is some information for people like yourself who are newly diagnosed.It can help you navigate through the first few weeks and months of your diagnosis. The second link is the story of one of our members who is a young parent with arthritis. It’s a positive read and I hope gives you some reassurance:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/newly-diagnosed/

https://versusarthritis.org/news/2023/may/parenting-with-arthritis-joel-s-experience-and-tips-as-a-young-father-with-arthritis/

Keep posting, ask any questions you have and I’m sure our lovely members will give you lots of support.

Anna ( Moderator)

Arthuritis

@Fionak73 I think @frogmorton knows just the right thing to say and reassure anxious newly diagnosed.

All I can say is getting a definitive diagnosis alone is a big deal, so well done on sorting that out. Then it’s figuring out what drug works best for you, this could take a few months but you may get lucky with the most common one, methotrexate. Do ask your rheumy for next steps/plan of action.

Woofy

Hello. You are not alone. Many of us have been where you are right now.

it will take you a while to come to terms with your RA, it did me, and I am still learning. You have to go through a wealth of emotions, before you will be able to make piece with it all. Hopefully your RA team will sort your meds out, and you will get the help that you need medically. My children are grown up, but I would say talk to your children, try to explain to them in a way that they can understand. Tell them you will just have to find new ways of doing the things you used to be able to do. Take each day as it comes for now, whilst you process all this. You will get there. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.

get them to help you as much as possible, little tasks. When I first joined on here, people told me about not struggling with things, one of them being the laundry basket. Now I fling everything over the banister, and still chuckle when I do it. I then retrieve it down stairs. Good luck with everything, be strong, you’ll get there.