Hi! New to the forum a little about me

Arthritic_Adventures
Arthritic_Adventures Member Posts: 24
in Living with arthritis

My story begins as a little boy learning to play tennis with his older brother and being taught by our father. My dad was a really good tennis player and did very well on the court throughout his years of playing. My arthritis journey start out in BC with some itchy patches of skin behind my knees and and in front of my elbows at about 6 years old.

At about 14 years old, we move to Ontario, Canada and I was diagnosed with arthritis in my feet. I played some successful tennis as a teen and in my early twenties despite the diagnose and the related pain mostly in my feet. I had aches elsewhere, but never enough to stop me from playing.

It was at 30 years old that I went to bed one night an athlete and woke up in the middle of the night an invalid that couldn't get out of bed on his own for weeks. We went off to the emergency, but there was nothing they could do, but refer us to a rheumatologist. He put the itchy patches of skin and arthritis together finally, and diagnosed me with severe psoriatic arthritis.

I feel like I've been in a life long recover ever since. Good years, weeks, and months, and bad as well. I'm now on a long long mission to drag PsA, through the mud, gym, tennis court and everything in between to make it sorry for affecting myself or others that can retaliate as well as I can.

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  • chrisb
    chrisb Moderator Posts: 757

    HI @Arthritic_Adventures,

    Welcome to the versus arthritis forum.

    It sounds like you've been battling arthritis from a very early age. Well you'll no doubt find other forum members who have been on similar journeys. If you insert PsA into the search bar above you will see many relevant dialogues that you may wish to join in with.

    In addition, in case you haven't explored our website, this link will take you there:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/psoriatic-arthritis/

    I hope you find it beneficial joining the forum and wish you well in your battle.

    Best wishes

    ChrisB (Moderator)

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • Arthritic_Adventures
    Arthritic_Adventures Member Posts: 24

    Thank-you Chris!

    I'll give it a read

  • Woofy
    Woofy Member Posts: 360

    welcome .

    You sound like you’ve got a lot of determination. A lot to put up with whilst growing up. Must have been really hard. Bad enough to be a teenager, let alone having to deal with chronic pain.

  • Arthritic_Adventures
    Arthritic_Adventures Member Posts: 24

    Hey Woofy,

    Thanks for the welcome, yeah one of those things. They attributed all the pain in my feet to the likes of ballet dancers that bruise their toes in ballet shoe when standing on the tips over and over again. I was like okay but that's not really what's happening??? Tennis shoes have laces and your toes don't hit the ends??? But back in the day you listened to your parents and the doctor and soldiered on.

    Five years ago I had surgery on my feet and they removed all the knuckles (metatarsal bones) at the base of my toes and tossed them out! Fused my big toes and straightened them all out. I had 9 inch screws out each toe for about 3 months) and I have a couple in the big toes that are permanent.

    BUT!!!!! Today I walk totally pain free, amazing how chronic pain goes away completely if you amputate it!!!

    Never a dull moment with PsA

    How are you doing?

    Colin

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