For the newly diagnosed, You are not alone…

Arthuritis
Arthuritis Member Posts: 444
in Living with arthritis

Sometimes coming to terms with an incurable disease like RA, the sudden wrenching from your activities & circle of friends, the heavier shielding restrictions and the overall increased risk can seem overwhelming and fill us with despair, BUT thankfully we now live in the Internet era, and it allows us to safely participate and hear other RA patient stories, which can bring courage & hope when there is little left of our own.

I thought these two stories from across the pond were really encouraging.

https://youtu.be/eCuiBwq43QU (RA Soc, Canada) Growing up with RA.


https://youtu.be/bHGhLTjOqUY - Not letting your RA win, despite the challenges.


It would be nice if RA had the kind of funding & political will covid does, but as a global problem it is nevertheless getting attention, and not overlooked, despite not being a glamorous research field.

(A young med student at my last hosp appointment had me full of hope thinking a young genius would cure it…when I asked what made him want to look at arthritis - responded “I was told to come here😏” oh well.)

Comments

  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,402

    Good videos @Arthuritis

    there are some great 'stories' on the main VA site too which are inspiring and are UK based, but those two are excellent.

    Oh that made me laugh about your med student. Maybe he will want to come back to Rheumatology when he is qualified who knows? It's just not as glamorous as some other conditions is it?

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 444

    @frogmorton Definitely not glam, esp with popular vision & impression of some poor old person with gnarly fingers shuffling along. Even the clinicians at my GP surgery all thought of Osteoarthritis & arthritis as an old person’s disease. And as we all know, when we are young of the med student’s age, we all think arthritis & “old “ happens to, well, old people, so why would they ever consider choosing it, unless beloved granny suffers from it?

    I listened to the VA podcasts, but as a visual person I preferred the youtube version, some very formal like the two links I posted, others just some young people sharing their experiences, its not a problem the UK alone carries and has to bear, its a world problem.

    I like this one, and I hope some young medics will see it and consider Rheumatology a future career choice

    https://youtu.be/X5nZCFNu4aE


  • Brynmor
    Brynmor Member Posts: 1,755

    Among the many videos on the Versus Arthritis YouTube channel there are a set specifically listed as personal stories - everyday experiences: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXKNfcIcSzgW7GTrgT7SXdpxsOs1Ac6P

    We also have a large range of personal stories found on our web site, many of which we have featured here in the Online Community in the past. You may well enjoy reading this selection of personal stories from our News page of the website:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/?CategoryId=&tags=1862


    Best wishes

    Brynmor

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 444

    @YvonneH @Brynmor Thanks for this, I’d only listened to the podcast versions and that left me miserable. I wasn’t aware of VA YT videos, they seem much more appealing. Much appreciated.

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 444

    The adaptation & aids video was quite good, but no list of devices used in the video in the description. Would help if there was a community list of things we as a community voted for as useful. The sticky plastic was ingenious! I wonder what she would have made of my table salt&pepper grinder!

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