Recently diagnosed with arthritis

zonkilo00
zonkilo00 Member Posts: 1
edited 8. May 2025, 07:19 in Living with arthritis

Hi, I don’t really know where to start as I always was a person who don’t ask others for help. I’m 29 male who just recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. When I first found out about this condition I had a lot of courage to get through it, although I didn’t know much about it. Unfortunately I’m heading into week 10 of my treatment, and it’s just getting worse with my motivation. The way inflammation makes me feel but also the side effects of the medicines I take it’s really bad. I’m all in pain (which gets worse week after week) struggling to get out of bed, I’ve lost appetite so that doesn’t really help either with having energy to do anything but I also have episodes of a strong brain fog, when I can’t even make a sentence. Due to this I started realising how serious the condition is and it just takes me deeper into depression and sucks out all of the willingness for anything. I’m wondering how you all reacted for the diagnose? Whether you were struggling with motivation as well, when the first bad symptoms has kicked in and if so, how you managed to get through it? I know exercises can help but the pain I feel makes me quickly stop any sort of training. It’s hard as I don’t want to be seen by people as someone who needs help with daily activities (I’m still quite young) but also as you can’t really tell if someone have arthritis, a lot of time the way I feel is being ignored by people close to me and that hurts as well. Sorry for this being so long, just wanted to let this all out, hope I won’t bore you too much 😅

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Comments

  • Anna
    Anna Moderator Posts: 1,176

    Hello @zonkilo00 and welcome to the online community,

    You are absolutely never boring us when you want to share how hard you’re finding things. The community is here to support one another - we’ve all had difficult times in our journey with arthritis and so we understand a little of what you’re going through. RA can be complicated to diagnose and to treat. I don’t know which medication you’re on, but It can take a few months before it starts to be effective - methotrexate for example can be up to three months. Additionally, it can take a while to find out exactly what treatment suits you best. I hope some of our members will drop in to reassure you that although the diagnosis can be a big shock and things can seem overwhelming at the start, things will get better for you when the right treatment starts to kick in.

    If you fancy having a chat with our free Helpline, the number is below. They can give you confidential information and advice about your arthritis and they can help support you if you’re feeling down:

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/get-help/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=11908915898&gbraid=0AAAAADBwqpmeaz6TP3AKrQB0oI9JYvvSo&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5ubABhDIARIsAHMighbxfOzGHze7ViGrtXbqUolqJC3FsO7P3b7pUVz0gqbjGgROwYVm8awaAoNBEALw_wcB

    Keep in touch, and please let us know how you’re getting on,

    Anna ( Moderator)

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


  • mrst1
    mrst1 Member Posts: 7
    https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/64411/recently-diagnosed-with-arthritis

    I hope your meds start to help you soon. I've just joined and have had lots of support already

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 563

    @zonkilo00 Can you tell us a bit more about:

    1. What medication & dosage are you on?
    2. When did you start medication
    3. When did the symptoms start (trying to figure out how established is it).
    4. What are your CRP, ESR, monocytes & Eosinophil levels in your blood tests - I use this to help identify things in point 5.
    5. Exactly what do you eat each day - keep a detailed diary. For many people certain food items often play a big part in contributing to pain, things you were never sensitive to before, but you are now. It took me 1 year of pain to find this out, and cut out these triggers. Trigger foods raise eosinophil levels long before esr, crp or monocytes finally catch up.

    Don’t give up hope, you are only 29, and you have all these great people here supporting you, and we have all been there.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

  • PJoanne
    PJoanne Moderator Posts: 285

    Hello @zonkilo00

    These are a couple of reads for you : https://versusarthritis.org/news/2021/october/how-does-arthritis-affect-mental-health-two-people-tell-us/ and https://versusarthritis.org/news/2023/may/mental-health-and-arthritis-how-joel-copes-emotionally-with-pain-and-fatigue/ .

    If you haven't done already maybe reach out to your rhuemy team for a pain control review. Its great you know the benefits of being active. When you are in so much pain this could be a walk around the block or a gentle swim. You mention lack of support from people close and I can testify how painful that is, sorry that is happening for you.

    There might be a group in your area : https://versusarthritis.org/in-your-area/

    This forum is for support and information, so please do not feel that you need to respond to requests for detailed personal medical results here, as it is a public space.

    all the best Joanne

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

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