Rheumatoid Arthritis - Tumblr Posts

I hate the weather my bones feel like they're gonna explode

CONGRATS!!! That’s a big achievement, even if not many people see it as such❤️❤️

And no big deal or anything, but I was able to walk normally immediately after getting out of bed this morning, which I don't think I have done in over a year

Hot take, I don't think anyone realizes how good I find Morgan reznicks representation?? Like, I have yet to find a character open about their chronic illness and pain, maybe I'm just blind, but still. I love her RA story line so much, even though it breaks my heart

Throw back. The winter weather is throwing me for a loop. Having RA flare-up.

I never use this blog for anything but lurking but I need a place to vent for a minute so here we go.

I’m very new to the chronic pain game, and it’s only been like 3 weeks of the current intensity, but I’m so darn tired of it already. I’ve upgraded from the low-level stiffness to flu-like dull aches in every joint to today’s new layer of stabbing pains in my hips, knees, hands, wrists, jaw, and lumbar. I had bloodwork done a few weeks ago and my ANA quant was positive so I’m meeting with a rheumatologist in a couple weeks. From everything I’ve web searched (main grains of salt taken), it might be rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. I have a family history of both so it’s not improbable.

I grew up in a household where my feelings and thoughts were constantly invalidated so I don’t have a lot of experience listening to my body. So I tend to underestimate my pain. But at the same time I worry that I’m hyperfixating on the pain and that that’s exaggerating my experience. *shrug*

Ughhhhhhh

Just had a burning pain sear through my knee that made me audibly say “ow” so I guess it’s not all in my head.

But like... how would I even rank my pain from 0 to 10? In my mind 10 is like...childbirth. And if I scale from there I can’t be experiencing more than a 4, right? And at the same time I feel like I might need crutches or a cane to help me get out of bed in the morning.

Grrrrrrrrrrr

when you just layed down in a position that makes the pain more bearable but have to use the toilet and now you have to decide what to do. fatigue and chronic pain are just so damn exhausting i wish i could just take a shit

i had no idea compression gloves were a thing i'm about to get some thank you so much

So you just got diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis....

A guide to coping with inflammatory arthritis written by someone who has been living with it for years

1. Warmth helps with pain and stiffness

Take a hot bath or shower

Use a rice bag to heat your most stiff and painful joints - How to make a warm rice bag (no sew) How to make a warm rice bag (sew) Adorable heated stuffed animals

Heating pads can also be good for heating specific joints (I don't like either of the ones I've had so I'm not dropping a recommendation)

2. Compression helps with stiffness

Compression gloves work really well in particular - Really cool compression gloves

Compression for other joints works well too

3. NSAIDs help reduce inflammation in your joints

Topical diclofenac is my personal favorite, it works wonders

Meloxicam is only available by prescription but has fewer negative side effects than over the counter NSAIDs do

Ibuprofen and Aleve/Naproxen are both OTC NSAIDs

Here's a full list of NSAIDs

4. Steroids reduce inflammation but are usually only used for flares. If OTC remedies are not working for your arthritis it may be worth asking about steroids to manage flares

5. Use adaptive devices

Note that I haven't tried all of these!

In the kitchen - Jar opener, pull tab opener, arthritis friendly silverware, ergonomic knife, another ergonomic knife

In the bathroom - My favorite shower chair, long handle bath sponge, shower grab bar

Dressing - Many button and zipper aids, magnetic jewelry clasps, sock aid

Standing assists - Bed rail, couch stand assist, cane with stand assist

Office - Pencil grips, book stand, vertical mouse

Other - Arthritis friendly gardening tools, so many grips adapters and holders

.... and many many more

6. Use mobility aids - I'd strongly recommend talking to a doctor before deciding to use mobility aids. mobility aids cause damage to your body so it's important to weigh the pros and cons of using them. Anyways my personal recommendations:

Canes - NOVA T cane, Carex ergonomic offset cane

Crutches - Millennial In-Motion Forearm crutches

Other people with inflammatory arthritis are welcome to add on!

ily disabled people

ily disabled people who are dependent on aids

ily disabled people who are too scared to use aids

ily disabled people who have been bullied out of using aids

ily disabled people who feel like they don't need many aids or any at all

ily loud disabled people

ily quiet & mute disabled people

ily disabled people who "make being disabled your entire personality"

ily disabled people who are punk, goth, emo, scene, grunge, metal, vkei, decora and any "wierd" fashion style (especially if you decorate your aids to match you're the coolest)

ily creative disabled people

ily disabled activists

ily disabled people who need a helper

ily disabled people who want to be independent but can't be

ily disabled people who love your independent

ily disabled people who wish they could have a helper

ily disabled people who feel like you're not disabled enough to be valid

ily older disabled people who help younger disabled people

ily young disabled people who help older disabled people

ily overweight disabled people

ily underweight disabled people

ily disabled people trying to lose weight for health

ily disabled people trying to gain weight for health

ily disabled people with invisible disabilities

ily stigmatized disabled people

ily disabled people who don't feel like they fit into any of these phrases

ily disabled people !!

People don’t talk enough about cognitive side effects of some medication and how they can interact with medical gaslighting.

Like the slow feeling like you’re going mad because you slowly start missing and forgetting more and more meetings. Or when you really struggle to remove your charger from a plug and it takes you eight times to actually do it.

And then you ask yourself? Is it just me? Have I always been this forgetful and am only now just realising it because I’m paying more attention to it (because of the other side effects of the medication)? Or am I experiencing these side effects? And if I am experiencing side effects, how much is enough that i can go to my doctor and ask for help? versus how much is “nothing to worry about”?

Simon has scars, Simon has trauma-- Okay so imagine this.

Trauma often causes your body to break down not just mentally, but physically. Often, in the most extreme cases of trauma, your brain gets rewired to think/act/and distribute electro signals a certain way. Childhood trauma has been studied so intensively, that doctors have determined it can also suppress vital bodily functions, like digestion or even your immune system, possibly causing autoimmune disorders.

Me, I'm 21, with a couple of different disabilities from my trauma, so I'm drawing from experience.

What if, and hear me out, Simon starts, gradually over the next couple of years, getting some weird joint pains. Just, like it feels achey, and not quite right. Like he was down with a cold. It comes and goes, and he's not entirely sure when it started. He's always sort of had joint pains, I mean, look at his job? It's not only incredibly intense, and taxing physically AND emotionally, but he constantly is over working his joints. So, he thinks nothing of it.

Except, over the next few months it doesn't go away like he thinks. Oh well, right? He goes to the med bay, they check his symptoms, they check everything, and just simply find nothing. They have no reason to do blood work, or x-rays. He's not injured, and it doesn't sound like he's pulled anything or snapped any tendon. They tell him if it persists, to come back in. They give him Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, and a N-SAID to trade off between the three, and help with any swelling or discomfort. All Simon's symptom points to, is the over work of the joints. I mean, hell, he's been in the SAS for years now, with about a decade or two of more service on top of that. He's considered old by the SAS, almost at the stage where they'd pull him off the field if he even sprains an ankle. So, he doesn't think anything of it, and refuses to go to med bay.

Without failure, the symptoms just sort of pile up gradually over the next four years. The joint pain is accompanied by stiffness and swelling. The joints, primarily in all his finger joints, wrists, and knees hurt, are red, and hot to the touch. His left hip is starting to get painful enough that he has to stretch and stay in his room for the first hour-and a half when he wakes. Otherwise, he'd be seen hobbling down the hall and that isn't good. He'd surely be sent to med bay.

So, Simon deals with it. Until one night, he's on a mission, and his joint stiffness catches up to him. Johnny has to help move him when they get under fire, and his hands and fingers hurt so bad he can't properly grab the gun and fire it. It takes him a few minutes, but he eventually returns fire. Johnny having seen the struggle, reports it to Price, who almost immediately sends him to med bay to get almost every fucking test done under the book.

"Obviously it's not just joint pain and stiffness of age anymore, Simon. I need you to be 100% out on the field. If not for you, then for Johnny. For the team."

Simon thinks it was pretty shitty of Price to use Johnny and the team against him, but it does the trick. He gets there, and spills almost everything to the doctor he saw last time. The doctor is shocked and appalled Simon never told him anything, and Simon tells him the medicine worked at first, as did the braces that he recommended for the joint support, but it just kept getting worse.

They do X-Rays, and blood work, and they find out Simon has a fairly common autoimmune disorder. Although, it's not the kind he wants to hear because it will result in a medical discharge.

"Rheumatoid Arthritis? You're bloody joking. My hand isn't all fucked up and weird looking doc. I can move my hand just fine."

"You can right now, but if you don't get the proper treatment, along with a transfusion for your knee... it will progress. Probably to the point you're bed bound."

The doctor calls in the team on behalf of Simon's request, and well, they try to find a way around it. At least, Gaz and Soap do. But before they exhaust all their options, Price offers to talk to the higher ups to see what the stance would be on moving Simon from an operator, to more of a coordinator like Kate. Where he would be able to do missions every one in a while, but not over exert himself to the point a flare-up is triggered and he is left in a dangerous position once again. The higher-ups agree, not wanting to lose the infamous Ghost.

So, there we go. :) That's my little tid-bit, take it as you want. And like always, if you enjoy the idea, please like/reblog, and if you want to build off the idea for your own AU or things, just tag me if you use specifics!! ((If you have any questions about RA, please drop them in my box and I will try to answer when I have the time!!))

more ra simon riley

simon wears gloves bc of his arthritis (gloves trap heat, and your joints dont lock up as much (stage 1 ra) when theres gloves on them. (they arent half as painful either!)

simon always gets the ones with skeleton hands on it, because when the skeleton starts to fade, he knows he needs a new pair.

when simon's gloves wear out, he always mysteriously finds another on his bed, with a sticky note that has a drawing of a bar of soap.

youre welcome, i stay feeding yall

in case anyone is wondering what its like to be chronically ill, i stressed myself out so bad this week my body has defaulted to "stress = vomit" mode. which is making my stomach and various joints hurt and i just pulled a muscle for vomiting too hard.

love life, life dont love me

back on my simon riley with rheumatoid arthritis shit.

so im getting checked out for juvenile RA, (cause if ur under 28 it's considered juvenile i believe) and its making a lot of things really difficult, so imma project on ghostie here for a bit.

TW: Stress, Stress Vomiting

Part One; Lightning

Ghost has good and bad days. On the good days, he gets to take his N-SAID, probably Celebrex, and it actually works. He doesn't get stiff much, and it doesn't feel like his hands are stuck in a really touch slime and he's trying to move them around.

On the bad days? God it sucks.

He cannot do paperwork. Holding the pen in the way he needs to sign off documents or write his own is genuinely painful. He has to force his hand open with the other when he has no choice but to sign the paperwork. (Or sometimes take his glove off and stick his hand under hot water until he can feel the stiffness recede enough to move it.)

He can still use his weapons, but it's a chore on the bad days. It's too dangerous, and so he's benched until he gets an all clear from medical as they're reviewing his x-rays to see how bad it's gotten.

He can't open soda cans anymore. Can't lift the tabs on soups or bean cans. He can't operate a can opener either. He has to get these things called Tab Buddies for the cans, and then if he has to use a can opener, he angrily passes it to Soap. (At that point, his pride is screaming at him to not eat anymore, but he needs to eat.)

They're still waiting on X-rays and he gets more imaging done, just to see truly how bad it's gotten. The positions they make him put his hands in are painful, and he feels tears prickle in his eyes as he clenches his jaw and grinds his teeth.

It keeps getting worse, and Simon quickly finds himself getting angry and depressed. Why him? Why now? He was on the top of his game, he had finally felt just a smidge of happiness, and now he had to dig up the birth certificate he never used and show it to the world the death certificate was simply for his job. To operate safely.

Now he doesn't have a job. His family is a bunch of soldiers who love their job and can continue doing it. He can't do what he loves, bringing terrorists to their knees and making them beg for the mercy they never gave others. The mercy he wouldn't give. Now, he has to confront his trauma and become a civilian. Figure out how to live with such a disability, he cannot preform basic fucking functions anymore.

How the fuck is he going to do this? If it's this bad within three years, and getting worse fast, how fucking bad is it going to be in the next year? Or next eight?

Was he even going to be able to use his hands in the next coming ten years?

Medical comes back with devastating news he knew from the get-go.

"Sorry Lieutenant, you're going to have to be honorably discharged. There's nothing we can do."

He doesn't get angry, he just feels resigned.

So, he gets discharged, and he's holding his head in his hands hyperventilating at 1 in the morning in his flat in Manchester. Crying, sobbing, beside his toilet with his mask across the tiled floor somewhere. The occasional sickness poured from his mouth into the toilet.

Fuck.

He's become everything he didn't want to be. Soon to be homeless, disabled, and how the fuck was he going to find work when fine motor skills is all he knows?

"Fuck me."

Comment on this Post if you want to be tagged whenever I post this AU!!

Pls like & reblog if you want to see more of this au. :) im really excited about this one, as the 141 are all going to have different chronic ailments. it's a story about hope and perseverance, with a little touch of romance and a shit ton of drama. Also.... Tommy, Beth and Joseph survived the Christmas Massacre, because I said so.