Ignorance about RA

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Gosh I’ve just had the most unsettling/irritating – but eye opening

conversation!! Argggggg.

I was chatting to this new guy in our office during lunch (nice friendly

chap and this is nothing personal but!) and he starts telling me about this

friend of his overseas who has a teeerrrrible disease: Terminal Rheumatoid

Arthritis????!! He’s going on and on about how she’s going to be

completely deformed and in a wheelchair soon and there’s nothing that can be

done for her, her life is basically over and it’s such a waste etc.

It really got to me (although how could the poor guy have known…) so I

calmly told him that he’s a bit misinformed, not to panic she’s not dying, I

have the same thing and it can be controlled with the right treatment. Oh

nooo nooo nooo he tells me - hers is different – it’s Terminal, it’s the

real Rheumatoid Arthritis -she’s going to be completely deformed and anyway

(I’m sure you could all have guessed what came next)…It can’t be the same

thing as you have……”You look fine.”

Well I didn’t feel up to having the length of conversation needed to try and

convince him otherwise, and it’s a bit awkward at work, but it just struck

me how few people know anything about this disease. How can we expect

people to understand what we go through when most people haven’t even heard

the words Rheumatoid Arthritis. Most times I admit to having it people will

go “oh my Grandmother has that” (meaning arthritis) or “Oh I know it’s so

irritating - I have it on my left toe, it hurts a bit when the weathers bad

”. You know when someone says they have say for example Diabetes everyone

has an idea of what it entails and will appreciate the efforts that person

must take to keep up their health. Why is so little known about this

disease? Honestly until I was diagnosed I’d never heard of it either, it’s

like a state secret. It’s not like it’s something rare and unheard of in

medical circles. What worries me about this amount of ignorance is that

it’s widespread – most of the doctors I’ve spoken to don’t have a clue – so

how would they diagnose someone who’s suffering from it!?

To be honest it’s not something I really talk to people about – so maybe I

shouldn’t be complaining – it’s like I’m almost ashamed of being judged by

them, that they will see me differently, especially at work! I’ve always

found it awkward to talk about my problems with people anyway. But if we

all stay silent like I do then how will people start to get it? Maybe it’s

time we all started talking more about what we have and how it affects us,

there needs to be more awareness of this disease.

Sorry I’m blabbing on and on but this has really got me going onto

something, I know you must all have had these thoughts at one time or

another, I just needed to articulate them with good friends who will REALLY

understand.

Sending healing, painfree ((((((((((((Gigantic gentle hugs))))))))))))

Love

Heidi

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