A Celebrity's Battle With a Crippling Disease

[Guest guest]

A Celebrity's Battle With a Crippling Disease

Sun Sep 15,11:50 PM ET

By

HealthScoutNews Reporter

SUNDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthScoutNews) -- If you had seen Aida Turturro smiling

like a movie star at the premiere of " The Sopranos " fourth season at Radio

City Music Hall last week, you wouldn't have been able to tell she was in

pain.

Turturro, who plays Tony Soprano's conniving sister, Janice, on the HBO

series, has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since she was a child.

The much-anticipated series opener airs tonight.

The 40-year-old actress is making public her battle with the disease as the

spokeswoman for " Joint Effort Against Arthritis, " an arthritis awareness

campaign sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation and Centocor, a company that

makes a well-known arthritis drug.

" When you're in the public eye, people relate to you. They want to hear what

you have to say, " Turturro notes. " I can help people by saying 'I have it

too. You're not the only one out there.' "

Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, chronic disease that causes inflammation

of the joints, most often in the hands, feet, wrists and neck. Doctors don't

know the cause of the disease, but they do know that the immune system

attacks the lining of the joints.

" What we don't know is why the immune system would choose to do that, " says

Dr. Klippel, medical director of the Arthritis Foundation in Atlanta.

Over time, the inflammation can damage nearby cartilage, bone, tendons and

ligaments, leading to permanent deformity and disability.

An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States have rheumatoid

arthritis. Unlike the many other types of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis

mainly strikes women between the ages of 20 and 45.

Early symptoms include fatigue and fever. As the disease progresses, joints

become swollen, inflamed, painful and stiff.

" Rheumatoid arthritis for most people is a chronic, lifelong progressive

illness, " Klippel says. " Once it develops, the odds are that person will

have to deal with it for the rest of their lives. "

Turturro was 12 when she had her first flare-up. She was at the beach with

her family. She tried to walk down to the water, but she felt like the

stones on the beach were piercing her soles.

" I was crying and my father had to carry me, " Turturro recalls. " When I went

to school, just getting up out of bed really hurt me. "

Her parents took her to the doctor. When she heard the diagnosis arthritis,

Turturro, then a teenager, didn't take it seriously. Though she suffered

flare-ups throughout her teens and 20s -- including one so bad she was

hospitalized -- she says she still did her best to ignore it.

It wasn't until her 30s that she got serious about seeking treatments -- and

figuring out how to help herself. As she aged, the pain and the fatigue

worsened. It got harder to pretend nothing was wrong.

" I have pain all the time, " she says. " You get up. You can't walk. Your feet

hurt. You have pain at night. It's constant. "

For Turturro, like many people with rheumatoid arthritis, mornings are often

the worst part of the day. Joint pain also makes it hard to sleep.

" Now I'm getting older, I'm a little more tired and hurting a little bit

more, " she says. " I'm just beginning to learn about it and help myself. "

However, Turturro is hesitant to complain too much about her pain. She

acknowledges that there are many others with the disease who are in worse

shape than she is.

Even if her feet, hips, knees and hands are aching, she still manages to get

through her scenes and continue her career in acting.

Many others become so disabled by arthritis they're homebound. The American

College of Rheumatology estimates that 33 percent of people with rheumatoid

arthritis stop working within five years of diagnosis and 50 percent stop

within 10 years.

" There are people who can't pick up their grandchildren, people who can't

work, people who can't button their blouse in the morning, " she says.

" People don't realize how serious rheumatoid arthritis is and how bad it can

get. "

A little understood complication of arthritis is higher rates of heart

disease, Klippel adds. Doctors aren't precisely sure why this occurs, but

inflammation of the arteries is known to contribute to atherosclerosis. The

chronic inflammation of arthritis could be linked, he says.

Lifestyle factors may also play a role. When it hurts to move, it's hard to

get enough exercise, he says.

The good news is there are many ways to relieve rheumatoid arthritis at

least somewhat, from lifestyle changes to medications that decrease the

swelling, Klippel says.

In the last few years, Turturro began to watch her diet, exercise more and

make sure she gets enough rest. She takes Remicade, a prescription drug, and

has regular appointments with her rheumatologist.

" You learn as an actor to not show you're in pain, " she says. " That's what I

do. I act. "

[Guest guest]

Thank you for posting this Georgina. It is good to hear celebrities speak out about this disease. I was a little bit disappointed that even though they say that she was diagnosed as a child they go on to not even mention how many children are affected by the disease mentioning instead only that women between 20 and 45 are most often affected. So once again the fact that "Kids get arthritis too" is all but overlooked. Anyway, it was an interesting article and thank you for posting it. I was happy to read that Josh is doing well. How is the growth hormone going? I hope you are well, hugs to you and Josh.

xoxo, Ellie and Riley 5 poly

[Guest guest]

Hi Eli,

You're right about that. As a new spokesperson for the AF hopefully she'll continue speaking about the subject to wide audiences and keep learning even more about this disease so she can help spread the word that it does, indeed, affect many children as well. Diagnosed at age 12 yet she was in her 30's when she got serious about seeking treatment? That amazed me. I can see her perhaps wanting to ignore it during the teen years but I do hope one of the things she emphasizes in her public speaking engagements is that it's in a person's best interests to seek treatment early on.

Josh got his shot this weekend and, like the last one, it went really well. Fortunately : ) Once again, I used a brand new pack of first edition Yugioh cards as a reward, to help take his mind off the situation at hand. It still hurts a lot. Not the poke itself but the feeling of the medicine pushing in. I make him count for me now though, so he is aware of how quick it really is. About 6 or 7 seconds total to get it all in there and then I keep the needle in, after I release the pinched skin, for 2 seconds so we don't lose any medicine from the puncture site. I hope he can see some good results from all of this.

I was so happy to read about Riley's positive experience with the splint and thought that was so cute, that she actually didn't want to do without it at night. Who would've guessed? : ) I'm glad her leg is still nice and straight. One step at a time, right? It was so nice to read about Riley's last visit to the rheumatologist, too. I'm glad she's not hurting as much. Hopefully soon, the morning stiffness won't be so bad anymore, too.

Aloha,

Georgina

----- Original Message -----

From: skyley8@...

Thank you for posting this Georgina. It is good to hear celebrities speak out about this disease. I was a little bit disappointed that even though they say that she was diagnosed as a child they go on to not even mention how many children are affected by the disease mentioning instead only that women between 20 and 45 are most often affected. So once again the fact that "Kids get arthritis too" is all but overlooked. Anyway, it was an interesting article and thank you for posting it. I was happy to read that Josh is doing well. How is the growth hormone going? I hope you are well, hugs to you and Josh. xoxo, Ellie and Riley 5 poly