Re: RA can be deadly Loaded question?

[Guest guest]

I, too can think of worse illnesses. My friend has MS AND stage 4 melanoma.

She is 10 years younger than I am. It is gruesome to watch, so sad to have this

happening to her, - a tragedy, no doubt. Funny, she is dying here and now.

Yet, she still can DO more things than I can for now.

Before the melanoma took her eye, and even after, even tho she has MS, she used

to tell me she was glad she did not have RA, but that she had MS cuz I was soooo

sick.

My moms neighbor did die from RA. She was 45. This was not 15 years ago or

even 5 years ago.

Sure there are more horrible things..my duaghter has childhood bipolar and

yesterday we had a meeting at school, my daughter will likely never be an

independant adult. She looks OK and her academic IQ is above average, BUT her

mental illness prevents her from being able to do anything. SHe has been in

treatment since she was 3 years old. Another friend has a child with pprofound

cerbal palsy. A very very sad illness. The child will always need to be fed

and dressed etc. Another friend has a 12 year old with end stage muscualr

dystrophy. My kids had a classmate with cystic fibrosis who died last year.

Lots of serious illnesses that are so very sad, to be sure. My first husband

died at age 31 of diabetes, my brother has diabetes and is 35 and doing great.

We need to remember RA can be very aggressive in ssome people and mild in

others. Like many illnesses it does not affect everyone the same way or to the

same degree. For 2 years mine attacked nerves and tendons, and caused me such

intense pain I was oblivious. The only coherant thing I said during that 2

yeaars was let me die. Help me die. Even morphine did not help.

I could not move. I could not feed myself or dress or bathe myself. I could

not even carry on a conversation. That has subsided, and I can once again

finally do things for myself most of the time, again, but for those 2 years my

poor young kids were stuck watching me writhe in pain.

For me, death would have been welcome.

Sure there are more horrible things------and there is nothing that says those

other more horrible things won't happen. I can still get killed or crippled

riding in my car. I can still get cancer. But I can also have my little times

here and there where I hate having RA. The good part is, I do not think about

that all the time anymore, now that I have some relief and am up and moving

again. I am usually too busy up and moving to think about it. :-)

Oh be sure it has affected my life in HUGE ways. ANd yes there are things I

just cannot do anymore. It has affected my whole family greatly. I still do

not get into a bathtub if I am home alone. We still keep a telephone in a

shoulder bag and a water bottle at my side at ALL times. Once I was the main

financila support for our family of 5...and now we live on my social security-

with 2 disabled kids. We now accept the lawn might not get cut every week- the

dishes might not get done or even the laundry. I am NOT gonna go bowling, no

way- I am NOT riding carnival rides, and if we go to the fair or museum or zoo,

I AM using a scooter. We have adjusted and adapted. We survived thru me having

this. JUst as we survived my husbands having HIS illnesses (Agent orange cancer

in brain, lungs, kidneys and severe profound combat PTSD that often sends him

into catatonia for months) and we survived facing my son has severe brain damage

that prevents him from learning to read and write and walking normally

(heterotopia)

There ARE worse things.but sometimes it is OK to still say gosh I hate this RA.

ANd for some of us, it does impact us more than some morning stifnness.

But yes, some days I DO tell myself- oh it could be so very much worse.

- In , " Jennie G " <xponder70@y...> wrote:

> Yes - but isn't that in rare cases? I think there are lots of

> diseases with higher odds of killing you. I'm guessing that my odds

> of dying from RA are much less than of dying on the highway each day

> I go to work.

>

>

> > Jennie, RA can kill you.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > I'll tell you where to go!

> >

> > Mayo Clinic in Rochester

> > http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

> >

> > s Hopkins Medicine

> > http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

> >

[Guest guest]

I, too can think of worse illnesses. My friend has MS AND stage 4 melanoma.

She is 10 years younger than I am. It is gruesome to watch, so sad to have this

happening to her, - a tragedy, no doubt. Funny, she is dying here and now.

Yet, she still can DO more things than I can for now.

Before the melanoma took her eye, and even after, even tho she has MS, she used

to tell me she was glad she did not have RA, but that she had MS cuz I was soooo

sick.

My moms neighbor did die from RA. She was 45. This was not 15 years ago or

even 5 years ago.

Sure there are more horrible things..my duaghter has childhood bipolar and

yesterday we had a meeting at school, my daughter will likely never be an

independant adult. She looks OK and her academic IQ is above average, BUT her

mental illness prevents her from being able to do anything. SHe has been in

treatment since she was 3 years old. Another friend has a child with pprofound

cerbal palsy. A very very sad illness. The child will always need to be fed

and dressed etc. Another friend has a 12 year old with end stage muscualr

dystrophy. My kids had a classmate with cystic fibrosis who died last year.

Lots of serious illnesses that are so very sad, to be sure. My first husband

died at age 31 of diabetes, my brother has diabetes and is 35 and doing great.

We need to remember RA can be very aggressive in ssome people and mild in

others. Like many illnesses it does not affect everyone the same way or to the

same degree. For 2 years mine attacked nerves and tendons, and caused me such

intense pain I was oblivious. The only coherant thing I said during that 2

yeaars was let me die. Help me die. Even morphine did not help.

I could not move. I could not feed myself or dress or bathe myself. I could

not even carry on a conversation. That has subsided, and I can once again

finally do things for myself most of the time, again, but for those 2 years my

poor young kids were stuck watching me writhe in pain.

For me, death would have been welcome.

Sure there are more horrible things------and there is nothing that says those

other more horrible things won't happen. I can still get killed or crippled

riding in my car. I can still get cancer. But I can also have my little times

here and there where I hate having RA. The good part is, I do not think about

that all the time anymore, now that I have some relief and am up and moving

again. I am usually too busy up and moving to think about it. :-)

Oh be sure it has affected my life in HUGE ways. ANd yes there are things I

just cannot do anymore. It has affected my whole family greatly. I still do

not get into a bathtub if I am home alone. We still keep a telephone in a

shoulder bag and a water bottle at my side at ALL times. Once I was the main

financila support for our family of 5...and now we live on my social security-

with 2 disabled kids. We now accept the lawn might not get cut every week- the

dishes might not get done or even the laundry. I am NOT gonna go bowling, no

way- I am NOT riding carnival rides, and if we go to the fair or museum or zoo,

I AM using a scooter. We have adjusted and adapted. We survived thru me having

this. JUst as we survived my husbands having HIS illnesses (Agent orange cancer

in brain, lungs, kidneys and severe profound combat PTSD that often sends him

into catatonia for months) and we survived facing my son has severe brain damage

that prevents him from learning to read and write and walking normally

(heterotopia)

There ARE worse things.but sometimes it is OK to still say gosh I hate this RA.

ANd for some of us, it does impact us more than some morning stifnness.

But yes, some days I DO tell myself- oh it could be so very much worse.

- In , " Jennie G " <xponder70@y...> wrote:

> Yes - but isn't that in rare cases? I think there are lots of

> diseases with higher odds of killing you. I'm guessing that my odds

> of dying from RA are much less than of dying on the highway each day

> I go to work.

>

>

> > Jennie, RA can kill you.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > I'll tell you where to go!

> >

> > Mayo Clinic in Rochester

> > http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

> >

> > s Hopkins Medicine

> > http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

> >