Re: ~Dorothy Hamil dx'd with OA

[Guest guest]

This is interesting, Rainy Sue! Isn't Dorothy Hamil too young for

osteoarthritis? Or are her joints damaged from the ice skating? Did she

mention which joints are affected?

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

From: <Rysu19@...>

< egroups>

Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 3:46 PM

Subject: [ ] ~Dorothy Hamil dx'd with OA

> Dorothy Hamil was just on Lifetime Live. She was diagnosed last January

with

> Osteoarthritis. She said everything we say here, the aches, the pains, the

> stiffness in the morning, the fatigue she really stressed as she has a

young

> daughter she can't (couldn't) play with anymore. She said when they'd go

on a

> picnic to the park, which is 2 blocks away, they would normally walk, but

now

> she will drive there. Anyway, she had been dealing with this about 4 years

> before finally being diagnosed. She said she was relieved! Bcs now she is

> being treated and her life is much better and she is back to skating. She

> takes Vioxx and that really helps her she said and she has become a

> spokesperson for them. Dorothy, Bruce Jenner and her doctor are traveling

> around the country now promoting awareness.

>

> Another thing she said that really hit home was how she would get up in

the

> morning and shuffle to the bathroom and just want to go back to bed. Yeah!

> Maybe people will listen to her about her troubles getting to the

bathroom.

> And start understanding, a little. Why must we wait for celebrities to be

> diagnosed for us to get heard! Same with Kellie and her sister

> who died of Lupus. For you new members, Kellie s sister died at age

19

> from Lupus. She had a bad case of it and misdiagnosis and she went

quickly.

> Kellie is now spreading awareness for Lupus.

>

> <A HREF= " http://www.kellie.com/ " >Kellie - Caught In Kellie's

Web</A>

>

> Go to the above link and scroll down. There will be another link to the

story

> about her sister. Bring tissues. Also, new members, if you do a search in

the

> RA archives on " Kellie " you'll find the messages we posted at the

time.

>

> Anyway, back to Dorothy, it was a WONDERFUL segment! She stressed very

> strongly this isn't an athletes disease. Every day normal/average people

get

> this. They also gave the number of how many are affected with the disease.

>

> Lifetime TV posts their episodes at their web site and for the life of me

I

> can't find that clip. It was on today, so maybe they haven't gotten yet. I

am

> thinking maybe they were " added " in after the program was designed for the

> day bcs they have all of the other topics up.

>

> Dorothy Hamil bought the ice skating rink over here where I live, across

the

> border from me. It is the place where Tonya Harding practiced. (brat girl)

>

> ~Rainy Sue

[Guest guest]

She won the gold in 1976, how old was she then? She is still very young. I

would guess late 30's early 40's? I am going to assume that it was from all

her skating and falling. But that is when she stressed it wasn't an

" athlete's " disease. I went and looked again hoping they had added that

segment. No dice. I wrote them an email. See in another post: Lifetime TV.

I don't recall what joints if she said. But she said her whole body ached,

and she rubbed her neck for emphasis. Personally, I think she is STUPID to

keep skating. Yes, the work out is good, but taking the chance of falling.

yikes.

~Rainy

> This is interesting, Rainy Sue! Isn't Dorothy Hamil too young for

> osteoarthritis? Or are her joints damaged from the ice skating? Did she

> mention which joints are affected?

>

>

[Guest guest]

OK, Rainy, Dorothy Hamill is 44 years old. I looked it up. And since I'm 41

and right behind her, I'm going to say that she is VERY YOUNG.

It's true that OA is not exclusively an " athlete's " disease, but it is

believed that athletes and people who perform repetitive tasks that are hard

on their joints are more at risk and can develop it and are symptomatic

sooner than average.

Many studies seem to show that most people in their 40s already do have

signs of OA visible on x-rays, but the vast majority of the group is

asymptomatic.

That's why I was curious about which joints of hers are affected. For

instance, if her hands are already painful, then I would expect that she

doesn't have the right or a complete diagnosis. Sure, I could believe that

her hips, knees, and feet could be messed up from the skating, but her hands

should be OK (unless she was scrubbing and cleaning like crazy like Sylvia

from a young age).

I'm very curious about this.

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

From: <Rysu19@...>

< egroups>

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 3:40 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] ~Dorothy Hamil dx'd with OA

> She won the gold in 1976, how old was she then? She is still very young. I

> would guess late 30's early 40's? I am going to assume that it was from

all

> her skating and falling. But that is when she stressed it wasn't an

> " athlete's " disease. I went and looked again hoping they had added that

> segment. No dice. I wrote them an email. See in another post: Lifetime TV.

>

> I don't recall what joints if she said. But she said her whole body ached,

> and she rubbed her neck for emphasis. Personally, I think she is STUPID to

> keep skating. Yes, the work out is good, but taking the chance of falling.

> yikes.

>

> ~Rainy

>

>

> > This is interesting, Rainy Sue! Isn't Dorothy Hamil too young for

> > osteoarthritis? Or are her joints damaged from the ice skating? Did she

> > mention which joints are affected?

> >

> >