Today is the first-ever RA Awareness Day. Groundhog Day was chosen as the perfect day to bring the disease out of the shadows. RA (rheumatoid arthritis) is a very misunderstood disease. It is often thought of as arthritis in the sense of osteoarthritis, which affects the joints due to wear and tear, injury, and/or age. RA is actually not 'arthritis'. Rather, it is a progressive, systemic autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. It affects not only the joints, but can adversely affect most any organ in the body. Specifically, the eyes, skin, heart, kidneys, lungs, nervous system, blood and blood vessels are all targets of RA disease and complications. RA patients are also highly susceptible to serious, life threatening infections not only related to the disease itself, but also as a result of the immune suppressing medications used to treat it. On average, life expectancy is shorter for people with RA than for the general population...due in part to the disease and in part to the serious side effects of the toxic treatment medications.
* Less than 2% of the population worldwide have RA
* 75% of those affected are women
* RA is most likely to strike people 35-50 years of age, but can occur in children in young as 2 years.
* Symptoms include severe pain, overwhelming fatigue, fever, chronic flu-like malaise, joint swelling and deformity, muscle weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite
RA is a relentless, debilitating, and painful disease for which there is no cure...yet. As one who has RA, I remain hopeful. And I haven't given away my tennis racquets. :)
Wow, Peggy, I had no idea that RA affected so much more than joints. I guess I understand why your Monday routine is continuous. You're a beautiful lady with a beautiful spirit a d I'm sorry you have to deal with this.
Peggy, thanks for sharing this information. We spent last evening with our neighbor who has RA and discussed the disease. She is currently in a good place, doing well with her current meds but she is planning her future, i.e. retirement, around the disease. She did not mention that today is RA Awareness Day. I will mention it to her today. You may want to tag this with this week's theme - determination. You have a giant amount of that. Hope you are having a great weekend with Elizabeth.
Well done, Peggy. People whose lives are not affected by an auto-immune disease in themselves or their loved ones have a hard time understanding the ramifications of these diseases. I love this Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino who suffers from lupus. My daughter has Crohn's and shared this with me. http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/wpress/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/
Great picture to highlight RA Awareness Day. What a horrible thing to have to live with but wonderful that you still have hope (and your tennis raquets!) I take my hat off to you.
Keep going Peggy! My grandmother died very young from it (my mum blamed the Gold injections) and my family history is littered with cases but treatments are much better now than then and will continue to improve even though not yet there. It's people like you keeping the pressure on that makes all the difference. I'm very happy to say that I did not inherit an RA HLA-type but I'm confident that you would still beat me at tennis even with dodgy knees.
R est A ssured that you exude hope , happiness, kindness, light , joy , loyalty , commitment and the greatest of these -love!
Peggy Sirk , you have made an impact on my life through your eyes and words xx
As a fellow sufferer, I appreciate your words. Glad to know you haven't given away your tennis racquets. I'm afraid my squash racquets bit the dust years ago.
@lisabell Thanks, Lisa. I know you are familiar with the vagaries of chronic illness in the case of one extremely close to you. You just deal with it as it comes. :)
@bpaquette I have so related to the spoon theory since I read that a couple of years ago. I also know how difficult it is for the uninitiated to the world of autoimmune illness to relate to the challenges of those affected...we don't "look" sick. I was the same way pre-RA. This disease has made me infinity more compassionate to the struggles, of any kind, faced by others.
Thanks for the encouragement, Judith. @judithg Advances are being made in the way of pharmaceuticals all the time. I wish that your grandmother could have experienced better options in her day.
@girlie Robin ~ I had you in mind when I posted this. :) Although I have kept my racquets, were I to use them they'd have to be strapped to my hand. Much like fellow RA sufferer, Pierre Auguste Renoir, who eventually had to have assistants tie his brushes to his hand. But he still painted masterful works. :)
Peggy, I had no idea about most of these facts. Thank you so much for sharing and making me more aware as to difficulties others face. I pray that you will be able to have more comfort than pain. I admire your courage and positive outlook. You are an inspiration to many. Naturally I pray for better treatment options in the future. Take care. Love your photos.
Sooooo glad I scrolled back & saw this post & here's me going on about my miserable slightly wonky knees when you have this awful on going condition!
I have learnt such a lot about RA through your picture here, I did actually think I might have this myself when I was at my worst before Christmas & felt so stiff & ill but even at that point had no idea of the consequences.....I am very lucky !!!
Very glad there is a specific day to think about this & bring this disease to everyone awarenesses.
Your cheerfulness & courage are an inspiration Peggy & I send you my love & admiration!!!! xx
February 5th, 2013
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Peggy Sirk , you have made an impact on my life through your eyes and words xx
I have learnt such a lot about RA through your picture here, I did actually think I might have this myself when I was at my worst before Christmas & felt so stiff & ill but even at that point had no idea of the consequences.....I am very lucky !!!
Very glad there is a specific day to think about this & bring this disease to everyone awarenesses.
Your cheerfulness & courage are an inspiration Peggy & I send you my love & admiration!!!! xx