How do we fix it remains a mystery, how to control it remains a guess and how to cure it remains unknown. The true definition of a disease unknown. Living a life with so much uncertainty is what we all know as sufferers of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
There is so much we don’t know about this disease but there is a lot that we do know and can tell you about!! What we as sufferers can attest to is Rheumatoid Arthritis is painful, it is very disabling, it wears us out, it takes more medicine than we can list to try to control it and it is very powerful. Each one of us suffer from debilitating pain but the level may vary and it may affect some of our joints visibly but all of our joints hurt every day. For us the fatigue is like a weight too heavy to carry and sleep is something we’ve come to cherish. These are the things that we can say we know for certain about this disease.
We each can tell you the quality of our lives have changed, some much more than others but we’ve all experienced change in some way. We can all swear to days when all we want to do is just lay in bed because we don’t have the energy to do any more than that plus our pain is overbearing causing us to stay wherever we are hoping for relief. We have all laid in bed hoping we feel better knowing this is just a hope in vain. These things we know for sure, yet so much about this disease is really unknown.
The mystery is how to make us feel better physically which will help to ease our minds emotionally. The doctors can tell us what they think may happen and what they think will help us but that process is one of “Try It, It May Work” chances that we all have faced. Rheumatoid Arthritis remains a disease that is explained to the best of the knowledge of doctors but there still seems to always be something new that it thrust upon us and is explained as “It’s Because Of Your RA”. It remains really unknown and complicated and something that is blamed for so many things in our lives leaving us as confused as the day we were diagnosed. Reading about it only touches the surface of the reality of it, still there is so much more that’s unknown.
So enter the hopeful problem solver “our medications”, the thing that baffles us all. The thing that is as much a guessing experience as this disease. We are told what medicines are supposed to work for us to ease our pain and slow our joint damage but that process is as complicated as some of the names they possess. The process is much more than taking pills, getting shots, infusions and waiting for the results. Yes, we do get results but they may be a big mystery themselves. This is the thing that is supposed to be chasing away our disease giving us relief from all that comes with RA but what happened! It is the unknown working against the unknown and this is what we know.
Rheumatoid Arthritis we know is tricky. It hides itself behind other illnesses leaving us confused wondering is “It” at work or are we simply sick with something not related. Being unknown makes it easy for It to hide its ugly head keeping our lives complicated and in a constant state of guessing. Yet we juggle this disease day in and day out trying to balance our sicknesses. We lose ourselves trying to stay a step ahead of a disease so unknown.
We know how it has changed who we are, how we used to be, what we used to do and how we are able to do it. Facing our inabilities and our limitations is truly difficult because they are shrouded in guilt. This disease has managed to take our bodies and turned them into bodies we have to treat so delicately while we watch as it continually tear us down. We know how that happened but no one knows how to fix it in a way that will work for sure.
Complicated, debilitating, confusing, life altering, lonely, life lasting and life threatening is what we know about Rheumatoid Arthritis. The why, when, how and who is what makes it the “Definition Of Being Our Unknown Disease”. A disease that can strike anyone at anytime with an unknown way to fix it. So as we continue our lives with RA, we realize for now it will remain a mystery to us in many ways. Rheumatoid Arthritis, so misunderstood and unknown.
Be Blessed
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RA AND THE FAMILY FIT 
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