The three things nobody tells you about RA.

When I was diagnosed, I was in the middle of a university degree, learning about RA.  'Twas incredibly fortuitous really - it definitely sped up the diagnosis process!

The text books about RA gave me a fair idea of what I was in for - granted, they didn't paint the picture in particularly accurate colours, but I knew I was gonna have sore joints to rival people in their 90s.  But the longer I live with Arthur, the more I realise nobody had ever told me about him.

Night sweats

They warn you about a persistent low-grade fever, but they don't warn you exactly how feverish things can get!  Boy, are these fun.  (I know sarcasm is considered by many to be the lowest form of wit, but I kid you not when I say that sarcasm is often the only thing that saves my sanity.)  I always know I'm in for an especially hellish kind of day or three following these.  Case in point - it is now single figures overnight here, which meant the addition of a blanket and changing into warmer pyjamas last week.  On Tuesday night, I found myself in a pool of my own sweat, sitting on a towel on the couch under the air conditioner.  Still burning up. 

Muscle aches

It all makes sense really - the hip bone's connected to the back bone;

The back bone's connected to the neck bone,

The neck bone's connected to the head bone... and all 'round dem bones is muscles!  

I have learned that once a particular joint has started to flare, you can almost guarantee that the tendons, ligaments and muscles that surround it will soon start to hurt, and then all hell breaks loose.  Between my physio and my massage therapist I try my best to keep the soft tissue soft, so that the bones can do their thing.  But 'arthritis' still conjures up images of sore bones, with no warning that the rest of your body won't be any less painful!

Losing fat

This sounds awesome, but it's not quite that exciting.  Because one of the places you lose fat from (without any effort, may I add) when you have RA is the bottoms of your feet.  Yes.  You read right.  The. Soles. Of.  Your.  Feet.

Of all the places a girl wants to shed a bit of extra adipose, the feet are the least of our worries.  But once it starts to go, it's actually very painful and makes life difficult.  All of a sudden I can feel my bones not only grinding against each other, but against the floor, the soles of my shoes, the whole thing.  Not ideal - perhaps I can lobby the extra adipose on my hips to relocate a little further south!  (I have been purposely building my stockpile for just this purpose!)

I often wonder if there were a book of what living with RA is really like, if people would be more or less accepting of this diagnosis.  At the moment, many people seem to think it's just some "achy joints" and not worthy of sick days - blissfully unaware that the real picture, the real life we live, is actually much more than a few aches and pains.  I won't lie, it's been so long since I got a good night's sleep that I am almost delirious with the exhaustion - and if someone offered me a painless existence in exchange for my soul, I would trade it in a heartbeat.  But my diagnosis?  If my having RA saves my brother the pain, the heartache, and the turmoil - then I wouldn't change a thing.