It has been awful,especially since I am(well,was) very Adventurous,Sporty and Independent.My life has Drastically changed.
Now I have no way of being sporty,adventurous or active because I can't apply pressure on my hands(do press-ups,chin-ups,open jars,play tennis or hockey,box or rockclimb)it's not fun.At all.
So anyway,back in September all of a sudden my feet got so painful I could barely walk and going up/down stairs was like climbing mount everest in barefeet standing on pins.Then in went into my legs,arms,back and shoulders.
I first thought it was an injury from all the constant skimboarding I did 24/7 for two weeks in summer which entails throwing a board,sprinting,jumping and landing on it,which had made my feet sore by the end of each day anyway.
My doctor said there was no way it could be arthritis because my bones are so healthy(due to the fact that I'm addicted to dairy products and drink about 2 litres of milk a day!)
But then I got blood tests(which I was DREADING soooo much since I LOATHE needles and the thought of blood being taken out of petite little me was not something I felt ok with-I need all the blood I can get!)
Anyway,rheumatoid arthritis showed up in my blood.It is different to normal arthritis since it has nothing to do with the bone,it is purely muscle.
So I went to a specialist.Another blood test confirmed the results,aswell as 2 giant syringes full of fluid taken from my knee!I was put on medication and ever since then,the pain has been only in my hands,which I suppose is great.The annoying thing is,it wasn't in my hands before that!
More than 8 months later and my hands are still in pain(if not even worse than before)and my medication has been upped numerously aswell as new medicines on top of the old ones.
I tried everything.
A fruit and veg only diet,a sacro something or other therapist,epsim salts baths,new medication,x-ray microscope injections before my Christmas exams so I could write(for 3 months I went to school and just sat there-no books and no writing) and the list goes on.
Since I haven't improved,my specialist suggested self-injection pens(HUMIRA) where you inject yourself every two weeks.
I found this ironic since the only thing that kept me going was that I only needed blood tests every 1-2 months and at least I didn't have Diabetes and had to inject myself every day!
So after bursting into tears hearing this news,I thought about it and I said to myself "which is worse-a tiny injection or the pain of this arthritis?" an so I began the HUMIRA.
The nurse came to my house a month ago.She explained what to do and I injected myself.It was PAINFUL.I mean seriously sore!The nurse had said I wouldn't even feel it,but the needle wasn't the sore part.it felt like I was injecting acid into myself and setting it alight.NO EXAGGERATION.
So me being me,I burst into tears in front of the nurse because the pain was so unexpected.
She said it would take 2-12 weeks for it to start having an effect,so I decided that I'll give it a shot(no pun intended) and if I didn't feel the effects after 12 weeks I would stop with it.
I did my second injection by myself and it was still as sore as the first but I didn't cry and the pain went away within an hour.My third went quite the same,but my fourth(almost 2 weeks ago) was bad because I started getting really worked up and couldn't face inflicting pain knowingly on myself so I got my mum to do it.And I cried.
The lesson is,don't take anything for granted because you really never know what is going to happen.Despite this dreaded arthritis I still try to see the positive side of things,like how lucky I am to have been born into a developed country and that I have been blessed with good parents who aren't alcoholics and don't abuse me,and that I still have all of my siblings alive.
I am also a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,so this setback will benefit me.I just don't know how yet.Or maybe I do; since I have had arthritis my test scores have greatly improved and I got lots of As and Bs in the christmas exam.Maybe if I hadn't got this,I wouldn't have got my desired points in the Leaving Cert.Or maybe it was for a different reason.
All I know is, I will grow stronger with this.It will help me develop into the person I will become.
