What Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Not

I would like to clarify some misconceptions and tell you what rheumatoid arthritis is not.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Not:

• Just a pain in your thumb or an occasional pain in your knee.

• Being told by your doctor "oh well, you are getting older and have a touch of arthritis. Take a couple aspirin."

• About Osteoarthritis.

• About age, getting old and lacking calcium.

• Someone saying "oh ya, my grandmother had that...arthritis pain in her hip. I think I got RA too"

• Some older guy or gal in a TV commercial who pops 2 Advil for "arthritis pain" and feels great for the rest of the day. (That commercial insults the hell out of me.)

In fact, rheumatoid arthritis is NOT solely about arthritis at all!

"Arthritis" is defined as "joint inflammation and swelling".

Rheumatoid arthritis is so much more then just "joint inflammation and swelling"

It should be called The Rheumatoid Syndrome because it encompasses much, much more then just joint pain and inflammation. Actually, RA is about a dozen different maladies all combined in one very painful, complicated and confusing package.

With just slightly over one tenth of one percent (1/10) of the American public being affected by RA, it's no wonder there are so many misconceptions about rheumatoid arthritis.

In any one day, there is actually more media exposure given to people who have a cold or a headache then there is to those of us who suffer this debilitating disease.

In addition to those symptoms I discuss in a post below, RA can and will have a severe impact on your skin, eyesight, blood vessels, heart, lungs and other organs.

Many times severe RA cases are fatal.

As I said, education is so important. Don't tell a RA patient that you can identify with him or her because you have a pain in your knee or your finger is swollen.

That ain't even CLOSE to what we feel and experience every hour of every day.