Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain

Quiet & Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pain usually does not bring me to tears. I just get more quiet. More pain; more quiet.

When I was getting ready to have my first child, I prepared myself saying, “I can do anything for a day.” Of course, I was pretty frustrated when labor pain actually lasted three days. But I learned a life skill that I use every day, how to have a high pain threshold.

Lately, those days keep coming to mind. Could it be that my baby turned twenty last week? Or could it be the familiar quiet?

This is hard. I never write about this pain. Formerly, I would have been alarmed at the pain this severe in any one part of me. Here I sit with pain in most of the joints in my body that is as harsh as labor at times.

I can barely walk. I can hardly do anything at all right now. It’s getting very quiet.

Rheumatoid Arthritis pain is just plain ugly

This is difficult. I feel the same as so many who have written to me: no one understands. Friends and family don’t have any idea what Rheumatoid Arthritis pain and disability are like. And they don’t usually read my blog.

RA pain did bring me to tears today. I told my teens that it’s like being in a dark room. I need a window.

Writing about RA pain is hard, too. If we tell it like it is, we are whining. If we hold back, we’re glossing over it.

Rheumatoid Arthritis pain is ugly and there’s no pleasing way to discuss something so ugly. Recently, someone told me it’s so much worse than I present it; someone else said I present it so much worse than they experience it. Sometimes, I think if I described how ugly I think my own RA pain is, no one would read it.

Postblog: Most of us agree that the media presents an RA Lite. This story about a warrior named Craig Cain is an exception. Have a look at this straightforward presentation about a brave young man who’s been fighting Rheumatoid Arthritis pain and disability since he was five. Bravo to the Memphis Commercial Appeal for a candid view of Rheumatoid Arthritis pain.