Arthritis @ a relatively young age.

I believe I have arthritis in my knees and maybe ankles. I'm young..or, I think I'm young.

Anyway, knees get swollen and very hot to the touch. I know this is a sign of inflammation. And they hurtttttttt. My hips and ankles hurt often, too.

I know the doctors to go to and stuff, but just wanted to hear your experiences with arthritis at a young age.

What can be done as far as meds/excersise?
What is the prognosis?
Do you feel pregnancies had anything to do with it? (as far as the weight bearing on your joints?)
How are you dealing?
Did losing weight help? (I'm now trying to lose weight quickly so I can reduce weight on my knees)
Did your knees or ankles "click"?

Did it run in your family?

my mother and other relatives have terrible knees, and my brother has knee issues, too.

Just looking for some input from those who have been there, before I go to the doc.

Re: Arthritis @ a relatively young age.

My sister is in her 20's and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was in her early teens.

I know she takes meds for it, and sometimes shots.

Re: Arthritis @ a relatively young age.

In all my research actual OA- osteoarthritis is very rare in young people unless you are an athlete. RA- Rheumatoid Arthritis is more common. If the inflimation is in bilateral-both knees, feet and so on- or you have more stiffness in the am I would see my doc and ask for a some tests. Here are my answers to this and I was diagnoised with severe RA in May of 2010 at 5months pp with my daughter.


What can be done as far as meds/excersise? For me we wanted another baby so I decided to take a less effective tx and am suffering now. In hindsight I would have waited 2-3 years and started the biologics asap. They say within the 1st 2yrs of an RA diagnoisis you have the most damage occur. You should and can exercise. I'm talkking water arobics, low impact stuff. The point is to move your joints but not to neccessarily tax them. With the right tx you should have a good quality of life. After my son is born I will start Enbrel and injectiable biologic and I may need Methotrexate as well. We'll see.


What is the prognosis? RA never goes away and even with proper managment and tx I will suffer some disfigurment in the later years. It is a painful uncurble disease, but I have a good attitude about it and am starting to make adjustments now as to not tax my joints.


Do you feel pregnancies had anything to do with it? (as far as the weight bearing on your joints?) YES!!!! In hindsight I prob. had it well before my 1st but it was just ocassional and I never put it together or had symptoms long enough to see a doc. At 6wks I started noticing pain in my feet and my 9 or 10wks pp I could barely walk. I could not get in and out of a car or the ambulance and had to get help. My joints were soswollen and inflammed it was obvious there was an issue. Pregnancy was very taxing to me and as my rheumatologist says the pp hormones can bring an autoimmune disease to the front burner.


How are you dealing? Prednisone, rest and making adjustments to what I do. Once i'm done being pg again and I start a good treatment I should be in a poition to live my normal life without to much pain or issues. I will have ocassional flairs, but that is just life. I was very sad for awhile, but after doing more reading and research I am doing much better. It's just a part of who I am now and I have to find a way to move on and live with this. I won't let it control me!


Did losing weight help? (I'm now trying to lose weight quickly so I can reduce weight on my knees) It's hard to tell. I lost a lot of weight with my daughter but then started the prednisone so even though I was not eating I was gaining weight back. I was at my thinnest ever when I was diagnoised so I guess no it didn't really matter, but I would assume losing weight would help. It's hard to do since a lot of the meds do make you gain weight. I guess for me it is the strength training or mobility that would be more helpful.


Did your knees or ankles "click"? Yes, but it goes away after awhile. My morning stiffness is pretty bad

Did it run in your family? Not RA, but my mom has Lupus and my brotehr has Psoriasis and Psoratic Arthritis. SO Autoimmune is very present which is what RA is.

Feel free to fm anytime!

Re: Arthritis @ a relatively young age.

tons of great info, thanks!

all the meds seem scary to me. I'm looking at that as a last resort (I mean, I hate even taking Tylenol -- I'm weird.)

I wonder if I can try to build up muscle around the knees or something, too.

Re: Arthritis @ a relatively young age.

I know it'll sound strange, but eliminating wheat from your diet could help. This book is really informative.

Re: Arthritis @ a relatively young age.