Rose’s Story – Being diagnosed with Arthritis

This is my story of how I developed rheumatoid arthritis and my initial problems when being diagnosed.

In the autumn of 2005 I had a bout of Iritis, in my right eye.  This got better, only to reoccur next May and my eyesight got noticeably worse.   I was frightened of becoming totally blind in that eye.  It was also at this point that I heard that Iritis could be associated with Ankylising Spondilositis or Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I took steroid eye drops, Maxidex, and was due to be free of them by the summer.  I asked my GP about the associated diseases and he told my that mine was a case of simple Iritis, even though I had problems with my knees and at times could not stand up.  When I went to stand up (first noticed when on the toilet) my knees would not support me.  It was as if I had no legs at all, until I passed a certain angle and they then worked again.  I either sat back down or got hold of the wall to support me.

My doctor said that Rheumatoid Arthritis had symptoms of painful and swollen joints, which I did not have at that time.  He sent me for a blood test, which came back negative.  I told him my family history.  By 2007 both my parents had had BOTH knees replaced.  My mother has both Rheumatoid and Osteo - Arthritis.  Also, my oldest sister had Lupus disease for a number of years.

During the 2006 summer holiday we visited Disneyland Paris and Germany, and I was increasingly unable to walk far with pain in both knees.  When we returned I had another bout of Iritis and since my doctor was on holiday, I was sent to Swindon Great Western Hospital to see the Opthlamist there.  They told me to take the Maxidex for a while and then to stop.  I ended up going back again as I had dry eyes in both eyes, a symptom I later found out is associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  The worse was yet to come.

A colleague of my husband was leaving his work to go back to the States.  On 11 November 2006, well strapped up with knee supports on both knees we went to a night club in Swindon.

As the night progressed I was enjoying myself dancing.  I was dancing, quite mildly for me, just behind my husband when my left knee went.  With a loud crack my thigh and body went over to the left.  I was in absolute agony.  I collapsed into the nearby sofa and my husband tried to comfort me, but I was in so much pain I couldn’t even bear him to stroke my leg. 

While we had been dancing the fans had kept me cool, but I must have gone into shock and as we sat there I was too cold.  It took two of my husband’s friends to carry my to the closest settee without a fan above it.  Waiting for the taxi was agony.  Two men were holding me up but the taxi seemed to take an age to get to us.  My husband and the taxi driver carried me to the front door, where, thankfully, there was a chair.

I could not straighten my leg at all, and slept with it supported on a big pillow.  I had to crawl to go to the toilet.  That’s when you feel totally humiliated, forget the times during childbirth with your legs akimbo for all and sundry to look at your bits, get down on the floor and imagine you can’t stand up.  The next day was Saturday and I waited 4 hours for the emergency doctor to come out and see me.  He thought I had a locked knee and sent me to wait for 4 hours in accident and Emergency at Swindon Hospital. Still no one wanted to admit that I might have arthritis.

They x-rayed me and said I was fine and sent me home.  I had to go back to see the Physiotherapist.  On the second occasion she said she didn’t know why my knee was still swollen, the x-rays were okay and told me I needed to go back to work.

It was not until February 2007, 4 months afterwards, that I was finally diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.  Since then I have endeavoured to find out as much as I can about arthritis and the results can be found on this website. 

Article by Rose Parker © rheumor 2007