Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Not “Just” Arthritis

Dec 11 2012 in by lisa_renea

Rheumatoid Arthritis ribbon

(Editor’s Note: Today, we welcome a new blogger, Renea, who cares for her grandfather, parents and husband.)

My mother has two kinds of arthritis–osteo and rheumatoid. She has osteoarthritis in one of her knees and in her back and rheumatoid in her left knee and foot. She can’t get a shoe on at times and has trouble walking. She takes methotrexate, which seems to help–when she takes it. Let’s just say she a weeee bit stubborn.

She also has a weak bladder and is supposed to catherize herself three times a day.  Anyway, with her two kinds of arthritis, she has trouble doing that and she recently had a conversation with her urologist about the catherizing.

Dr. : “Have you been catherizing yourself?”
Mom: “No, my back hurts plus I  have arthritis. I have trouble doing it.”
Dr: “Well, we all get arthritis as we age, it’s normal.”

So this is where my big mouth butted in and I said, “She has rheumatoid arthritis. I think it’s a bit different from the other.”

Yes I do talk back to doctors at times. They just looove me.

Now I know he’s an urologist but you’d think he would know the difference between osteo and rheumatoid. Yes osteoarthritis hurts and makes it hard to move. I know because I have it. But rheumatoid arthritis can put people in wheelchairs. I wish doctors would think before they speak at times. Of course I need to take my own advice about thinking before speaking but anyway that’s probably not going to happen.

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