Readers Respond: Do You Agree Osteoarthritis Gets No Respect?

Too often, when people announce to friends or family that they have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis -- the responses range anywhere from "you don't look sick" to "yeah, my knee hurts sometimes too".

Why do you think osteoarthritis is trivialized by some people? If you had the gumption, what would you like to say to set the record straight on osteoarthritis?

No respect?

I don't know about if it gets respect or not. What I do know is that it completely takes over, well at least my life, or what's left of the life I have with this constant pain and stiffness. OA is a life drainer that I know for sure.

—kamarx

Life of ignorance for oa

OA is a terrble disease, it eats away at my joints and I'm in constant pain. Sometimes I think why do I carry on. I have pain day in day out all over my body. My knees are in a bad way and deformed. I was told to lose weight and fobbed off with pain killers. I was told to get on with it but the pain and hurt, depression always there. I think it's about time more was done to help and more research into this very debilating illness and stop ignoring it and cut the myths that just cuz you can't see it like other illnesses, it's not taken as serious as it should be and it is a life taker cuz that;s what it's done to me and I have come up against people even being told it's not a disability when it is. More should be done to help and research into the codition as it is chronic pain, depression and the sad thing is not enough support or help is there and never has been. We're not invisible. We are real and struggling to stay alive and positive so give the recognition oa deserves.

—Guest r booth

I Agree

Actually, I don't think OA or RA get the respect they should. I actually get more respect for my OA than my RA. My OA hurts, a lot...but the RA can put me on my back, literally. People just don't understand that, because, after all, RA is "just arthritis". Ugh

—Vee56

I agree as well!

I have changed Rheumatologists many times since first being diagnosed with osteoarthritis of my thumb in 1986. Sometimes changed Dr. due to a move but many more times because the Rheumatologist showed little interest in my condition. In 1997, after two discectomy and fusions of the cervical spine (arthritis), and carpal tunnel surgery on both hands (arthritis with osteophytes on the joint resulted in arthroplasty of the thumb joint) in 1998 and 2003. Still have pain in lower back from developing spinal stenosis. But my current doctor (new) gave me a series of blood tests to have done in April which was over one year since the other Rheum doc ran any tests. I don't consider that evidence of care or concern for my condition. Oh, I also was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjogren's Syndrome in 1997! No respect I say!

—sreary

Agreed

I am 43 year old woman with osteoarthritis. I have a loving family and still they don't understand how much pain I am in on a daily basis. Within the last 4 years it has overtaken every joint in my body. I feel every move I make. The simplest things in life that people take for granted cause me severe pain. It started with my back & knees and now is in my shoulders, hands , fingers and wrists. It scares me how fast I have been taken over by this disease. I do feel like no one understands what I go through on a daily basis. I see a pain management doctor once a month. I am taking so many different drugs including 3-4 of the highest dose percocet there is and am still in constant pain. Work has become so hard but I have no choice. I could not get out of my bathtub last week, my husband had to help me get out. Not only is it a painful disease but a demeaning one as well.

—Guest amckenna38

OA

I was diagnosed a few weeks ago with OA even though the pain I'm getting I have been getting for yrs. I fell as a child and had osteomyelitis which now has turned into OA. The pain is unreal some times yet doctors just say here you go more tablets. The tablets are upsetting my tummy and as well as being in agony with my knee my tummy is in agony could any one advise me on what medication I should take as I'm on cocodemol and dislofenic THANK YOU

—joe1267

No Respect for sure

I have suffered from this disease for many years. At 48, I had bilateral hip replacement, anterior cervical fusion, and at 52 failed lumbar spine fusion which resulted in an infection (mrsa) which I am still on antibiotics for 3+yrs. I have been on NSAID's for many years. No RA doc wants my body, nor can I get help from my family physician. So, I am left with a pain management guy and a bunch of drugs. It sucks and I am only 57, yet I always hear "Well, you look fine". If people could only be "me" for a minute or two maybe they would understand. I break dishes and jars because my hands fail. I fall because I lose my balance. During the illness following the back surgery, I had to have a revision of the left hip. Now, I have no choice but to walk with a cane and am limited in walking distance for sure. All of this, and no one gets it. I wish someone would do some research and come up with better answers for us OA folks. We deserve better.

—melapri

Absolutely!

If you don't think OA gets a fair shake for coverage and treatment, just look through any issue of Arthritis Today, the bimonthly magazine published by the Arthritis Foundation. There are pages of advertising for RA and mostly none for OA. In my case, I have EOA (erosive osteoarthritis) which mostly affects the top two finger joints. It surfaced when I was 38. There is very little info available about this severe subset of OA, although I have found info here on about.com. RA docs don't want to see me, even though they are the frontline praticitioner for EOA, because they are so busy with RA patients. My regular doc says there isn't much they think they can do for you, so they won't see you. I ended up going to a third rate RA doc for a diagnosis. At this point, I don't care about respect, I just want a qualified medical professional to check in with once a year about my condition.

—Guest ladylove

Pharm. Companies must research more!

Sports injuries, and RA are subjects that are more spoken and written about. However my theory is that pharmaceuticals are in the band wagon as to what takes priority in researching. As diagnosis get approval for treatment of care so do drugs. The same will apply for us osteoarthritis sufferers. Let us promote, advocate and make the health community demand more research. So that we can have reputable, medically researched and acceptable standards that will lead us to better quality of life.

—Guest Evexio67

Definitely minimized

Definitely minimized because as they say it is "so common". Need help bad. I am so tired of it all: neck, shoulders/arms, fingers, hands, knees and now the hips are joining the pain areas. By now, something should be helping so many people with suffering, stiffness, and depression. We want to be able to function....not be dependent. Doctors should recognize our plight and think and do more to help to keep us all moving and having a purpose. I'm always dismissed by a doctor who says "Can't do anything for you, you have arthritis."

—Guest Dorothy G

Everyone's Knee Hurts

Except for my wife, people don't see me in the late afternoon or at night. The morphine has stopped working and to get to the kitchen from the living room is pathetic. Most of the feet, ankles, knees and hip are severely lacking movement. I was running up to the store and my shoulders were so bad driving was a chore. Holding a hotdog bun with either hand was painful in the thumb/wrist area. I'm not going to go into the disc problems but I would like to meet someone who's in the kind of downword spiral I'm in. Everybody I talk to complains about a knee....

—stepsherpa

Apologies for having Osteoarthritis

I agree. I wonder how much effort, time and money has been or is being put into finding a relief for OA. I don't expect a cure and don't mind the disfigurement, but Oh! how I wish someone would come up with lasting relief. The flare-ups that I experience now in my feet and shoulders and fingers are quite debilitating. And, to add to the "problem", I now believe I'm depressed because of this. I don't want to move and yet I know this is probably the best kind of therapy. Does any kind of pill work on OA or is it just a trial and error process. I've been on a number of NSAIDS and none really help with the pain or stiffness.... There -- I've gotten a lot off my chest. Thank you

—LeeRic

feeling like Rodney Dangerfield

Osteo is just as disrespected as fibromyalgia - Oh didn't see the Cymbalta ad? Osteo is not a little ache it doesn't deform my joints as bad as RA - I still have changes that hurt daily. The tendinitis is also a treat caused by the OA. I tell ya, I get no respect, no respect at all.

—mamamull

Osteoarthritis Gets No Respect

I agree 100+%. It's even more so, if, like myself, I was told I had it when I was 44. People your own age think you're 'just complaining', don't understand or don't want to hear it because it's too much reality and they think it could happen to them, or worse. I don't tell anyone when I hurt or 'ache' anymore, even with my knees now bad enough to now schedule knee replacements. It's very frustrating & very isolating, lonely 'disease'. It's not RA so people think it can't be so bad and it's not a major disease that other people get and don't survive. It does affect you emotionally, mentally and physically. Sometimes, I'm told, I'm just old, tho I haven't quite reached 50 yet. Some of the typical arthritis drugs work but have side effects that are hard to deal with. Shots only work short-term. A lot about Osteoarthritis still seems a mystery because it's not the same with everyone and there's so many variables. Hopefully it'll change in the future.

—Guest Lorraine

Osteorathritis Gets Little Respect.

It gets very little Respect, but I have heard the same with my RA all throughout my life, except from those who have it. I have had it officially for nearly 45 years, Not diagnosed until mid 70s. "Many say "Oh my finger kills me at times, or "I know how you feel...Everyone gets arthritis when old." I have been to hell and back with my RA.... I now am in a good place with my treatment of the past 10 years. Enbrel(9 1/2 yrs. Methotrexate(21 years), and Arava...a year. Thank you for the time to express my opinion. Kay

—Guest kay J Mistlebauer