Did rigidness cause my rheumatoid arthritis?

Went to see the quack today after suffering from various joint pains,gave her my sypmtoms and see has said I need a blood sample taken but it could be I have rheumatoid arthritis.I.m gutted and have done nothing but dispare and drink since this afternoon.
Only 42 and have been knocking back the pain relief now for 3 months thinking it was just the cold as I have had plenty of injuries from football and biking.
Last three years I have been mainly riding a rigid hardtail competing in 24/12 hr events beating myself up but popping the pain killers a lot, looks like its caught up with me and I,ve never felt so low.
Any other fellow sufferers out their and any help from the biking community welcome.

Rich

It’s your beard sapping your strength…

thats shit rich. at least it is a very well known and easily controllable condition. do you have a family history of arthritis?

i have an appointment on wednesday to see if i have arthritis in my back

sounds like you’re gonna have to get one of those “bouncy bikes”, try Green lipped muscle extract?

Stu you may joke but looks like the “keep it real bike” will be mothballed, no history of rheumatoid arthritis in the family but most of them have died from alcohlism so they probably drank to numb the pain anyway.

Not rode properly for three weeks now and feeling like a wound up thingy me jig.Been DIY for the last couple of weeks to take my mind off it but I,m cracking up.

Roll on SSUK09 so I can drink and ride and be merry and not be frowned upon.

Bouncy bikes are not going to make a jot of differance as

The inflammation affects:

* the thin synovial membrane that lines the joint capsule
* the tendon sheaths (tubes in which the tendons move)
* the bursae (sacs of fluid that allow the muscles and tendons to move smoothly over each other). 🙁

No.

Osteoarthritis is ‘wear and tear’ arthritis.
Rheumatoid is essentially an auto-immune process. Probably riding a rigid would make symptoms worse, but not provoke an attack.

NEXT.

DrP

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic disease that primarily affects the joints. Presentation is typically as an insidious polyarthritis characterised by inflammatory changes in the synovial membranes and articular structures leading to deformity and ankylosis. Systemic features usually develop as the disease progresses.

RA affects between 0.5% and 1% of the population.Women are affected three times more often than men. The peak incidence is between the ages of 25 and 55 years.

* approximately 400,000 people in England and Wales have this condition

The cause is unknown, but an autoimmune mechanism involving viral infection has been postulated.

From GPnotebook.com

I removed some of the depressing comments!

DrP

They generally do a blood test just to rule ra out. An attack of ra would give more than painful joints, you’d have swelling and extreme lethargy. Aches and pains are part of getting old. Drinking heavily and hard training isn’t conducive to joint health either!

I,ve got to stop reading google stuff

Disability

* Daily living activities are impaired in most individuals.
* After 5 years of disease, approximately 33% of sufferers will not be working.[citation needed]
* After 10 years, approximately half will have substantial functional disability.[citation needed]

Sorry for my bleating but no one hear to communicate other half out celebrating with ex work mates as she has a new job ( Option to retire and be a house husband).Not told her yet but she senses I,m **** up.

No beer left time for a cuppa and a biccy.

Whoooaaaa. Hold on. You haven’t got RA – yet. Wait for confirmation. Being a bloke and 42 means this is not a likely diagnosis so stop fretting. Now.

And no, riding a HT does not cause RA.

Believe me……

Yeah -b it’s singlespeeding that causes that.

It’s not all doom and gloom mate, my uncle was diagnosed about ten years ago with RA at about the same age as you. He still works a physical job (joiner)and blats about on his bikes (motor). Major change was swapping his sports bike for a harley. He shows no sign of slowing down. Think positive and watch the booze, with your family history and feeling a bit down it could easily escalate – bin there done that!

As mentioned above, I think you may just be jumping the gun a bit here.

RA is just a possible differential that has to be ruled out. I had that blood test when I was around 25 as I was struggling with multiple joint pain – unsurprisingly it was negative. It’s just something they have to check for.

Equally, even if diagnosed, there are various forms/severities of disease and treatments are available to slow progress.

And no, lack of suspensions wouldn’t bring on RA. It may help the onset of Osteoarthritis though ;o)

Rich, my family has a history of booze and arthritis. Plenty been finished off by the pop, not one with arthritis yet!
It is easily managed if diagnosed. One of my cousins started with it in her early 20’s, still ok 15 years later.

Don’t fret and best regards.

Jumping the gun massively – RA is routinely tested for with any joint complaints, and being tested for it doesn’t mean theres a strong suspicion. I’ve been tested for RA two or three times a year for the past decade, not because its likely but because I’ve been getting other tests done for a dodgy joint so they test for RA at the same time, because they can, because its routine to do so, and because frankly they are running out of ideas!

Rich – kind of going through something similar right now, but y’know, I’ll keep taking the pills and wincing on the big hits, and just smiling when I can still beat Timmy down Blue Pig cos I’m betterer than he is (so long as it’s dark).

fbk has it right, and there’s a TON of stuff you can do.

I’m to my bed now. Been a BIG day. More tommorow.

I know you speak to Ed. Keep talking. He’s made a huge impact to my life in the last year (big hugs) and I know you two are close too.

See you soon.

Rich take a deep breath man. There is always a way and if not there is a way around.

I love you too Brant.

rich matey, it is just old age sportsmans disease.
i had my 2nd knee op this time last year, and the surgeon told me i would need both knees replacing before i was 55.
mine is not Rheumatoid arthritis, but Osteoarthritis.
still painfull as hell.
i take tablets as a last resort.
i use voltarol and ibulieve by the bucket load.
😀
chin up mate, you could be fat too.

I found out I have osteo in my left knee last year, not from the surgeons who did the op but after when having a medical. Just have to get on with it I was told. I know it will get worse and my other knee is starting to go the same way as the other a couple of years back. Fingers crossed.

As my old Grandma said “if you can’t cross your knees, cross your fingers.”

Blood test not untill next Wednesday, not had any pains this weekend which is good, thanks for all the words and hugs “you homos” 😀

Bearded kiss xx

postierich from another postie.i was feeling similarly pissed off when told i had osteoporosis.having given it a lot of thought maybe for the time being the global wandering will have to be curtailed.took the plunge and bought a full suss!oh the shame.all i can say is chin up buddy and you WILL find a way around it.

Interestingly (in my opinion), when I was about 13, and my sister was 17 we both were hit at the same time by some mystery thing that caused us both massive joint pain, which was akin to arthritis by all accounts. It took me about 3 weeks to be pain free again, and hers developed into full-blown rheumatoid arthritis, which she’s had ever since. On that basis, I agree with the viral postulation being one of the causes.

It’s weird, and it’s a bit crappy too.

Even if you do turn out to have Rheumatoid, there have been significant advances in treatment in the last few years.