Parveen, 30, wishes she’d been more vocal when first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) five years ago.
Parveen is the marketing manager at a technology company. She wishes she’d been more vocal when first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) five years ago.
Gathering the courage to share her story, Parveen said that she started waking up to swelling in her fingers and wrists. “I had this sense of urgency because of stiffness and slight deformities in my fingers. I wanted to get it sorted as soon as possible. My GP told me to see if painkillers helped but I knew there was something more serious going on. I decided to see a private specialist through my company at the time and after a blood test, they diagnosed me with RA. It was a punch in the stomach,” she said.
Parveen was already being a type 1 diabetic and it was disheartening for her to have yet another condition. She was put on medication but she faced flare-ups in different parts of her body on and off. “I went to bed not knowing which joint would be affected in the morning. It was scary,” she added.
“Growing up and having different priorities has helped me change the way I think about my conditions. I hid my diabetes during my time as a student, I was embarrassed of it. Not much changed when I was diagnosed with RA. Diabetes and arthritis are often associated with old age and I didn’t want to seem different. I felt like RA was just another thing I’d have to explain to people.
“Being in your 20s is when you normally have the most freedom. I didn’t want to be the boring girl who couldn’t do things because of her health. So, most of the time, I’d either make excuses to not go out or go out and not talk about the pain,” she further added.
Parveen shared her health details with her partner Sanj, who comforted and supported her. It is imperative to realise that 27,000 people in the UK under 25 live with a form of arthritis, and many are so distressed and embarrassed by their situation they suffer in silence.
Dr Benjamin Ellis, Consultant Rheumatologist at Versus Arthritis explained that Arthritis means pain, swelling or stiffness in a joint or joints. Arthritis isn’t a single condition and there are many different types. “There is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, and for most people, it is a life-long condition. But there are effective treatments. These are prescribed by rheumatology doctors and nurses and include tablets, injections, intravenous drips, and sometimes injections into the joints. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, the sooner you start these treatments the more effective they are likely to be. Sometimes people need a combination of treatments to get the best effect, and it can take months or even years of trying different treatment regimes until finding the one that’s right for you,” Dr Ellis said.
