Hi there! I'm Molly, I'm 19 years old, currently studying drama at university and I love Doctor Who, Disney, Torchwood & Sherlock! (a lot) :)
When I was 13 I got diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) after a few months of vigorous testing (blood tests, medication, x-rays etc.) and since then I have had a grand total of 36 steroid joint injections, gone through the majority of the medications in the book for arthritis sufferers ( methotrexate, ibuprofen, cocodamol, etanercept, meloxicam, steroids, and more that I probably can't remember ), countless blood tests (the bane of my life), had physiotherapy, and been for about 4 MRI scans. Which, doesn't really sound a lot, but until you're living through it, it's not.
People have this misconception of arthritis as 'an old people's illness', when really it's completely different. Hundreds of thousands of children are diagnosed with some form of arthritis every year, and a lot of the population still don't know anything about it.
Due to the fact I'm no younger classed as 'a child' my arthritis is now known as rheumatoid arthritis (but it varies between different doctors what they decide to call it). When I first got arthritis (when it was undiagnosed) I simply had a bad ankle, my Mum thought I'd simply twisted it in PE or something ( we had quite vigorous PE at that time ) so we left it, for about 2 weeks until I finally went to go see a doctor, and by the time it was getting checked and researched about it had spread to my knee and hip and finally I got diagnosed with JIA! By the point I was finally seeing a doctor who was qualified in children with arthritis, it had spread to about 1 of every joint in my body ( so approx. 17 ) and that's when I had my first round of joint injections, I had to go under anaesthetic and have 16 joint injections (not the last one because it was in my neck, and they can't inject there). After that I had very little recovery from them, and had to go for 14 more which finally gave me some relief from the constant joint pain. Since then I've had lots of yo-yo'ing in my arthritis, constantly switching between being good and bad.
Anyway, enough about me. I've decided to start this blog, because as a teenager (and also now) diagnosed with arthritis, I never knew who to talk to, who would understand. Who could tell me about how a certain medication worked for them, or how joint injections felt. Yes, I could always ask a nurse or a doctor, but that's not the same as talking to someone in the same boat as you. People don't understand that illnesses that effect you physically can also cause effect on you emotionally/mentally. And leave you feeling clueless, and a bit lost really. So, I begin this blog with the offer for you to talk to me, about anything. Anyone really (I'm not saying "oh you have to have arthritis to talk to me!") so if you're curious about arthritis, or have it yourself... or you just want to talk to me, you're welcome! :)
Now I'm not entirely sure how this blog thing works, if you can leave me a message or whatever (but if you can, do!) I will work it out over time, but in the meantime, have my Twitter...: @time_lordess95
Feel free to Tweet me or drop my a message or whatever! :)
TTFN, Tata for now!
