Rheumatory Arthritis and exercise, how can they be friends?

NikkiO317

I am 35, was diagnosed with RA about a year ago. It was brought on by chemo, I do not have the genetic factors for RA and have been told it will "go away". Well it doesn't seem to be going anywhere and the more active I am the worse it gets! I am trying to find a balance. Anyone out there feel the same pain? Any suggestions? I do not have regular access to a pool so swimming is not a viable option for me.

springlering62

I developed joint pain, diagnosed as arthritis, following several bouts of Rheumatic Fever as an adult. (RF attacks your joints. )

It hurt to get out of bed in the mornings, I had to clutch my four-poster and then walls, hand over hand, just to make it into the bathroom.

I got several prescriptions for arthritis meds, but my fear was that starting them as early as my forties might mean they’d be ineffective later. Or I’d have to move up to more powerful drugs, higher dosages, or both.

I started doing a 20-30 minute slow stretch every morning. Nothing fancy, nothing energetic, just trying to stretch out every joint I could reach, holding each stretch several minutes. I had several dogs and that became pet-pet time because I could pet and stretch at the same time, which made it enjoyable.

Eventually, after stretching, I could literally jump up and run up and down stairs. It didn’t happen overnight. It took a while to reach that point, but it was worth every minute invested in stretching.

Stretching translated to some free yoga classes at Kaiser, I joined a small yoga studio, began looking for more challenging classes, and things have snowballed over the past ten years.

You can either let it own you, or you can take control of the situation and make the best of it you can.

I still have a hard time standing immediately after waking up. Leg and hips seem to seize up at night and it takes a while to unfreeze them but it passes off in seconds, instead of hours of misery. That’s perfectly acceptable.


I’m very happy I invested the time, energy and thoughtfulness in myself.

AnnPT77

There is a guy here named @Chieflrg who has RA, and is a champion powerlifter. He has overcome a lot, via continuing exercise. He might have good advice for you.

Here are a couple of previous threads where he commented:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/44950729#Comment_44950729
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/44413626#Comment_44413626

IronIsMyTherapy

NikkiO317 wrote: »

I am 35, was diagnosed with RA about a year ago. It was brought on by chemo, I do not have the genetic factors for RA and have been told it will "go away". Well it doesn't seem to be going anywhere and the more active I am the worse it gets! I am trying to find a balance. Anyone out there feel the same pain? Any suggestions? I do not have regular access to a pool so swimming is not a viable option for me.

I'm sorry to hear that but you seem to be working in the right direction! I have no idea of cost, but I was listening to Mike Tyson on Joe Rogan yesterday and he was talking about a zero gravity treadmill that is low/no impact. Might be worth looking into?

Chieflrg

Sorry to hear you are going through this right now.

I'm a bit surprised that chemo was determined the cause of RA(as I've yet to here any evidence on the cause of RA). Chemo should give total relieve from symptoms of RA and the like, not make it worse or create the problem. Perhaps I missed evidence along the way though.

So you tested negative for RF? Did they test CRP levels?

If you don't mind what type of cancer/chemo?

I could see that if you had radiation treatments. Radiation will stay within the body for a very long time and can really play havoc for some individual's bones/joints. Personally I felt what I believe was side effects of radiation for almost a year after. This is a guess though.

Swimming isn't always a great oprion on the joints of people with RA especially when a flare up is going on.

You HAVE the right idea though...

You will need balance as well as the ability to understand we need to be able to adjust on the fly even when that means it we have to take a step back.

Work arounds are extremely useful as well as proper load management. Auto regulation is a very useful tool I highly recommend in this situation.

I will state there is evidence suggesting that resistance training including powerlifting style is very useful for those with RA and chronic pain.

Do you have access to any resistance training equipment?

NikkiO317

Thanks for the input everyone! I had a melanoma removed from my calf in April 2018 and then did a year of preventative chemo called opdivo. There have been several documented cases of patients who recieved this specific drug ended up with RA. RA runs in my family and I would have to back and check exactly what was tested but I was told I do not have ANY of the genetic factors for arthritis. I continue to see my rheumatologist and it has drastically improved. I finished the chemo in May 2019 and the arthritis didn't hit until July 2019 and I spent a week in a hospital bed it was so bad. The aftermath of chemo has been worse than during the treatment. It also caused me to have a pancreatic enzymy deficiency... soooo, yea. Its my life, doctors and meds can only do so much and now its up to me!