Week 6: It's Not What You Think

  

Rheumatoid arthritis like a 'ticking time bomb:' woman

Friday Feb. 11, 2011, The Mirror Newspaper, by Lisa Queen

     Sherri Smith believed she must have banged her finger when she noticed some discoloration resembling bruising on her knuckle about 15 months ago."I'm the kind of person who runs into things", joked the 30-year-old North York woman, who thought she may have injured her hand moving boxes at work. First, it was just a knuckle. It looked like I had whacked it." Smith, who will participate in her second fundraiser in support of arthritis and autoimmune disease research this month, wasn't overly concerned when she was later unable to get her rings on her fingers when she was heading out to a party.

     After recently taking up running, she then attributed her painful knees to her new-found activity and the cold weather.When she began having trouble with her left shoulder, Smith started to worry and took to the computer to Google her symptoms. Her boyfriend urged her to go to her doctor. Smith's doctor initially thought sh had reactive arthritis, caused when the body's immune system reacts to an infection. The physician prescribed a month of anti-inflammatories but Smith's condition deteriorated significantly. Smith, who lives in the area of Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue, was referred to a rheumatologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, who diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis.

     According to the Arthritis Society of Canada, rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis and an autoimmune disease, which means the body's immune system becomes confused and begins to attack the joints. Arthritis is the most common cause of disability in Canada, affecting one of every 100 Canadians.
     Although, often thought of as an "old person's disease," people can get rheumatoid arthritis at any age, but it most often appears between the ages of 25 and 50. It hits women three times more than men, the society said.


     In just a few short weeks, Smith went from being a young woman active in running, belly dancing and yoga with a busy career in information technology to someone with a chronic disease that can leave many of its victims disabled. "It was scary", she said. "It is an incurable autoimmune disease. It is not something that is going to go away."  Smith's illness brought a variety of symptoms, including nights when pain and swelling made getting off the couch difficult. On February 3, she learned she is in remission. But Smith knows symptoms could return at any time.
     "It (managing my illness) definitely feels good. It (a flare up) is in the back of your mind because you feel like a ticking time bomb," she said.

Where is Arthritis?