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Rheumatoid Arthritis, Auto-Immune Diseases and Autism

iain9abf

Hi,

I've recently been diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis and have been signed off by the G.P as "Not Fit For Work" for four months. I've been put on immune-suppressant drugs to treat my symptoms and I've been told it can take up to four months for them to take effect so I'm having to undergo the stress and uncertainty of just waiting to see if I have a positive outcome.

I won't go into the details of the symptoms. I just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience. The reason why I'm asking on this forum is due to a conversation I had with the charity the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society where I spoke with a lovely lady called Debbie who covered a hell of a lot of relevant information over our forty minute phone conversation.

One question I asked was whether or not R.A was hereditary? She answered that if both of your parents had R.A then there was a higher, although not guaranteed, chance that you could develop it. Due to a lack of a hereditary link, and due to my own personal history, I then asked if there was a connection between stress, burnout, and R.A? Her answer was that there was a 99.9% correlation... after which she said make that a 100%... relationship between people who'd undergone massive personal tragedy (bereavement, loss of job, loss of home, divorce etc) and the ones of R.A.

I know that we have to endure many challenges on a daily basis. Anxiety, depressions, non-acceptance, low self esteem etc etc Has anyone else a) developed R.A, and b) think/feel that the onset of their condition was attributable to their emotional state?

God bless (I'm actually an atheist but I do approve of the heartfelt sentiment in that statement)

iain9abf

  • My mum has RA and I have something called Mesenteric Panniculitis (whilst not confirmed as AutoImmune as cause, there seems to be a correlation) and are the two most stressed out members of our family hah! I am the only one in the family diagnosed with Autism, but definitely feel all these things could be linked!

  • I've also suffered from anther type of arthritic auto-immune disease as from the age of 21, other associated conditions, too. I'm 54 now. It's been challenging, had many jobs along the way, stuck with my current one for around 15 years now, so finding the right job for yourself can be also rewarding & good for your mental health. I have heard that stress could be an trigger, but I'm uncertain about that. 

    I'm still awaiting my official autism diagnosis, as there's around a 3 years waiting list to be assessed by the NHS, I'm on the waiting list. 

  • No, but it's a bodily response to inflammation as far as I know? The same as Crohn's or UC, which I have and I know many others as well.

    I have managed to put my Crohn's into remission. I took drugs for 8 years. They eventually stopped working and I got sicker and sicker.

    So I quit all meds after a lot of research into natural healing. I got therapy to discuss trauma, I stopped eating sugar gluten eggs dairy etc and I stuck to a meditation practice each day  The best thing I did was move out if the city. That was my biggest stressor.

    So I'd ask, what stressors do you have that you could change personally? I'm convinced most ills come from stress and poor nutrition.

    Try it,.you might be surprised

  • Oh dunno. I can say my mum has hasmd RA since her 40s. She is now in her 80s. She has had ok phases and agonising phases.

    My mum does not have an ASC diagnosis, but er hum...not a clinical psychologist but er hum ... see quite a lot of traits. Relationship? Dunno. I don't have it any way.

    What I can say is the drugs have helped my mum, even though it hasn't been a smooth road. She did manage to control it enough to work almost to retirement and to enjoy many holidays abroad. Catching up with her now though, bless her. But she is 82. You maybe have many good times left yet with the right balance of meds x

  • Well done Triker for bringing this thread back up.  I had read it and wanted to respond.....got lost somehow.

    Iain - yes, I absolutely believe, due to vicarious experience, that some almighty bad s**t seems often to befall people who experience some form of horrendous emotional trauma or sustained stress.  I've seen medical procedures (such as hip or knee replacements) apparently accelerate neurological conditions (MND or Parkinson's) on two very dramatic occasions.  I don't believe this to be coincidence.

    Thanks for raising this point, I hope others will contribute their opinions.

  • Hi, I'm new to this forum (though been lurking a while) but I had to respond to your post, especially as nobody else has. I am only self-diagnosed with autism and adhd, but I have been disabled with arthritis for 30 odd years, diagnosed around the age of 20, although not RA, but it is a kind which acts similar but just doesn't show up in a blood test, which was fun as it took a year before they figured out what was causing all my symptoms...

    It is impossible to unpick exactly what caused it as there are several possible culprits, and they probably all contributed, but stress was one of them. I was at uni at the time, and although I did enjoy it in general I was not happy in my course and wanted to switch but that was not being straightforward, and now I know about the autism and adhd it is clear I had more to stress me than I realised at the time. The other primary trigger was I got flu and never properly recovered - they thought it was post-viral fatigue, but apparently flu can trigger arthritis too. But I am sure the stress was a factor in that failure to recover properly. Not exactly a massive personal tragedy, but as you say, we seem to take stress harder than NTs.

    Apparently the genes which give rise to autistic spectrum traits can also cause overly stretchy collagen which can lead to joint or digestive problems, so I am a little surprised nobody else has responded as I would have expected other people here had arthritis too. Especially as you say with the correlation between stress and arthritis onset.

    Not sure what else to say. Arthritis is not fun and I wouldn't recommend it, so I'm sorry you have it and hope your treatment works. Keep hydrated, that helps.

    God bless you too (I'm not an atheist so I'll pray for you if you don't mind!)