Arthritis at 18. Anyone else out there?

I have psoriatic arthritis, I was diagnosed 4 months ago. I don't have psoriasis as of yet, but my nail's are pitted which is apparently an early sign, so, yay. My mom has PA, and my rheumatoid factor is pretty low, so he thinks it's not RA. we're waiting for x-rays at the moment, because I have an osteophyte on my collarbone... and my doctor's a quack, so I'm pretty sure he's just diagnosing me with PA because it's easy, but whatever.

I work at starbucks, and lately it's become really difficult. I dropped an entire 4L jug of milk today... it broke. SUPER fun to clean up. I couldn't hold pitchers today either. My knees were trying to give out.

I just... I can't deal with this alone anymore. My mom's awesome support, but I need someone who actually knows what it's like to be a young adult and newly diagnosed. I'm just... so scared. My boyfriend and I talked about kids today, and I'm on the fence about carrying a baby. I want my own child, so badly, but I don't know if I want to spend 4-6 months on bed rest, and have a caessarian, and still be crippled for the first month of my child's life. And what if I pass it on?

I'm scared guys. Please tell me someone else out there has been through something even remotely similar.
March 6th, 2011 at 08:18am