Just diagnosed

Most people with arthritis experience pain and difficulty moving around. Now you have a diagnosis, you might be feeling frightened and confused about what the future holds. Having arthritis does not mean disaster, but you may well have to get used to taking regular medication and learning new ways of carrying out daily activities.

It is important that you work in partnership with your doctor to put together a treatment plan that works for you – prompt action will help you to avoid damage to your joints. Although there is no cure for arthritis, there is plenty you can do to manage your condition and lead a full and active life. Learning about your condition and talking to others will help you learn to take control.

Arthritis is a general term and simply means ‘inflammation of the joints’. Most people with arthritis will find it painful and difficult to move around. If you’ve been worried about why your joints feel sore or uncomfortable – it can be a relief just to be told that there is a name for your condition. You may have been told you have arthritis.

The word arthritis does not fully describe your condition. What a lot of people don’t realise is that there are over 200 different kinds of rheumatic disease and arthritis. It’s important that your doctor and health care team help you find out which sort of arthritis you have so you can get the best treatment for it.

Possibly. Some forms of arthritis are quite straightforward to spot. Your doctor may be able to tell you what sort you have just by talking to you about your symptoms (including any pain you have and when you feel it) and looking carefully at your joints. Osteoarthritis is usually diagnosed on X-ray. Other types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, can be more difficult to diagnose and it’s likely that your doctor will need you to have x-rays and blood tests. They may even send you to a more specialist doctor in a hospital for this. But, being asked to have a lot of tests doesn’t necessarily mean your arthritis is really bad – it just means your doctor wants to be absolutely sure about the type of arthritis you have. You can find out more about these and other tests in the Getting a diagnosis section of the Arthritis Care website.

The conditions section of the Arthritis Care website is a really good place to start. It has easy-to-read information about many types of arthritis - including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis which are two of the most common forms of the disease. It explains more about the sort of symptoms you might have; what treatment is available; and the wide range of things that you can do to make your day-to-day life as comfortable and normal as possible. Or, if you’d rather speak to someone, call our free and confidential Arthritis Care helpline on 0808 800 45050. You’ll get through to a friendly helpline worker who has close personal experience of arthritis themselves.

The causes of most sorts of arthritis aren’t yet known. It is thought that most types of occur because of several things working together – for example, some people's genetic make up might make them more likely to develop a form of arthritis. Something may then trigger the onset. What that trigger is seems to be different for different people. It might include injury, food poisoning, infection or possibly even smoking. Doctors are working hard to identify the causes.

What we do know though is that arthritis affects people of all ages – even children and teenagers – so the common perception that it only affects older people is wrong.

Most types of arthritis are not passed from a parent to a child. Some people’s genes may make it more likely that they’ll get certain types of arthritis, but this is not the same as a type of arthritis being hereditary.

There is no cure for arthritis. However, there are lots of positive things that you and your health care team can do to get your pain under control and help make sure you still enjoy a full and happy life.

The main thing that makes most types of arthritis worse is not getting the right treatment for it. With the right balance of medicines and other help – possibly including specially-adapted equipment, as well as gentle exercise and rest - you should be able to get your pain under control and your life back on track. 

Other things that can make your arthritis worse include being overweight. If you are carrying too much weight you could be putting a lot of extra strain on your joints. As well as making your pain worse, this can speed up the damage inside your joint. The good news is that even losing a small amount of weight can bring big improvements. Ask your doctor or health care team if there are any weight management groups running in your area. Or if you’re really worried, you may even want to ask them about seeing a dietician. The Arthritis Care booklet Healthy eating and arthritis will give you more information on all these things.

This will depend on what type of arthritis you have. For most people, arthritis causes stiffness, pain and sometimes makes you tired and frustrated. You may find it more difficult to move around as freely as you used to. You might not feel as strong and find it more difficult to grip things firmly. No one can tell you exactly how all these things will affect your life. However, pain usually can be controlled. Stiffness can be relived, and there are ways of dealing with loss of strength and movement. In short – your life may not be the same with arthritis, but it can still be full and enjoyable. See Real lives on the Arthritis Care website and see how people just like you are coping with their arthritis.

Quite possibly. For many people with arthritis, taking medication (drugs) is a fact of life. Doctors prescribe drugs because they can be extremely effective in reducing your pain and, for people with inflammatory arthritis, some drugs slow down the damage that arthritis does to your joints. Understandably, a lot of people don’t like taking drugs. They can feel confused by the complex names of their medicines and frightened in case they forget to take them, or take them at the wrong time. People also worry about having side effects. You can save yourself a lot of stress by taking some time to understand as much as you can about your drugs and how to take them. Your doctor or health care team should be happy to help you, but there’s also some really good information about drugs and what they do in the Arthritis Care booklet, Drugs and Complementary therapies.

There are several other natural treatments and therapies that many people with arthritis have found helpful. These include herbal medicines, vitamins as well as therapies like yoga, acupuncture (using needles) and hydrotherapy (where you do gentle exercise in warm water). These are called ‘complementary’ therapies because they are intended to be used alongside your normal medicines, not in place of them. Beware of ‘alternative’ therapies or any natural medicine claiming it can do the same or better than the drugs your doctor prescribes. There is often no evidence to back up these claims and you should never use them in place of your prescribed medication. Just because something is natural doesn't mean it is safe. The Arthritis Care booklet Drugs and complementary therapies will give you a much clearer picture of what sort of treatments are out there and what to watch out for if you decide to explore any of them further. Remember, some of these therapies may also be available on the NHS – so ask your doctor what’s available in your area.

Finding out that you have arthritis can be a very confusing and frightening thing. And even later, your pain, stiffness and tiredness can leave you feeling washed out, angry and frustrated. These are all very normal feelings that many people with arthritis say they have. But that doesn’t mean you should bear it in silence. Share your feelings with your friends and family – they can often be a your most important source of support. Ask your doctor or health care team if there are any support groups in your local area – either for arthritis or for people with other sorts of long-term illness. Just talking to people who face the same problems and frustrations and knowing you’re not the only one can be a hugely reassuring. It’s important too to give yourself enough time to understand your emotions. Have a look at the Arthritis Care booklet Coping with emotions. It has a special section describing how people often feel when they’ve just been told they have arthritis.

No matter how much support you are getting from other people, learning how to help yourself can be one of the most important things you do when you have arthritis. Your health care team will probably talk to you about something called ‘self-management’. Lots of people with illnesses that last a long time are being helped to do this. Self-management involves a wide range of things, from learning how to take your medicines properly and coping with pain, right through to learning how to look after your joints and go at a more manageable pace in life. In short, self-management is about taking more control of your arthritis and it’s really important if you want to stay as active and independent as possible. The Arthritis Care Understanding arthritis booklet will tell you more about all the ways you can make a real difference yourself. You could also go on one of Arthritis Care’s free self-management courses. If you want to know more, see the ‘living with arthritis’ pages on the Arthritis Care website or call the Arthritis Care helpline on 0808 800 45050.

For many people with arthritis, money can be a real worry. You may find you need help with daily living such as help to get out and about, or help with washing and dressing – and these services can cost. Your arthritis may also stop you from working and earning. There is a range of benefits to help people in these situations. Of course not everyone will qualify for them, but don’t let this put you off. Although finding out about benefits and filling out claim forms can be daunting and exhausting – especially if you’re not feeling well – you can get help. Start by having a look at the Benefits you can claim fact sheet produced by Arthritis Care. Or speak to one of our helpline workers on the free and totally confidential Arthritis Care helpline on 0808 800 45050.

If you’ve just been diagnosed with arthritis, you’ll probably have a lot of questions. Your doctor and health care team should be able to answer many of these, so don’t be frightened to talk to them. They are there to help you and the Government has said an important part of their job is to involve you in your own care. But you should also see the Arthritis Care website. Even if you don’t normally use computers or the internet, get some help from a friend or your local library to help you get more used to clicking your way round the site. It’s packed with easy-to-read information – a lot of which has been written with the help of people who have arthritis themselves. Arthritis Care also offer a free and totally confidential helpline on 0808 800 45050. Our friendly helpline workers are great source of information on everything to do with arthritis and they all have close personal experience of the disease. The Arthritis Care message boards are also a good place to visit – people with arthritis share hints and tips and generally get things off their chest.