Always tell people,family, friends it's a serve Auto-Immune disease that attacks you from the inside causing extreme pain and joint displacement and sometimes organ failure . That will help them understand your pain tell them the pain never goes away, but you have learnt to hide your pain well with a world record beating smile. Lol 🐝

Great question, tough to answer. I ask people how much do they want to know, that RD is a complex disease ... big picture or detailed. The simple explanation is that I have an autoimmune disease so my body is attacking itself. This causes inflammation, arthritis, makes it easy for me to get sick, and can cause all kinds of problems throughout my body, including with my organs. Then if the person wants more information, I let them ask questions. https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/excuse/

What a great question and I'm afraid I don't have a great answer since I can't get people to understand/believe me that I'm taking a chemo drug for RA!!! Then my dear sweet husband keeps telling me how I'm going to get over this . . . I'm NOT going to get over RA!!! I'm ready to pull my thinning hair out and save Metho the time and trouble. With this said here is what I tell people before I get the "yea my knee hurts when it's rainy" or "You take what for what?"

Here is what I say for better or worse. "I have RA. It's an autoimmune disease (everyone seems to get that part). It's like my body's immune system is raging a civil war with my hands and wrists. Sadly like any war it causes extreme pain, muscle weakness, stiff and swollen joints and I'm going to have it for the rest of my life. I'm taking chemo drugs to put the RA in remission and those drugs wipe me out. Speaking of wiping me out this disease also causes constant fatigue that also wipes me out on a regular basis. Some days are just better than others but the fatigue goes with the territory."

There it is and I hope it helps but remember that I STILL get questions, confusion and flat out disbelief. Ughhhhh . . . why? How can they not get it?? Rolling my eyes at the thought of those reactions. Lololololol

I don't call this disease Rheumatoid Arthritis. I call it Rheumatoid Disease. I tell people that arthritis is a symptom of the disease not the disease itself. Lastly I explain that it is an autoimmune disease that causes my body to attack itself. If that doesn't get the point across I generally don't bother as it irritates me when people refer to this disease as arthritis. It is so much more than that.

I think it's hopeless to get a family member to understand. They'll rave about how great you're doing but not be there to shop or stop at the drugstore or drive you to a very special event-wedding. Or see you through the many joint replacements and surgeries. They have no clue. I was lucky because my husband was supportive enough for all of them. Sadly, he passed away. I've grown stronger in some ways-spirit-and weaker in others-my body. It's not easy to ask for help from anyone. Try to build a support system. I've found if your family can't be there, create a niche upon whom you can depend. Anyway. This isn't a good answer to your question. I'm not sure I even know how to answer that question to strangers, let alone family. Nothing explains it except the pain. And family can definitely make the pain worse. I know my way of coping isn't the best, but I find removing myself from their dramas has helped the most.