I was your age when RA hit me like a ton of bricks. I worked for 2 years. Doctor's couldn't figure out what was wrong, RA tests were negative. My job was physically demanding, standing all day & lifting. Since I didn't have a college degree nor other job experience , I couldn't find anything better. Disability can take up to 3 years to get. The amount you receive depends on your work credits & how much you have paid into s.s. If you have ever taken extended time off work to have kids & stay home ,you may not receive much money from disability. I suggest trying to find a job less stressful and not physically demanding. Maybe just work part-time and keep paying into s.s. as long as you can. Staying home and not working can really suck. When you work, you are always meeting new people and making friends. When you don't work your world becomes small , isolated & lonely. My work friends stayed in touch for a while after I quit, but slowly drifted away. The only thing I had to talk about was what I cooked my husband & daughter for dinner, what pain meds I was taking & who won the big prize on The Price Is Right. If your pain meds aren't helping you,try a different medicine & try to work as long as you can.

I was diagnosed at about 50 and now will be turning 63. I probably developed it at 35, but was misdiagnosed. I would love to retire, but am hanging in there. I think retirement or disability is coming soon. My RA is in all joints and my lungs. I got hit with a respiratory virus 7 weeks ago and can't seem to shake it and am getting so tired of this cough. I am a nurse and work 12 hour shifts and most days able to handle the shift. I normally never do more than 2 or 3 in a row and try to not do more than 5 in 2 weeks, but have picked up a few extra lately. I work in ICU and also in L&D. So, I guess if you stay active you will feel better. You will know when you won't be able to handle things any longer. I just know that I feel better when I am up moving. And feel better when I am with my grandbabies, so I want to stay active and able to play and care for them.

I am still working eight years on. It has been a bit up and down though. My job involves lots of standing and lifting and it can be a struggle at times,

After diagnosis I dropped my hours from 40 to 30 per week. Then it went down to 15 as that was all I could manage. However, as meds kicked in I was able to work a few more hours, I now average about 27 hours per week.

If things become hard you may have to consider casual or temporary work so that you can rest in between jobs, unless of course you have a very understanding employer.

My current job is casual, so my shifts change weekly. This week I am only working three days so will have lots of recovery time.

I am 59 yrs old and in Australia I can not retire until 67, that seems like an awful long time to carry on, so I just take each day as it comes.

It would be great if people with chronic illness could retire earlier, I would retire tomorrow if I could.

Cherry

I have had the disease close to five years. This is what I have learned, some of the medicines helped me but on another note some of those medicines have ran my body down too. Now I am on enbrel for about 5 months. It took me through some changes too. But I can say today this is the best I have felt in long time. I still get aches and pains. And I am still working. I will try to work as long as I can. Every body body is different but i know we all have pain. You look young, hang in there and try to treat yourself the best you can. I have tried so many medicines and either they worked, they didn't work or my body couldn't handle them.

I totally agree,I struggle at work these days.I wish I could retire on medical grounds if the correct financial help was there Sue