While I have some of these feelings, scared, fatigue, misunderstood, I don't feel my body betrayed me or, I betrayed my body. For me I got MS 9 years before RA so, I already dealt with loss, both material and physical. Dealing with RA I didn't nearly lose what I had already lost. The RA makes it more difficult and painful to do things. It is frustrating after already going through so much. I was already dealing with burning pain from the waist down now RA pain in neck, shoulders, wrist, hands and thumbs. I look around and see many worse off then me. I have a great nephew that was born with many birth defects. He never had a normal day in his whole life. Was not supposed to live to 5. He is 27 today. I lost things that he never had, a wife, a house, a business, etc. I don't feel I have the right to be angry, I just do my best each day. God Bless!

I feel I have felt more grief of loss than betrayal.
Loss of career
Loss of activity
Loss of movement
Loss of relationships
On and on....
But I agree, that knowing other people have it way worse than me. I list my gratitudes daily. It keeps me going.
Thank you Nancy for sharing this.

Never thought about forgiving myself for getting RA/SS…..I figured it was fate and certainly never thought that it was my fault or that my body somehow betrayed me…...As they say, “SHIT HAPPENS”….Autoimmune diseases did not run in my family as far as I know, so I was shocked when the diagnosis came….and I cried like everyone else….I got RA/SS at age 81 and throughout my life I thought my fate would be macular degeneration, diabetes, or cancer….but, so far that is not the case….Again, another old saying….”Do you want to make God laugh??….”Tell Him your plans”……..That proves to me that I am not in control of anything…..I, too, ate very well in an effort to.stay healthy but have always known that was no guarantee to a longer life….And I have ACCEPTED that….and I don’t mean accepting it intellectually…..I mean accepting it deep in my gut…..and when I can do that, PEACE follows…the struggle ends and I can go forward changing the things I can,…

So, for today, I have RA/SS….If something else pops up as a result of either one or the other, I certainly won’t like it and will stomp my feet, pull my hair out, cry, curse, etc, etc but will have to come into acceptance of my fate with as much grace that God desires to gives me…..May God Bless us all ☮️🙏🏼❤️

I don’t feel guilty as such. I inherited the arthritis from my grandmother. I so wish she had left me money instead.

I just don’t get why I need to FORGIVE my body because I have RA…..To me, it is being said that “I” caused the RA and brought it on my self…….Like “I” have the POWER to CONTROL whether I get RA or not…..The reality is, we contracted RA for God knows why…..We can TRY to fix it as much as possible with meds, healthy diet, exercise but most of us know that is usually a temporary remedy…..Fortunate are the ones that gain remission….As far as my body “betraying” me …..how dramatic a word…..I hate RA and everything it brings to my life…..I am 83 and my body is slowly declining in many ways….I can’t hear or see as well, my memory is going, can’t work as hard or as long, walk as far as I used to, run, jump or skip….my hair is thinning, my skin wrinkling, my boobs and rump sagging,….I got bags under my eyes that were never there before…I employ someone to mow my lawn now, shovel the snow and can’t drive for very long distances anymore……As Forrest Gump said….Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get”…...So….to many in this group who are younger than I, I say….Things are going to happen that are inevitable, things you can’t control or fix…..so GET USED TO IT…..The sooner you learn the “Art” of ACCEPTANCE, the better off you’ll be…….God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference….☮️☮️☮️❤️❤️❤️👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼