I started having chronic pain issues back in junior year of high school. I’ve been to countless doctors, specialists, hospital visits, with many failed attempts at some sort of relief.

The first diagnosis came about 8 years ago. Fibromyalgia.

What I thought would help me get the right treatment only led to the most dismissive doctors appointments I’ve ever encountered. It seemed that once I uttered the F word my complaints were at the same time all justified and all imaginary.

Fibro treatment helped decrease one type of pain I dealt with, but I still had excruciating pain daily in my joints which didn’t respond to the duloxetine I started taking.

This year I finally found a (very expensive) doctor who actually listened. More than listened: she payed attention. She went over ALL my records starting from 2012 (!!), carefully examined past doctors’ findings and pointed out to me the signs they had missed over the years that there was an underlying inflammatory issue besides my neuropathic pain.

After an intense round of testing, today I finally got my diagnosis for spondyloarthritis.

Just wanted to share a hopeful moment with people who would probably get where I’m coming from.

I’m off to buy my new meds now :)

I Contacted Septic Arthritis on April 30th, 2026 at 13 - 14 years old, and without any further treatment, I could’ve had Ended up with a Electric Wheelchair and a Tracheostomy, my Physical Therapist recommended that I may need a Walker, I was put in a Machine similar to a Iron Lung, the Antibiotics were so much good at their job that they cured my infection, however, I still may be Cautious about any further pain, my Walker in Real Life.

Arthritis has made me change a lot of little habits over the years.

For me, it's often the small everyday things that I notice the most.

What's one activity, hobby, or daily routine you had to give up—or do much less because of arthritis?

It could be gardening, cooking, walking long distances, sports, knitting, opening jars, or anything else.

I'm not looking for medical advice, just real experiences. I'd love to hear your stories.

12 days ago I had steroid injections into my foot for arthritic pain. The first two days I had no pain and could walk normally. Day three there was some discomfort but nothing major. Over the next 5 days the pain progressed. I’m now going into day 12 and the pain is unbearable. I can hardly walk and it’s swollen. There’s no redness but slight bruising and tingling especially in my toes. I have some calf and knee pain and at odd moments shooting pain up my leg.

I have spoken to a doctor over the phone and they believe that I’m in a steroid flare. I was confused as when I researched this it said that should only really last for up to 72 hours (3 days) and that the pain in the rest of my leg is due to how I’m walking on my foot and it’s impacting the rest of my leg. Now I’m no doctor myself but this seems like an awfully long time to be in a flare, no? The thing is the pain is worse than before I had the injection. I’m stumped as to what this could be and if I am overreacting? This is the first time I’ve had these injections so I’m clueless as to what’s going on? I’ve been told I’d need them every six months but I’m not sure I’m keen on having this again. Just wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar with steroid injections for arthritis pain? :)

I've never been diagnosed with arthritis. I'm not sure if what I'm experiencing is arthritis, so I wanted to know if this aligns with what other people experience. I know that peoples' experiences vary so I wanted to share mine and see if anyone else had something similar.

I don't typically have any sore joints, but last week, I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme pain in my wrist. When I say extreme pain, I mean it hurts as much as a broken bone. My hand was swollen, and it hurt to move/felt stiff. I didn't do anything the day before that could have injured it. It only lasted for a day or two, then went away completely. Then it happened again two days ago (during a storm). Same intense pain in the middle of the night. It's feels only slightly sore now, but it gets better as the day goes on and almost feels back to normal (although it still feels stiff).

I had a similar experience with my ankle a few months ago, but to a lesser degree (less painful, but still appeared suddenly and without explanation then disappeared fairly quickly)

So my question is, does this seem to align with arthritis? Intense pain that comes on suddenly and lasts a couple of days, then completely goes away. Most things I read say that arthritis is usually more of a consistent dull pain with some flair ups, but I feel like I'm only experiencing the flair up. I have a doctors appointment in a few weeks to talk about it, but hoping for some insight before then.

A rant/vent if that's allowed.

I moved states for work so new insurance, new doc, etc.

I've had new insurance and a new doc before while on Cosentyx and with new coverage, it has always taken about 1-2 weeks to get a new rx processed. Fairly easy.

With my new health system and new insurance, it's 4 (almost 5) months later and still going in circles because they can't get it together.

The problems aren't things like insurance denying it, it's sending the wrong dose, sending the rx to the wrong place. Not sending in the additional paperwork.

It's all preventable, easily fixable stuff.

The doc's office points me to the person who is in charge of processing the specialty meds, the specialty meds person sends me back to the office.

It's maddening. I just want to be able to open the milk jug without thinking, "Ouuuch" because I can't get Cosentyx.

Why not just switch docs, the reasonable person might wonder? I work for a hospital so I'm locked into the health system that I work for. I could change offices but it's the same specialty pharmacy process thru out the system and I think they are the problem. 🫠

I have been swamped with the new job and other life things and didn't realize how much this is dragging out so it's squeaky wheel time for me but it shouldn't need to be that way. Again, this isn't the hard stuff... it's just "oops, wrong dosage," "oops, wrong address." So aggravating.

Anyone else have Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis? If so, has it gotten difficult to move your legs and get sharp pains when moving them? If anyone has any tips on how they lowered the symptoms with at home remedies that would be great!

I currently work part-time at a wine bar for six hours a day, but in the future, I’d like to have a full-time job, perhaps at a wine shop.

However, my knee pain becomes quite severe if I have to stand for long periods without being able to sit down. 🥲

My doctor said that, because I’m still relatively young, it probably isn’t degenerative arthritis. Still, regardless of the cause, the pain itself is a real problem.

The doctor suggested that I try changing my work environment. I’ve also worked in an office before, but because I have ADHD, I made a lot of mistakes, and I don’t think office work was a good fit for me.

I know I should probably avoid jobs that require me to stand for long periods, but I love wine so much. At the same time, office work doesn’t suit me either, so I’m really struggling to figure out what kind of work I should pursue.

For those of you who also have jobs that require you to stand for long hours, how do you manage your pain and take care of your knees?

I had an MRI done for a suspected torn meniscus (my knee locked up) but it's showing osteoarthritis instead.

"Articular Cartilage:

*Patellofemoral Compartment: Chondral surface irregularity and deep fissuring along the patellar and trochlear facets. Focal full-thickness cartilage defect with subchondral cystic change and intra-articular osteophyte formation along the central trochlea.

*Medial Compartment: Partial-thickness cartilage defect along the inner weight-bearing surface of the medial femoral condyle.

*Lateral Compartment: Chondral surface irregularity and partial-thickness cartilage defects along the posterior weight-bearing surface of the lateral femoral condyle and lateral tribal plateau."

I have two small children, and enjoy hiking, golfing, everything outdoors. . .

I've been on crutches and the couch since my knee locked, and I am feeling very hopeless. I want to be active and play with my kids. I'm waiting for an orthopedic consult and just worrying a bunch.

So its about my father. His RA factor was 79 three months ago. We took him to the specialist after a month of changing his diet i mean me and my mother were just forcing him not to eat stuff cause he still dosen't care about his body tbh. So after 3 weeks his RA went to 76 it was a good start i guess. He is on Omnacortil, Lefno and Thyronorm. But now 3 months have passed on his med...when he started he was feeling good but now again he is in pain and i can't see him like that. He littrely force himself to stand up in the morning his joints are always in pain. Idk what to do now. We were thinking about changing his doctor. Or maybe get him checked again. What diet should he follow? I am indian so we do that typical indian diet. And he also drinks chai. Should he stop consuming sugar? And he is someone who don't like to rest. Like taking care of the cattle and stuff. Tho i started helping him now cause he can't even use his fingers to milk the cow.

Tdlr: I bought Brooks Ghost Max 3's (wide) and a Powerstep Mortons Extension insole. I can walk a lot now without hallux limitus pain. Both things keep the big toe from lifting in different ways, so my thinking was the benefit would be additive. I'm happy.

I walk a lot and after moving to the Seattle area I walk even more because it's so beautiful everywhere. But I think the terrain here, extremely hilly, exacerbated a budding problem until it became noticeable enough to try to find a solution. Some days it would actually be painful and that's no good. It's mostly my right foot and honestly, I haven't always been good about replacing shoes when they're due which doesn't help

Just slapping a nicer Dr Scholls insole into a shoe I liked didn't work. So I looked into what the problem was and how to address it. It seems I almost certainly have hallux Limitus and I'd like to slow the progression to rigidus as much as possible on the footwear end. I settled on the Brooks Ghost Max 3 and Morton Powerstep insole. They're both supposed to keep the big toe from moving upward, the shoe mostly with how your foot hits the ground and the carbon fiber insole keeps the shoe from bending (and lifting your big toe) as your foot step rolls.

Immediate relief and the lingering pain subsided within a few days. I've had them a month now and love the combo. Walking feels good now. Now I rarely have mild pain, really more of a dull ache than pain. If you want to try the insole, make sure to get a compatible shoe. It was recommended to get in wide and I'm happy with that choice. The arch support on the insole is aggressive at first but give it a week to mold to your feet. I replaced the Brooks insole with the Powerstep insole, per instructions. The Ghost Max 4 is about to come out, so the 3 is discounted to $120 which was nice. The insole was $80. I read it's best to have two sets to give the shoe sole a chance to fully reinflate or something after a lot of walking so I'm gonna get a cool looking GM 4 to supplement the white 3's.

40M a few months ago I got the shock of my life: hints of hip arthritis in both hips. Saw an orthopedic surgeon who thoroughly visited me and told me see you in 20 years. I am doing muscle strengthening exercises and avoiding running, or other activities that place too much stress in my hips. It's going well and am not taking medications.

I was in the middle of relocating abroad for work, but now I am stuck, as I think: What if I need surgery or other clinical supervision before the supposed 20-year timeframe I may still enjoy? What will I do if I won't have friends or relatives once relocated to a new place/country were something to happen?

I am in Southern Italy right now but am considering to move away as I don't fit in my hometown and need to stay as far away from here as possible. Also, I never liked the mentality and people in general. I am afraid I'll stay here as I am now a person whose countdown to hip replacement surgery seems to have officially started, and considering the relatively long recovery and potential complications, I am losing any hope re: my dream of starting a new life somewhere else.

Any advice is welcome!

Thank you guys!

Both knees stiff after sitting/standing, morning stiffness, swelling, warmth, and occasional instability does this sound like arthritis?

For a while now, both of my knees have been bothering me. If I sit for a long time or stand for a long time, I get very stiff when I start moving again. In the mornings, my knees hurt and I walk very stiffly for about 30 minutes before things loosen up.

My knees also swell at times and sometimes feel warm. Recently I had an episode where one knee felt unstable, almost like it might give out underneath me.
I had a knee scope on my right knee in the past, but both knees are having symptoms now.

I'm trying to figure out whether this sounds more like arthritis, inflammation, muscle weakness/deconditioning, a meniscus issue, or something else. Has anyone had similar symptoms, and what did your doctor end up finding?
A few things I'd pay attention to over the next week:
Does one knee swell more than the other?

So im back on track with my workout program (or so I thought). I'm trying to get back into a routine, but my joints are screaming murder. Does anyone have any natural remedies for achey joints?

I was born chronically ill (rheumatoid arthritis), but have never really had any stuff to help me aside from drugs and a microwavable heating pad. I was in OT as a kid but not much was given/recommended 🤷🏻‍♀️. What are some stuff you have that helps you through daily life?

Hi all - i have a doc appt Tuesday but as we all do I'm going down rabbit holes on the internet.

I have experienced joint pain during pregnancy and also after. I am currently 5 months PP, vegan, and breastfeeding ,and I experience pain (after period of inactivity) in the following order from worst to pain but less pain:

1. foot area (heel Achilles tendon toes). struggling to walk upstairs, the pain is really bad.

2. knees

3. wrist

4. fingers (hurts to do up baby's poppers).

5. elbows.

6. hips.

I also have mouth ulcers and lots of tiny bruises (look like dots over mainly my legs). I am not feeling faint. I am not feeling depressed. i did experience a PPH in pregnancy and had iron and blood transfusion and my levels were normal after I left the hospital but haven't been tested since.

I really hope someone can tell me this is not arthritis as is more likely a vitamin deficiency 😅

So my doctor recently told me everyone has a favourite not just me. Like for me, naproxen is the best. Just the feel of it, it works best for me. So, what's your favourite one and why?

I'm sure there is a travel or luggage sub, but I'm starting here. Due to arthritis in my hands and back, I'm looking for a backpack to use for flights. I want it to be lightweight but also have an extendable handle and wheels. I love Jansport. I see they make one. Has anyone tried that one or others? If I can't get one with a sleeve that holes into my carry on's handle I may need to get someone to add that for me.

I was in a car accident a few days ago, and it basically destroyed my hip. My surgeon literally said it was turned to dust, lmao. Anyways, in all of their wisdom, they decided to piece it back together. I was then told that I was guaranteed arthritis in the hip in the future. Is there anything I should prepare for?

Hi, I hope this is the right place to post this. I think I may have Osteoarthritis. To start and answer all the questions doctors have asked, braces don't help, I have never had any leg related accidents prior, never been overweight, no family history of any joint disorder, just some minor hypermobility strictly affecting fingers and hips. I'm in my early 20's and about 3 years ago my knees began failing without warning. Sometimes its like a ghost dead legs me and I can recover quickly but now I almost always fall and I'm given zero warning prior. The buckling happens to each knee indiscriminately but never at the same time so far. It's worse if I'm sore from going to the gym, but will happen randomly regardless. My knees don't hurt when it happens and they are visibly in perfect condition. The weather does cause them to hurt and sometimes they just take turns being painful. I've talked to doctors and went to physical therapy and the "care" I received was lacking and it didn't help at all (really considering disupting what I was charged for honestly), she just said to stretch and drink water. She said it was idiopathic, but I believe I might have early Osteoarthritis. Not asking for a diagnois, but has anyone ever had this happen to them?

TLDR: Idiopathic knee buckling - has anyone ever had this happen?