Rheumatic

The arm is gently twisted behind the back and my hand is sliding into the chalk bag. A sprinkle of chalk sticks to the forehead as the arm returns to the wall. My fingers find their way back to the crimp and the two upper joints are bending slightly for a better grip. The arm is stretched slightly to relieve the pump building up in my forearm. My breath is heavy and just like me, the pulse is on it's way up. Up the wall, move by move. A finely tuned machinery of tendons, joints and muscles, working together to move this rheumatic towards the top of the wall.
 
Rheumatic. The word is charged with pain, pain from joints and muscles. When I hear the word rheumatic, it instinctly produce an image of slightly crooked and sore hands, arms and joints. Rheumatism is something I associate with age, something you get when you're  older. But as I looked around the waiting room waiting for my first appointment with the rheumatologist, it struck me that many of patients in the waiting room were not very old. Not particularly crooked either. I began pondering what their situation was, because most of them looked pretty healthy on the outside. Still, like me, they were sitting in the waiting room at the Rheumatalogy ward. And that was when it struck me, am I a rheumatic now? Maybe it's me who needs to update my notion of what a rheumatic actually is?

SLE is a rheumatic disease, and there are actually over 200 different rheumatic diagnoses. In Norway, there are about 300,000 living with rheumatic disease. Quite a few, and there is a separate interest organization for those with such a diagnosis, the Norwegian Rheumatism Association.

Examples of rheumatic disease:
SLE
Rheumatoid arthritis
Bekhterev
Systemic Sclerosis
Fibromyalgia
Poliomyocyte
Osteoarthritis

Many of the rheumatic diseases are chronic autoimmune diseases, while some are diseases / conditions that come with age (osteoarthritis) or overload (tendonitis). The rheumatic umbrella is large and is therefore divided into several subgroups. Lupus / SLE is in the subgroup called systemic connective tissue diseases. In connective tissue diseases, the immune system attacks the tissue found in and binds the organs together. My slightly simple opinion that rheumatism is the same as gout is in other words not entirely true. But the common denominator is ailments from the musculoskeletal system, such as pain and stiffness in joints and muscles.

Sometimes you take it for granted that the body will always function as you have been used to, but it is not a matter of course for any of us. The biggest upheaval with the diagnosis of lupus is the new way of interpreting the body's signals. They automatically go through several filters before they can be dismissed as everyday minor ailments. Is the stiff neck a result of a sleeping position or the recently adjusted dose of prednisolone? That point in the thigh, it can not be the beginning of a blood clot, because how does a blood clot really feel? Are the shoulders sore due to the backpack this weekend or is there something else that has started to smolder in the muscles and joints?

Maybe I probably feel a little too good after a while. Can not completely shake off my fear that I will dismiss something serious as a trifle again. I find solace in the fact that I am followed up very well by the doctors. If the disease begins to recur, it will be detected by the regular check-ups and blood tests. Strictly speaking, it can not be too bad right now as I am hanging here in the wall. But to be on the safe side, I might drop the housework today!

Sources:
Gran, J. T. (2008). Definition and classification of rheumatic diseases. Norwegian Epidemiology, 18 (1): 3-4.
https://nhi.no/sykdommer/muskelskjelett/giktsykdommer/leddgikt-symptomer/
https://sml.snl.no/revmatiske_sykdommer