I'm 37 years old.  That in itself is nothing remarkable, and some may argue that I should be in the prime of my life!  Up until last year I think that I was.  I am a wife, Step mother and mother.  I have 2 step kids and 4 biological children, one set of twins.  I was an administration worker prior to starting my family.  I retrained after my fourth child and got a Cert 4 in Fitness & completed a whole range of training to enhance my skills in this area.  I would say that I became the fittest version of myself that I've ever been.  I had my own business & worked for a gym as Group Fitness Manager.  This was my dream job!

I started getting a few injuries.  At first I thought I had rotator cuff issues.  I tried doctors and several different physios.  Medications, Cortisone injections etc.  The only thing that worked was avoiding certain exercises... like boxing, push ups, lifting weights above my head, chest press etc.  As you can imagine, not ideal in my line of work!  Eventually I was diagnosed with arthritis in my shoulders.

Then one day I noticed a small lump appear on my left hand pinky finger just above the top finger joint.  The lump had started to change the shape of my fingernail due to its impact on the nail bed.  So off I went to the doctor thinking that he would pop the cyst and all would be good.  He took a look at my hands and sent me for X-rays.  You guessed it!  Arthritis is my hands!  It has now appeared in about 7 or more joints in both hands.  It wasn't really that painful to begin with, but now some days I just wish they would fuse the joints so they couldn't move!  And some days my hands can be so weak that I drop things!

Then my neck started causing me pain!  I knew immediately what it was, so when the doctor told me that I had arthritis in my neck I really wasn't that surprised!  My muscles in the right side of my neck get so tight and go into spasm.  I feel like I just want to cut the tendons that run from my cervical spine to my shoulder.

So...in just over a year I've gone from the most physically fit and highly active that I've ever been in my life, to someone who lives on Anti-depressants, Anti-inflamatories & Pain killers that require an authorisation for my doctor to dispense!  I've put on at least 30kg and am struggling to sleep at night for the neck pain.

I want answers!  I have a Rheumatologist who started me on meds that do nothing to help me at all.  I'm due to go back and see him soon and am hoping that he has some other ideas up his sleeves.  It worries me that this has all happened so quickly.  If it's progressed this far in a little over twelve months, how bad will it be when I'm 40, 45?