Arthritis ==> How it affects the character or a person
May 25, 2013 7:24:50 GMT
TechyTechy likes this
Post by Deleted on May 25, 2013 7:24:50 GMT
Please note, I'm going to be doing this in short bursts. This is something I have experience with. I have severe arthritis in a very large amount of my body. My mom has arthritis in her hands and knees. And my dad has it pretty much all over. I know what I'm talking about.
Table of Contents for this post:
Ready? Okay. Here we go.
What is arthritis?
Arthritis is a chronic disease. From the Arthritis Foundation's site, "Arthritis is a complex family of musculoskeletal disorders consisting of more than 100 different diseases or conditions that destroy joints, bones, muscles, cartilage and other connective tissues, hampering or halting physical movement." Meaning it's really damned unpleasant. And there's a lot. It degrades the joints and destroys what essentially holds you together.
What are the types of arthritis?
The four that actually carry the name arthritis are Osteoarthritis (the most common), Juvenile Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. However, linked to arthritis is also Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Gout. For a full list, view the Arthritis Foundation's site. They vary greatly between each other as well.
How often does arthritis occur?
More often than you might think. According to the Arthritis Foundation's research, "Two-thirds of people with arthritis are under the age of 65, including 300,000 children." This is a very large quantity of people. It's very common. Juvenile Arthritis will, at times, advance to Osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis as well. In America, there's a statistic too. "Of the 50 million Americans with arthritis, more than 36 million are Caucasians, more than 4.6 million are African-Americans and 2.9 million are Hispanic." That's nearly 1/10 the world population, just inside of America. Obviously, there's far more than that if counting all of everyone.
What causes arthritis?
That depends on the type. The ones with the name of arthritis are usually shown to be caused by a predisposition in the genetic chain( I.e. Juvenile Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis). That is, an inherited gene. Osteoarthritis is caused by various other reasons (most well known being old age and injury). Psoriatic Arthritis is caused by Psoriasis. Reactive Arthritis is, as the title states, a reaction, usually to an infection. But it mostly depends.
How does arthritis affect the afflicted?
It makes the afflicted feel constant pain. It locks the joints and makes movement a challenge. Sometimes, I'll joke that I got a work out getting out of my chair. I'm not joking. It takes effort to move when you have it. The more severe it is, the less likely you are to get up easily. You stop being able to move your limbs like you would like, typing becomes a chore, sometimes even turning is a pain. Arthritis is essentially a Pain Central. It's the City of Ache, the Hurt Country, World of Pain. It's not a good disease. It's not very bearable. It hurts more than a lot of things. And it's constant.
How does one live with arthritis?
This is the easiest part to explain. You live with it by becoming very good at ignoring pain. You don't ever feel better, the pain is still there, but it doesn't bother you so much. For example, my cats have to draw blood to make me notice they're scratching me. Most people with arthritis will tell you that it just makes you ignore it. That isn't to say there aren't days when the afflicted will curl up in a ball to essentially cry because of the pain. It hurts. There are good and bad days but the bad usually severely outnumber the good. The worst days it's hard to get up and when the afflicted does they have a problem moving from the position they woke in.
How do you cure arthritis?
You don't. You can slow it down but you can't cure it. From treatarthritis.net, "Arthritis usually targets the bone joints of the body and right from the knees, shoulders, elbows to even the finger joints almost any part could be affected." It's a sad fact, but there's no cure and the treatment is a slow down to prevent what I just pasted from the site from happening too quickly. You help with exercise, even if it hurts, and a good diet. You also have to work on finding a balance of medication and naturopathy.
It takes time for these drugs to slow the results, sadly, because all good medication takes time. If, for some reason, your character has it, then they should not feel slowing of symptoms until a few weeks or months, depending on the severity. If it does feel slow instantly, it's likely a very bad med. Don't have the character suddenly better either. There is no cure, the character will never not have it. That doesn't mean there's little to be done against it. It just takes time.
Sources
How to treat arthritis. (2011). Retrieved from www.treatarthritis.net/
Arthritis foundation. (2013). Retrieved from www.arthritis.org/
I'll be updating this thread as I think of things. Drop questions for me to add from person experience or add you own. But this is actually a serious thing. To be added are... how to play one. And such.
For now it's 330 AM and no. Not continuing.
Table of Contents for this post:
- What is arthritis?
- What are the types of arthritis?
- How often does arthritis occur?
- What causes arthritis?
- How does arthritis affect the afflicted?
- How does one live with arthritis?
- How do you cure arthritis?
- How do you play a character with arthritis?
- Interacting with other characters as an arthritic character.
Ready? Okay. Here we go.
What is arthritis?
Arthritis is a chronic disease. From the Arthritis Foundation's site, "Arthritis is a complex family of musculoskeletal disorders consisting of more than 100 different diseases or conditions that destroy joints, bones, muscles, cartilage and other connective tissues, hampering or halting physical movement." Meaning it's really damned unpleasant. And there's a lot. It degrades the joints and destroys what essentially holds you together.
What are the types of arthritis?
The four that actually carry the name arthritis are Osteoarthritis (the most common), Juvenile Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. However, linked to arthritis is also Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Gout. For a full list, view the Arthritis Foundation's site. They vary greatly between each other as well.
How often does arthritis occur?
More often than you might think. According to the Arthritis Foundation's research, "Two-thirds of people with arthritis are under the age of 65, including 300,000 children." This is a very large quantity of people. It's very common. Juvenile Arthritis will, at times, advance to Osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid Arthritis as well. In America, there's a statistic too. "Of the 50 million Americans with arthritis, more than 36 million are Caucasians, more than 4.6 million are African-Americans and 2.9 million are Hispanic." That's nearly 1/10 the world population, just inside of America. Obviously, there's far more than that if counting all of everyone.
What causes arthritis?
That depends on the type. The ones with the name of arthritis are usually shown to be caused by a predisposition in the genetic chain( I.e. Juvenile Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis). That is, an inherited gene. Osteoarthritis is caused by various other reasons (most well known being old age and injury). Psoriatic Arthritis is caused by Psoriasis. Reactive Arthritis is, as the title states, a reaction, usually to an infection. But it mostly depends.
How does arthritis affect the afflicted?
It makes the afflicted feel constant pain. It locks the joints and makes movement a challenge. Sometimes, I'll joke that I got a work out getting out of my chair. I'm not joking. It takes effort to move when you have it. The more severe it is, the less likely you are to get up easily. You stop being able to move your limbs like you would like, typing becomes a chore, sometimes even turning is a pain. Arthritis is essentially a Pain Central. It's the City of Ache, the Hurt Country, World of Pain. It's not a good disease. It's not very bearable. It hurts more than a lot of things. And it's constant.
How does one live with arthritis?
This is the easiest part to explain. You live with it by becoming very good at ignoring pain. You don't ever feel better, the pain is still there, but it doesn't bother you so much. For example, my cats have to draw blood to make me notice they're scratching me. Most people with arthritis will tell you that it just makes you ignore it. That isn't to say there aren't days when the afflicted will curl up in a ball to essentially cry because of the pain. It hurts. There are good and bad days but the bad usually severely outnumber the good. The worst days it's hard to get up and when the afflicted does they have a problem moving from the position they woke in.
How do you cure arthritis?
You don't. You can slow it down but you can't cure it. From treatarthritis.net, "Arthritis usually targets the bone joints of the body and right from the knees, shoulders, elbows to even the finger joints almost any part could be affected." It's a sad fact, but there's no cure and the treatment is a slow down to prevent what I just pasted from the site from happening too quickly. You help with exercise, even if it hurts, and a good diet. You also have to work on finding a balance of medication and naturopathy.
It takes time for these drugs to slow the results, sadly, because all good medication takes time. If, for some reason, your character has it, then they should not feel slowing of symptoms until a few weeks or months, depending on the severity. If it does feel slow instantly, it's likely a very bad med. Don't have the character suddenly better either. There is no cure, the character will never not have it. That doesn't mean there's little to be done against it. It just takes time.
Sources
How to treat arthritis. (2011). Retrieved from www.treatarthritis.net/
Arthritis foundation. (2013). Retrieved from www.arthritis.org/
I'll be updating this thread as I think of things. Drop questions for me to add from person experience or add you own. But this is actually a serious thing. To be added are... how to play one. And such.
For now it's 330 AM and no. Not continuing.