Autoimmune Arthritis got my toe

As I got out of bed this morning, I gently swung my legs around and down to the floor, stood up, and bellowed a loud, "OWWWWW!" (and a few words not appropriate for this posting)  My toe feels sprained, I can't put any pressure on it at all.  So I begin to ask myself, "What did I do yesterday at the gym?  Did I lose my balance? Or maybe in the pool, did I stub my toe?"  I quickly looked down to investigate what must be major bruising, maybe even a cut?  "Ugh, I sprained my toe," I thought. To my surprise, here's what I saw: 

Yep.  A perfectly fine looking toe.  It wasn't an injury or sprain at all.  No bruise, no injury, nothing to the naked eye was wrong with my toe.  It was, in fact, another flare.  Autoimmune Arthritis got my toe. 

I felt the need to post this for a couple of reasons. 

1. I've lived with an Autoimmune Arthritis disease now for 6 years and I know what it feels like to have a flare, whether full blown that is paired with fatigue, fevers and flu-like symptoms, or more confined flare, such as waking to a "mystery injury".  If even I GET fooled, imagine how hard it is for those who do not have Autoimmune Arthritis to comprehend this.  I mean, look at my toe, it "looks" fine!  So, lesson number one: Having Autoimmune Arthritis can be invisible on the outside because the 'pain of the sprain' is in fact the result of cells failing to communicate with the body, thus causing an immune response. 

2. Imagine how hard this is for a doctor to understand? Having an "unexplained injury" is one of the first signs of having an Autoimmune Arthritis disease.  However, most often a person will go to a family doctor to treat their "injury" and are left with a splint and told to ice it and rest.  Shouldn't it be a red flag to doctors that if an instance to cause an injury never occurred that perhaps it's something other than a sprain?  Lesson number two: If you or someone you know has an unexplained injury, with no visible signs other than possibly swelling, consider the cause may be internal.  Also, if this occurs be proactive with your care.  Take your temperature.  These 'flares' are often paired with fever given your body is trying to attack what it believe to be unhealthy cells.  In addition note how tired you feel (if at all).  When flaring one of the most common symptoms is fatigue.  If there is a low grade fever (at any time during this episode) and/or you feel unusually fatigued, tell your doctor to consider this is associated with the mystery injury.

I am lucky.  Those in my life try to understand my disease and do not need visual proof that something is wrong.  But I'm not in the majority.  Unfortunately there are many patients who do not have the support of family and friends because if they can't see it they don't believe it.  The reality is, however, that with Autoimmune Arthritis diseases if you "see it" then it's because it's advanced.  In time, if not treated properly, body parts can begin to shift from the inflammation as well as attack organs. 



I have Autoimmune Arthritis affect so many parts of my body, from countless joints to connective tissues (often in my chest, it feels like I'm having a heart attack but it's the connective tissues flaring between my ribs) to soft tissues (particularly my tongue), but my skin, teeth and eyes are affected as well.  Yet, even though these affected areas all started with that mystery injury, I still somehow always first default to "what did I do to injure myself?"  But the fact of the matter is it 'feels' like a sprain but it's not a sprain.  I have a small fever today and had a tough time waking up.  So while that toe may not look serious, and it's in the early stages of disease activity, it is serious...because it means the disease is spreading.  Autoimmune Arthritis got a lot of my body already and now it got my toe. 

I'm hoping some of you can use this blog entry to show others what it looks like and feels like in the very early stages and where it goes if the cells and immune system cannot be controlled.  Just because it's not always visible doesn't mean it's not serious.  We all start out invisible.