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Arthritis
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This weeks feature
Case study: Sheelagh from Wiltshire
Sheelagh knows only too well the life-changing effects of arthritis, but also how the disease can be effectively brought under control.
She first went to her doctor in 1995 after suffering from a pain in the groin and experiencing difficult using her leg.
“I was eventually diagnosed with osteoarthritis, but they wouldn’t operate at that time because they said I was too young. I was actually 48 at the time, but the experts said a replacement joint only lasts 10 or 15 years and they didn’t want to have to do the operation all over again later on.” |
Long lasting... |
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Eventually Sheelagh was forced to give up her job as a teacher. “It was a case of the children doing my shoelaces up rather than the other way round,” she recalls. “I was getting tired very easily and I couldn’t bend down. My doctor gave me painkillers and said she would support me if I wanted to give up work. I had to take six months’ sick leave first and then I was able to take early retirement. I stopped teaching in October, 2000, and that’s when I went on my first Challenging Arthritis course.
“I found it so helpful that I went and trained, and now I run courses myself. I’d recommend them to anyone who has just been diagnosed with arthritis.”
What really transformed Sheelagh’s life, however, was having a hip replacement operation in August 2003. “I can now do all sorts of things I couldn’t do before,” she says. “I still watch my diet and keep my weight under control, because the heavier you are the more you put pressure on your joints. Since the operation I have been able to get my bike out and go into town every day. It’s like magic, to cycle 17 miles, when before I couldn’t even walk into town. It’s wonderful!” |
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