Some Common Misconceptions About My Juvenile Arthritis
There are a number of big misconceptions that I encounter as a teen living with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. I have seropositive polyarthritis, which is the type that's most similar to adult rheumatoid arthritis . One misconception is that kids don't get arthritis. Wrong! It's a different kind of arthritis, yes, but it is just as serious, if not more. Another is that if I don't have visible inflammation, then I must be either faking or it's not that bad. This is so incorrect! My arthritis is thankfully not visible, but that doesn't mean it's not there. It means that I need to get it under control BEFORE it deforms my joints. Once they're deformed, it's too late. I even have erosions on my bones already, but the average person can't see that. It's only seen through a specialized scan, like an MRI. So the fact that my fingers don't look like sausages is not a reason to say that I'm "just lazy," especially when I'm t