About Me

ABOUT ME

Welcome to Arthritic Octopus! This is my blog that will hopefully follow and detail my treatment of a chronic illness. In 2015 after around a year and a half of doctors and hospital appointments, various MRIs and countless blood tests, I was diagnosed with chronic arthritis with complications at the age of 24. I've been suffering severe pain for the last year and a half and finally have an answer. An answer that I will continue to suffer this pain for the rest of my life.

My name is Robyn Duncan. I'm a 24 year old woman currently living in Fife, Scotland. I live with my parents, two sisters, my sister's fiancée and my dog, Kassie. I have a wonderful boyfriend, Andrew, we've been together for two years now and I couldn't be happier with him. I graduated from the University of Dundee in 2012 with a 2:1 BSc Forensic Anthropology (Hons). I studied human anatomy through full body dissection and skeletal identification including adult and juvenile human remains and comparative osteology of non-human species. I also studied biology, biochemistry and some specifics and am competent in various laboratory procedures and experimental design. I currently work as an Anatomy Research Technician at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at University of Dundee. I support a number of research projects and help with general mortuary duties including embalming. Some of the projects I work on are helping to design new surgical devices: an ultrasound needle for use in brain surgery, an ultrasound needle for bone surgery, an ultrasound pill for imaging the gastrointestinal tract (as an alternative to colonoscopy), focussed ultrasound in moving organs and creating cadavers models with realistic internal characteristics (e.g. flow and pressure) that can help provide an anatomically correct model as close to a living human as possible and to reduce the need for animal models in research.

MEDICAL HISTORY

Kassie Dog

I must admit, I have never really been well. I was quite a sickly child. I had been hospitalised numerous times in my childhood for illnesses of unknown origin. This continued well into my teenage years, where every three years I would be hospitalised with uncontrollable vomiting and be unable to keep any food down. This would go on for about a month, I'd lose so much body mass and barely be able to stay awake much more than about 6 hours a day. And then after a month it would stop and I'd start eating again and be okay. It was never found out what caused it. I don't have a particularly good diet, or do a lot of exercise. But I certainly don't think I had a lifestyle that meant developing arthritis at 24. 

Following my graduation from university in 2012, I began working in a pub. This was when I began to notice my health declining. By this point, I had already had psoriasis for about 10 years. During long shifts, I began to experience horrible sciatica and lower back pain. There were many nights that by the end of the shift, I was unable to walk and was propping myself up with the bar. I also developed plantar fasciitis, a stabbing pain in the arch of my foot making it very difficult to walk. I began to feel constantly tired and experiencing painful migraines regularly.

In 2014, I started as a Prosector at CAHID in the University of Dundee where it was my role to produce prosections for anatomical teaching and help out with various mortuary duties. Around this time I was beginning to feel seriously low. I barely done anything beyond going to work. I'd go to work, come home and go to sleep as early as 7pm. I still experienced the sciatica and plantar fasciitis and walking was extremely difficult. I was still experiencing regular migraines. With much persuasion, I finally went to the doctors and after several blood tests, was diagnosed with a severe vitamin D deficiency (I live in Scotland, we have no sun anyway!). Vitamin D tablets done little to stop the pain but did begin to settle some migraines and made me feel generally less tired and miserable all the time. 

Seeing a different doctor and more blood tests revealed high levels of inflammation markers. That, combined with the pain I was describing prompted an MRI which revealed significant inflammation in my sacroiliac joints (where my spine attaches to my pelvis) along with the presence of a bowel condition. I had been suffering stomach pains for a while before this and had just thought I was possible intolerant to something. I was far more concerned that the pain in my back and legs was so great I could barely walk (and on some days I couldn't, prompting a trip to the out of hours hospital) so dealing with a dodgy tummy was pretty far down my list. Between then and now was countless more blood tests before I received an appointment with a rheumatologist, who diagnosed my problems straight away. She referred me for a colonoscopy and another MRI to investigate my bowel conditions but there was no doubt that I was suffering from chronic arthritis. There are several forms of arthritis and I'm suffering a few of them. The title we're going with for my illness is 'Chronic Arthritis with Complications' but that barely begins to scratch the surface.

CHRONIC ARTHRITIS WITH COMPLICATIONS

A brief overview of my illness. I have a chronic illness that I will have for the rest of my life. It cannot be cured, but can be controlled. This illness has a serious impact on quality of life and is classed as a disability.

Chronic Arthritis: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Spondyloarthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Complications: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Psoriasis, Sciatica, Enthesitis, Plantar Fasciitis and Dactylitis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disorder in which my body is attacking itself, causing inflammation particularly in the joints though it can affect organs as well. This differs from osteoarthritis which is commonly thought of as wear and tear and often seen in older individuals. Rheumatoid arthritis can present in younger individuals as it is a direct result of the body attacking itself rather than degenerative changes over time. This is a disease I have no control over and will have for the rest of my life. The mechanisms of why it occurs aren't fully understood. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be cured during my lifetime but there are treatments available to help control the pain.

 'Spondylo' means affecting the spine and 'arthritis' means joint disease. Spondyloarthritis is a name for types of arthritis that commonly affect the axial skeleton (the spine). It is inflammation of the joints in the spine and the sacroiliac joint (where the spine joins the pelvis) and this can result in severe back and neck pain, stiffness and severely limited movement. I would say this is my biggest problem, biggest source of pain (specially the SI joint) and misery.

Psoriatic arthritis causes painful inflammation in and around your joints, not limited to the spine. It usually affects people who already have psoriasis, a skin condition that causes a red, scaly rash. I suffered from psoriasis before I developed arthritis. Psoriatic arthritis typically only affects adults though the skin condition can present in children. Some people will have psoriatic arthritis without the skin condition. I have both. I had UV treatment in my teens to help prevent this but as soon as I stopped, it came back. My psoriasis is typically (but not limited to) behind my ears, around my hairline, a little either side of my nose, spots on my neck and back, a massive collection of plaques that spans the whole width of my chest under the breast area and stomach. Psoriasis can come with its own side effects - I suffer from incredibly toughened toe nails.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a term mainly used to describe two diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. As my large bowel came back looking normally, it is more likely I have Crohn's rather than Ulcerative Colitis (which only affects the large bowel). This can present as abdominal pain, commonly after eating, and recurring diarrhoea.

Sciatica is the pain experienced when the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated. It can cause pain, numbness and a tingling sensation that radiates from your lower back and travels down one (in my case both but much worse on the right) of your legs to your foot and toes. I personally think sciatica is excruciatingly painful. It feels like lightning shoot through my buttocks and thighs. Neuralgic pain is a different sort of pain and it can be incredibly difficult, sometimes impossible to walk with.

Enthesitis is inflammation of the entheses, the sites where tendons or ligaments insert into the bone. I suffer from this in my foot, just at the start of the arch where the plantar fascia inserts onto the bone. It feels like a burning and stabbing pain at the site of attachment and can be incredibly difficult to walk on. This is also helping to cause plantar fasciitis. Sudden damage, or damage that occurs over many months or years, can cause tiny tears (micro tears) to develop inside the tissue of the plantar fascia. This can cause the plantar fascia to thicken, resulting in heel pain. I suffer from this severely in my right foot and it helps make walking incredibly difficult and painful. My plantar fasciitis has been consistent for 2 years now and is worst first thing in the morning.

Dactylitis is often considered “any inflammatory process involving the fingers or toes”. Depending on the type of condition you have, different tissues may be involved in different types of swelling. It can present as 'sausage fingers or toes', where the digits are swollen beyond their natural size. I used to have a sausage finger (middle minger, right hand) but luckily this has deflated somewhat. The joint in my finger is still significantly swollen - obvious to the eye and tender to touch. This process is also beginning to occur in my big toes.

Waardenburg syndrome is something I also apparently have. My rheumatologist diagnosed this rather randomly as I went in, though it's not very common at all. Waardenburg syndrome is a genetic syndrome, which luckily for me, has no associated pain. Symptoms of this I have include brilliant blue eyes and premature greying. I have been going grey since about 12 years old and never thought much of it before. While at high school, I dyed my hair, but these days I don't (I'm far too poor for regular salon trips!) and as a result have significant grey hairs and a distinct white forelock (white stripe in my hair). Other symptoms associated with this are premature deafness and increased spacing between the eyes. But I was pretty lucky to avoid them.

Leave a Comment

Share: