Early diagnosis of arthritis with better access to support is urgently needed for people struggling in silence with the \u201chidden illness\u201d, Arthritis Ireland has said.<\/p>\n
Over half of people living with arthritis have mental health difficulties because of how symptoms affect them and one in four face challenges in romantic relationships, a survey it published on Monday shows.<\/p>\n
People who wait over a year to see a rheumatologist for the first time are left in poor health at a much higher rate than those who see a doctor early on.<\/p>\n
People with more severe symptoms now were \u201cnearly twice as likely to wait over a year for their first rheumatology appointment\u201d as those in better health.<\/p>\n
Chief executive with Arthritis Ireland, Gr\u00e1inne O\u2019Leary, described this illness as \u201cprofoundly debilitating, exhausting, and isolating\u201d.<\/p>\n
She warned: \u201cToo many people are struggling in silence because arthritis is a hidden illness and its impact is often underestimated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She called on employers and policymakers as well as healthcare workers to recognise the real impact of arthritis for people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need earlier diagnosis, better communication, and stronger supports across healthcare, workplaces and communities so people with arthritis can live well and remain independent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The survey had feedback from over 1,400 people of all ages around Ireland, with 85% being women. The survey notes this imbalance is not a reflection of patient numbers but more likely to do with interest in surveys.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It found 43% of people with \u201cpoor health\u201d due to arthritis waited over a year for a diagnosis compared to 32% of people with \u201cfair or excellent health\u201d.<\/p>\n
Anyone diagnosed within six months of symptoms appearing was \u201cfar more likely\u201d to report better health now. The waiting times for appointments were not linked to how often people had a flare up of symptoms.<\/p>\n
Overall 70% said they had problems sleeping and 51% struggle with their mental health. Some 39% said arthritis has \u201cstrained\u201d or impacted relationships with a spouse or partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just over 20% said they have difficulties in having sexual intercourse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Symptoms such as joint pain reported by 59% of people and fatigue reported by 44% are the most urgent daily problems. This results in 56% saying they struggle to be physically active.<\/p>\n
One patient, Claire Kinneavy, has lived with this for nearly 45 years.<\/p>\n
She said:<\/p>\n
Pain and fatigue don\u2019t switch off, and over time they shape every aspect of daily life in ways that are often invisible to others.<\/p>\n
She has rheumatoid arthritis and Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease which is when the glands making tears or sweat stop working properly.<\/p>\n
Arthritis has a \u201chuge impact\u201d, she said, stressing this is not just about daily pain. It can also affect \u201cwork, community and family life\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
The survey asked people about the impacts of different forms of arthritis.<\/p>\n
Fibromyalgia and axSpA affected people the most severely while other forms such as OA and Raynaud\u2019s lead to lower impacts even though they are quite common.<\/p>\n
Some 43% of people with fibromyalgia experienced a flare up in the previous seven days, which it said was \u201csignificantly higher\u201d than for other groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early diagnosis of arthritis with better access to support is urgently needed for people struggling in silence with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1111,103,61,60,43,1112],"class_list":["post-408365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-court-and-crime","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-politics-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}