Ateritis, arthritis... how to make friends and family recognise the difference!

[Dochaz]

I have just been trying to explain GCA to some former work colleagues and been stumped trying to convincingly make the distinction between arteritis and arthritis (similar pronunciation, even in French 😏) to those not familiar with our condition. Very frustrating when they come back with "Oh, yes, my mother suffered from arthritis for years"!I generally give up after a few minutes for the sake of world peace 🕊️

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

What Is Arteritis?

Arteritis refers to inflammation of your arteries that damages your blood vessel walls and reduces blood flow to your organs.

Usually as a result of infection or autoimmune responses. Arteritis, a complex disorder, there are several types of arteritis, and may be distinguished by its different types, based on the organ systems affected by the disease .

What is Arthritis?

The word arthritis is used to describe pain, swelling and stiffness in a joint or joints.

Arthritis isn’t a single condition and there are several different types. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. Onset can be gradual or sudden.

[Longtimer in reply to DorsetLady]

Yes that’s Arthritis alright! Think that must be what is wrong with my foot/ankle, hot swollen and painful, can’t think what else it can be….Swells more in this heat!

[Topcar]

I sympathise with you entirely and I'm not sure how to get anyone to understand ! Only yesterday I had a pre op appt in a hospital and the nurse going through my paperwork with me confused giant cell arteritis with rheumatoid arthritis when I tried to explain one is vascular inflammation the other is joint inflammation she just said you poor thing having more than one kind of arthritis grrrr ! I gave up and signed the form. Do people think we have arthritis in our head and eyes??

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Arteritis does what it says on the tin: inflamed arteries, blood vessels

Arthritis inflames joints, like knees, fingers or any other joint if it comes to that.

[Dochaz in reply to PMRpro]

A lot of people seem to think I'm mispronouncing arthritis when I say arteritis, even though I insist on the E in the middle! It's one of the drawbacks of having a "rare" condition that most people have never heard of, myself included until I got it!!!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Dochaz]

Me too!

When I was diagnosed in hospital following sight loss -and the young ophthalmology registrar said “I think you have something called Temporal Arteritis” - hubby and I looked at each other and said “Temporal Arthritis, what’s that ?”

Soon corrected-a very quick learning curve followed.

[Flivoless in reply to Dochaz]

Maybe we should call it arteryitus?

[strawclutching in reply to Flivoless]

That would make a better distinction, though it sounds like something my grandson might come out with for fun. Arteryfarteryitis. 😂 Seems we're doomed to banging our heads against the wall in frustration. 😟

[Dochaz in reply to strawclutching]

I'll remember this next time I need a swearword... areteryfarteryitis, a nice replacement for the f-word 👍

[strawclutching in reply to Dochaz]

😂👍

[Mayadill]

I guess you could avoid the word, say you have GCA, a disease of the arteries?

[winfong in reply to Mayadill]

I usually start out with vasculitis. When they give me a puzzled look, I usually say it's an autoimmune disease.

[Mayadill in reply to winfong]

I just have PMR but there's always blinding them with science, starting to enthusiastically explain about the IL-6 being released at 4 am. Eyes rapidly glaze over but they have got the point i have something complicated not just a few achy limbs.

[Marijo1951]

This takes me back 6 years to when I was first diagnosed and I had to explain to a number of people. I couldn't really blame them for thinking I meant 'arthritis', because that is what I thought the rheumatologist had said until she explained and gave me a leaflet with the name on it. Like most people I'd never heard of it, but it made sense when I learned a bit about it.

[Bcol]

It becomes even more complicated when you have both arthritis and arteritis. So far I've been lucky and the various consultants and hospital staff I've seen recently seem pretty clued in to both. I don't worry too much about the rest.

[Sophiestree]

Tough ones. I just say Vasculitis and leave it at that.

[WaltzG]

I say to family and friends a form of nasty inflammatory arthritis which can cause loss of sight .....they generally change the subject after that! medical professionals shld know better .....

[j-e-a-n]

I just say artery disease then explain if they are interested

[Mayadill]

As sophiestree suggests, avoid the A-word and say you have vascular disease?

[winfong]

I blame the English language - arthro/arter, inter/intra, their/there/they're ...

[Viveka]

I say to new people and those who have forgotten what I told them a couple of years ago - Its nothing to do with joints, its inflammation in the arteries carrying blood to the head and if the inflammation blocks the arteries leading to the eyes it can cause blindness. It is a medical emergency.

If I was talking to a dim healthcare professional as above prefaced by "As you know...

[MarksPoint]

Hi...I tell everyone that I have Giant Cell Vasculitis...explaining it is a disease of my blood vessels and the treatments consists of chemotherapy drugs. This seems to register with them.