Hi Claire,

Just to say, thank you so much for your kind thoughts you posted to me on another thread, i'm only just catching up with things! xx
I agree there may well be a some kind of link between sudden traumatic stress and development of RA. I'm so sorry to read about your family sadness too possibly linked with development of RA. I do think realising there may be a link might actually be very helpful - theory of mind over matter etc.

Nowadays I make a genuine conscious effort to keep smiling and stay positive as much as possible. Sometimes in life it's only natural to feel sad, anxious and low but even through the darkest of circumstances my sister and I are staying determined to always maintain some little glimmer of fun and frivolity, even on the really bad days.
Lately, we have had some serious worries with my uncle who is very very poorly. Throughout the past week we have made a real effort to maintain a little bit of humour in every day and I really do feel it has helped us through an extremely difficult time.
Lately, I've even roped in friends and family in a daily mission to laugh out loud at least once a day & as of yet we just haven't stopped at just once.....! :)
I even managed to make my Uncle smile yesterday which was really lovely. He's 89 and usually quite chirpy but has had a sudden / dramatic change to his health which has made him feel really depressed. He is using a zimmer frame for walking and he definitely walked better afterwards and managed all his buttons!

Lots of love,
~ Lizzie xxxxx